AN emergency call has gone out to find a bottlenose dolphin with packing tape wrapped around its torso. The dolphin was spotted off Portsea by dolphin swim tour operators on Friday 21 March and rescuers want to track it down before the dolphin becomes too distressed or dies. The Department of Environment and Primary Industries (DEPI) issued an alert for boaters to be on the lookout for the dolphin. DEPI’s regional director of Port Phillip, Travis Dowling, said the Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad used its boat for a zig-zag search of the area. “Representatives of the AGL Marines Response Unit,…
Month: March 2014
POINT Nepean’s famous guns, renowned for having fired the British Empire’s first shot of the First World War, are just one of the peninsula’s many historic attractions set to be celebrated during Australian Heritage Week. Flinders MP Greg Hunt, pictured admiring the Fort Nepean installation with First Shot committee chairman Major Bernie Gaynor, said Australian Heritage Week from 12-20 April provided an opportunity to celebrate the places, buildings, landscapes and stories that had forged the peninsula’s unique history. “It’s a great time to explore some of our local places of historical significance. You can take a diving tour and explore…
THE smiles returned in abundance to a sun-soaked Tyabb Reserve on Sunday as more than 4000 visitors gathered for a celebrity Twenty20 cricket game in honour of Luke Batty. Dozens of celebrities and sports stars took to the field for the match, with Australian cricketer Matthew Wade proving the biggest hit of the day as he belted sixes into the enthusiastic crowd. The star-studded celebrity team lists included cricketers Wade, Bryce McGain, Peter Handscomb, Scott Boland and Cassie Brock, AFL footballers Michael Hurley, Michael Hibberd and Arryn Siposs, actors Gary Sweet and Rhys Muldoon, and television personalities Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann…
PAGEANT queen Jessica Martini has already taken on the world; now she’s ready to conquer the galaxy. The 25-year-old Hastings resident is representing the Mornington Peninsula as one of four Victorian finalists in the Miss Galaxy Australia pageant. Having previously competed in the Miss World and Miss Humanity pageants, Ms Martini hit new heights after being selected as a national finalist in the international pageant. Should she win the Miss Australia title at next month’s national finals in Queensland, she’ll be heading to the United States to compete with the world’s most beautiful women for the Miss Galaxy crown. Ms…
HILLVIEW Quarries has opened a new pit on Arthurs Seat and has started removing gravel and stone after clearing bush and building haul roads. The work explains the higher than normal amount of dust created by the company in recent months, which has generated public comment and complaint. The company gained permission to open the new area from Mornington Peninsula Shire in January 2006. A condition of the permit was Hillview should avoid stripping topsoil or overburden from the site “during the summer months where possible”. The new pit is southwest of the main pit and is closer to Arthurs…
THE peril to wildlife of unwanted or lost fishing tackle was brought home to Rob and Robyn Varney during a walk along Portsea back beach toward London Bridge. Inspection of a clump of washed up seaweed showed it had apparently acted as a sea anchor to two Australian gannets that had become entangled by fishing line wrapped around the weed. Mr Varney said the birds’ beaks were tied together by the “fine yellow string or possibly a crude fishing line”. “The twine was wrapped around their bodies,” he said. A band attached to one of the bird’s legs will be…
NICK Caudwell has high expectations for a project that’s taken nearly a decade to complete. In the next few months he plans to fly a Sopwith Snipe biplane that he has completely built from the ground up using original blueprints. He has handcrafted the timber frame, and meticulously and laboriously shrunk and coated linen with about 10 layers of dope (plasticised lacquer) for the plane’s outer skin, which is stitched to the frame. The one original specification not followed is the engine. “I couldn’t get an original Bentley AR 1 rotary engine and have instead used a Second World War…
REPLACEMENT of trees and bush cleared for the proposed $14 million Arthurs Seat chairlift gondola could come from three nearby shire reserves, says gondola chairlift spokesman Simon McKeon. Mr McKeon, one of four shareholders of Arthurs Seat Skylift Pty Ltd, revealed the “native vegetation offset” plan at a public meeting last week organised by the Association for Building Community in Dromana. It was the first public meeting since Mornington Peninsula Shire put Skylift’s plans on display for public comment. Mr McKeon said 55 hectares of “shire-controlled” land had been identified by shire and Parks Victoria officers as a suitable vegetation…
A WAR of words has broken out between state Planning Minister Matthew Guy and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council over the proposed Peninsula Link freeway twin service centres at Baxter. The council has complained about Mr Guy approving the servos without input from the council but Mr Guy says he wrote to the council on 31 August last year and received no reply. Mr Guy approved the scaled-down version of the so-called freeway service centres (FSC) in February, just days before the council discussed the matter at its 24 February meeting. The original proposal was knocked back by the council in…
VISITORS are staying away from Dromana’s historic property Heronswood and its Diggers Club following the fire that destroyed the property’s thatched roof cafe on 14 January and threatened nearby homes. Heronswood erected a semi-permanent marquee to replace the cafe and only about 7 per cent of the gardens sustained fire damage, but visitor numbers have plummeted. But there is a silver lining as it is hoped Heronswood’s annual harvest festival on 15 and 16 March will kick-start visitations. Diggers Club education manager Talei Kenyon said the lack of visitors had been “incredibly hard for staff morale” and was “having a…
MEMBERS of the Frankston Choral Society are notified that the next rehearsal will be held on Wednesday, 17th June instead of Monday. *** RUMOUR has it that a local company proposes to open a skating rink at Frankston, and are now negotiating for suitable premises for the venture. *** MESSRS Alex. Scott & Co. will hold their next monthly market at Bittern on Monday next, 15th June, when a good yarding of stock will be brought forward. *** AN auction sale of freehold pro- perty, furniture, etc., will be, held at “Kananook“ Melbourne Road Frank- ston, by Messrs Brody and…
WORK on the $16.3 million Somerville police station is finally underway following an official ground-breaking ceremony last week. The station, at the corner of Eramosa Rd West and Coolart Rd, is designed to accommodate 150 police officers and staff, and will include a uniform branch, highway patrol, crime scene unit and short-term holding cells. It will also feature public consultation and interview rooms, a mess room, changing rooms, gymnasium, administration areas and conference room facilities that can be adapted for emergency management. The 2500-square metre police station, which will operate 24 hours a day, is expected to be completed in…
ABOUT 2000 CFA volunteers from the Mornington Peninsula have been battling the open cut coal fire at Morwell. As the fire enters its fourth week, buses are leaving Moorooduc twice daily taking members of Peninsula and Western Port CFA groups to 12-hour shifts at the fire, which is forcing the evacuation of people from smoke-affected parts of Morwell. Firefighters were at first affected by carbon monoxide from the fire, but smoke and particles have now spread from the open cut to the town. The state government and health authorities have been criticised for not acting soon enough to issue health…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire attempts to keep service stations out of its green wedge appear to have failed. State Planning Minister Matthew Guy has ignored the council’s policy by approving twin freeway service centres on Peninsula Link at Baxter. This is despite council’s refusal of the plan in 2011 and the state planning tribunal VCAT confirming the knock-back in mid-2013. But the shire is not rolling over without a sound and will ask Mr Guy to reconsider his decision. Mr Guy has disappointed councillors and the shire’s executive team by approving an amendment to the shire’s planning scheme to enable the…