TYABB Cricket Club wants Mornington Peninsula Shire to help pay for new cricket nets at Bunguyan Reserve after the old nets were taken down following the murder of Luke Batty earlier this year. President Sam Taranto said the club had already raised almost $100,000 towards the estimated $120,000 cost of building replacement cricket training nets at the Tyabb sports ground and had put in a funding request as part of the shire’s draft budget process. The old nets were removed as a sign of respect after 11-year-old Luke was killed by his father during a cricket practice session at the…
Month: June 2014
POPULAR peninsula tourist attraction The Enchanted Adventure Garden was last week named as a finalist in two of the five business categories in the prestigious Telstra Business Awards. The Enchanted Adventure Garden, which is located at Arthurs seat, was the only business from the tourism sector and also the only Mornington Peninsula selection among the 25 Victorian finalists named in the national awards. First opened in 1997 as a small maze and garden attraction, the business has grown into a thriving tourist drawcard for the peninsula. The family owned business has grown to include adventure tube slides, tree surfing and…
HIGH-profile Winter Olympian and long-time peninsula resident Belle Brockhoff is ready to go above and beyond to help turn the tide against discrimination. The Olympic snowboarder, who grew up on her family’s estate in Dromana, was last week appointed a beyondblue ambassador and said she plans to use her new position to highlight the issue of homophobia. Brockhoff was also the only openly gay member of the Australian team at the Sochi Winter Olympics earlier this year and spoke out against Russia’s anti-gay laws. Not only is Brockhoff proud to be gay, the 21-year-old has also shared her story of…
THE Mornington Peninsula bore the brunt of last week’s fierce wind storm which damaged homes, cut power supplies and created havoc for commuters as train services were suspended and major roads closed to traffic. Dozens of trees and power lines were brought down by wind gusts of up to 122km/h as an icy storm front labelled by the Bureau of Meteorology as a “winter weather bomb” blasted the state’s south-east on Tuesday. Emergency services were stretched to the limit clearing roads, rail lines and homes from fallen trees, branches and other debris, while police were kept busy responding to chaos…
A MORNINGTON resident has hit out at the shire council after being rebuked for voluntarily helping maintain a beach access track. For the past four years, Peter Ritchie says he has trimmed back overgrowth, cleared fallen trees and branches and levelled washed away areas of a track leading from The Esplanade to the leash-free area at Fossil Beach. But last week, Mr Ritchie made the apparent mistake of informing shire officials of his voluntary efforts after writing to the shire to suggest a number of measures to help improve the safety and amenity of the beach. Not only were his…
A THIRD wave monitoring and modelling investigation is to be carried out at the badly eroded Portsea front beach. The $290,000 investigation will cover Port Phillip Heads, the Great Sands and the shoreline from Pt Nepean to Portsea and is expected to take 18 months. The two earlier studies were reviewed by the CSIRO which noted that there is limited wave measurement data in this part of the bay, limiting the accuracy to which any model can be calibrated and adding a degree of uncertainty to any results. Both studies recommended more extensive measurements of waves as they move into…
FOUR architectural firms have been invited to compete in a design competition for the $40 million Southern Peninsula Aquatic centre planned for Rosebud foreshore. Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors last week endorsed an officer’s report recommending concept proposals, drawings and presentation images be sought from Cox Architecture, Peddle Thorp, Suters Architects and Williams Ross. The firms will each be paid $20,000. As well as designs they will provide cost estimates for construction of the complex as well as their services to be “independently checked by the shire’s appointed quantity surveyor”. A 71-page report to council by project manager Davis Langdon “defines…
OPPOSING factions in the “Great Flinders Sculpture Debate” are set to battle it out at a specially convened meeting of the Flinders Community Association next weekend. At stake is the erection of “a magnificent” four-metre high bronze sculpture by internationally renowned peninsula artist Andrew Rogers. The sculpture was to be “gifted” – at cost-price of about $100,000 – to the Flinders community to commemorate the town’s 150th birthday and a site in the middle of a roundabout at the intersection of Cook and Wood streets had been agreed upon. A town hall meeting in March voted in favour of the…
A BY-ELECTION will be held Saturday 23 August to fill the vacancy on Mornington Peninsula Shire Council created by the resignation of Cr Frank Martin. The outcome of a postal ballot will decide the new councillor for the Red Hill ward position held by Cr Martin for the past six years. Cr Martin resigned in May due to recent poor health. He was first elected in 2008 and served as mayor in 2011/12. The Red Hill ward – established in 2004 as part of the shire’s amalgamation – and includes Red Hill, Red Hill South, Main Ridge, Balnarring Beach, Somers,…
CONCERNS about over-fishing by commercial netters at the southern end of Port Phillip have prompted a petition to state parliament to have them banned. Organiser Ken Tainton, of Third Ave Rosebud, said he had “easily 1100-1200 signatures” on several petitions from local anglers worried that stocks of snapper, whiting, flathead, salmon and flathead are in terminal decline. A member of the Tootgarook Boat Ramp Club, and long-time former commodore of the Rosebud Motor Boat Squadron, Mr Tainton is meeting with Nepean MP Martin Dixon on Friday to discuss the anglers’ fears. The petitions will then be combined as one and…
CELEBRATIONS marking last week’s 50th anniversary of the Beatles tour of Australia struck a resonant chord with Rosebud’s John (Johnny) Chester. The popular musician was a support act for the Fab Four when they played to packed – and screaming – houses in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and then New Zealand. Memories came flooding back when the phones ran hot last week after the screening of an ABC documentary on the landmark tour. Australia had never seen anything like it before, with half of Adelaide’s population jamming the route from the airport and Melbourne’s streets a sea of eager young faces…
THE situation could not have been more exciting for the gunners at Fort Nepean – or those on the German merchant ship steaming for The Heads – on the first day of the war in 1914. Hostilities had been declared officially three hours and forty-five minutes before the Pfalz made her run for it, hoping to escape to open sea before her new enemy could intern her. But it was not to be: the gunners aimed well and a six-inch shell from gun emplacement number six roared into the water only a short distance from Pfalz and the Australian pilot…
IT is nearly a year since 64-year-old Dermot O’Toole was killed in his jewellery store on High St, Hastings. As sentencing approaches for the man who has pleaded guilty to Mr O’Toole’s murder, his widow Bridget O’Toole has broken her silence about the events of that horrific day on 12 July, the profound effect it has had on her family, and her views on the justice system that allowed it to happen. At midday last Sunday, the lounge room of her home was filled with reporters and television cameramen, as Bridget sat – supported by her three adult sons –…
FORMER Mornington MP and state government minister Robin Cooper has renewed his opposition to the sale of the Mt Martha quarry. Mr Cooper says the quarry reserve should be made safe and opened to the public. “No development should happen there. They should let people in; it’s not the place for multi-storey development, we’re not Hong Kong.” The quarry has been earmarked for sale by Mornington Peninsula Shire which badly needs money to help pay for a $40 million swimming pool complex it wants to build on the foreshore at Rosebud. It is understood the shire has been told it…
HUNDREDS of mourners bid farewell to senior Frankston SES and CFA member Peter Doutch at a funeral service at the Peninsula Aero Club at Tyabb last week following his death in an ultralight aircraft crash on 27 April. The service, which was held in the club rooms at 1pm on 10 June, was attended by about 400 family members, friends and colleagues, including his five-year-old daughter Emily, who was critically injured in the crash. Dozens of SES and CFA personnel formed a guard of honour along the airstrip to pay tribute to the dedicated father of two, who had devoted…
THE Country Fire Authority has warned Mornington Peninsula residents of the heightened dangers of house fires during the cooler months following a spate of deadly blazes across Melbourne’s south-east. There have been four fatal house fires so far this year compared to just two at the same time last year in the CFA’s District 8 region, which takes in the peninsula, Frankston and Melbourne’s bayside suburbs. CFA District 8 operations manager Trevor Owen said that while the coroner was still examining the causes of the deadly fires, residents need to be vigilant of potential fire hazards. “Tragically four people have…
CRUNCH time is coming for young sports star Chelsea Ford. The 13-year-old from Frankston North is in the Victorian girls’ under-13 soccer team, has won five out of six boxing bouts and swims in a squad. While there is no doubting her capabilities in each of these sports, her mother Cathy Steele says Chelsea must soon decide which one to pursue. Before the deadline for that decision, Chelsea, who plays for the Peninsula Strikers, will represent Victoria in the under-13 girls’ national soccer championships at Coffs Harbour on the New South Wales north coast. “She needs to make up her…
FORMER mayor Christine Richards and the Frankston Community Coalition ‘gang of six’ are pushing an idea to improve Frankston train station’s surrounds. The group has been talking to Frankston Council about relocating several sculptures from the McClelland Gallery in Langwarrin to the station precinct in an effort to make the area more welcoming for visitors and residents alike. Ms Richards said McClelland Gallery was on board with the plan but it had to be agreed by council before it could become reality. “It’s a terrific way to leverage Frankston’s cultural assets and it would connect the station and central Frankston…
IT’S taken two and a half years, but the wait is finally over – well, almost. The new Hastings CCTV street cameras have been installed and could be switched on later this week. Western Port area councillor David Garnock said the cameras would be connected by United Energy and tested, then switched on at Hastings police station and “hopefully they will be tuned in and ready to go by next weekend”. And United Energy says all they need is the “paperwork” from the shire’s electrical retailer before “flicking the switch” – possibly later this week. “This is all managed by…
POLICE were out in force across the Mornington Peninsula over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend, issuing hundreds of penalty notices and breath-testing more than 10,000 drivers. On Friday night alone, peninsula police conducted more than 4900 preliminary breath tests along Peninsula Link and Mornington Peninsula Freeway, detecting four drunk drivers. Among those charged were a 21-year-old Mornington man who returned a reading of .072 and was also charged with disqualified driving, a 30-year-old Frankston South woman with a .07 reading, a 65-year-old Mount Martha woman (.062), and a 23-year-old Frankston South woman (.072). But it wasn’t just drivers affected by…
EMPTY shop fronts can drag a town’s look and feel down, negatively impacting on other businesses and giving a high street an “abandoned” look. Such is the situation facing Hastings. The Western Port Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Mornington Peninsula Shire aim to change the situation by joining forces for a ‘Hello Hastings’ renewal project in a bid to rejuvenate the business hub located around High St. The federal government has pitched in $38,000 through the Department of Employment to get the project up and running. If it is successful there is future scope to develop the initiative…
CONTROVERSIAL plans to build a new chairlift at Arthurs Seat have been given the go ahead by Mornington Peninsula Shire after councillors narrowly voted in favour on the planning permit application. About 60 people opposed to the $14 million Skylift gondola project gathered at Arthurs Seat the weekend before the decision was made but protest and song failed to persuade the majority of councillors to vote against the proposal. A five-to-four vote saw the application squeak through last Monday evening (2 June). Crs Andrew Dixon, David Garnock, David Gibb, Anne Shaw and mayor Antonella Celi backed the Skylift project. Crs…
THE MT Martha quarry reserve is on the list of land to be sold to help pay for a swimming pool complex at Rosebud. With no guarantees of any significant government grants Mornington Peninsula Shire is scrambling to raise money for the Southern Peninsula Aquatic Centre (SPA), as its projected cost escalates towards $40 million. Architectural firms Cox Architecture, Peddle Thorp, Suters Architects and Williams Ross will be asked to participate in a design competition for the foreshore aquatic centre. The shire withdrew from a 2003 bid to rezone the quarry and several blocks of land above it after opposition…
NINE people were seriously injured – including a young man who remains in a critical condition – in a horror day on Frankston roads on Wednesday. Six vehicles were involved in two separate accidents at Seaford and Langwarrin in wet conditions on Wednesday evening. Two people taken to The Alfred hospital by helicopter in critical conditions while a further seven victims were transported by ambulance to Frankston Hospital suffering serious injuries. A third accident on Monday evening involving an out-of-control semi-trailer resulted in a further two people being seriously injured, taking the injury toll on Frankston roads to 11 in…
AN EXTRAORDINARY thing happened at last Monday’s Development Assessments Committee meeting. Apart from approving the proposed Arthurs Seat Skylift proposal, councillors voted unanimously to approve another matter, which the previous week they had unceremoniously thrown out. Or did they approve something significantly, or even slightly, different? It seems not. Here is the 26 May Notice of Motion from Cr Tim Rodgers (Nepean ward), which got the thumbs-down: “That the matter of Planning Application number P13/1830, in respect to Lot 5, 3080 Point Nepean Road, Sorrento be heard and determined by Council and not under delegation by Council officers and on…
AN AMBITIOUS plan to redirect the Spirit of Tasmania ferries’ route from Devonport to Hastings – rather than Melbourne – has been floated as an idea from across the Bass Strait. Federal Liberal MP Brett Whiteley is pushing a 10-point plan to “enhance the current business model” of Tasmanian government-owned ferry operator, TT-Line and increase patronage on its two ferries. Mr Whiteley unveiled his proposal last week, including a recommendation to conduct a feasibility study to make Hastings a future destination for the MS Spirit of Tasmania I and II vessels. When contacted by The News, Mr Whiteley said he…
MORE than 2000 participants are expected to enter this year’s 6.7km Arthurs Seat Challenge in November. The challenge to climb to the top of the Arthurs Seat summit is a fundraiser to support a reduction in road trauma for young people and to raise money for the Fit to Drive road safety program. Since the introduction of the Graduated Licensing System, there has been a 23 per cent fall in deaths on our roads. Nevertheless, young people are still over-represented in road crashes and fatalities despite comprising just a small portion of licensed drivers. Young drivers aged between 18-25 years…
SNIP, snip and Jessica Bakaniosis is transformed – and all in a good cause. The preppie from Moorooduc Primary was so touched by a recent Camp Quality fundraiser to help children with cancer that she decided to take action. Hearing how wigs are used to hide the effects of chemotherapy on young sufferers, she asked her mum, Bianca, if she could donate her long, blonde ponytail to make one (‘Hair’s looking at you, kid’, The News, 13/5/14). On Friday she had her wish fulfilled by hairdresser Kellie Tredwell–Noonan at the Dirty Little Secrets salon in Hastings. Now, her lustrous locks…
THE future development of the Port of Hastings received a major boost last week after it was declared under the Major Transport Projects Facilitation Act by Minister for Ports David Hodgett. The move paves the way for the planning approvals process to begin – a step MP for Hastings Neil Burgess describes as a major milestone. But, despite the port’s expansion “representing a transformational change that will provide a major boost to the social and economic wellbeing of Hastings, the Peninsula and surrounding communities while also ensuring Victoria’s rightful position as Australia’s leading container port”, there’s plenty of local opposition.…
JENI Doherty and Kim Rowe from the Mornington Chamber of Commerce hosted business people, music lovers and representatives of local government at the launch of the Mornington Winter Jazz Festival, held at The Social on 29 May. The jazz festival, which kicks off on Friday 6 June, runs across the long weekend and features a plethora of events, both ticketed and free. The cornerstone of the festival is a program of internationally renowned jazz artists including Vince Jones, Katie Noonan and Paul Grabowsky, as well as Melbourne Jazz artists Hetty Kate, Wilbur Wilde, Jex Saarelaht and Flap! The festival also…