Day: May 30, 2017

WHILE many people plan a huge party when they reach the milestone age of 60, it’s not something Somerville grandmother Margaret Caffyn contemplated. She had a calling to walk solo the 800 kilometre Camino trail in Spain. So what makes a successful career woman pack it all up and walk alone on one of the most historical pilgrim paths in the world? At first it was to find herself after all those years being “everyone’s someone” – mother, wife, daughter, friend and employee. “I felt I had lost myself,” Caffyn said. However, the more she delved into the journey, the…

STATE Liberal Party president Michael Kroger spoke at the Victorian Maritime Centre’s inaugural Governors Dinner on Wednesday 24 May at which he and two others were inducted into its governorship program. Mr Kroger, along with Liberal Party Eastern Multicultural branch president Gladys Liu and financial advisor Ian Heraud will help guide, mentor and protect the $15 million project which involves establishing a maritime museum at Hastings based around the submarine HMAS Otama (moored off Crib Point for the past 14 years) and former pilot vessel, MV Wyuna (initially destined for a birth at Docklands). Western Port Oberon Association public relations…

By David Gill* NEW planning provisions have been introduced state wide by the Planning Minister, Richard Wynne, without meaningful consultation. This may lead to further degrading of town and rural character on the Mornington Peninsula. The changes seek to avoid excessive site coverage of buildings and sealed surfaces but there is a stinging trade-off that allows new height “limits” of 11 metres in a general residential zone (GRZ). This could mean three-storey houses. The GRZ applies to all of our residential areas including coastal villages. Our planning scheme protective overlays may still apply, limiting houses to two storeys, but in…

OBITUARY Brian David Cuming OAM, 10 January 1928–23 May 2017, scientist, environmental activist SCIENTIST Brian Cuming played a major role in the protection of Western Port for more than 40 years. Dr Cuming, who died on 23 May at age 89, joined the Westernport and Peninsula Protection Council in 1978. WPPC was the peninsula’s first environmental lobby group, founded in 1971 to oppose further industrialisation of Western Port. Plans included a nuclear reactor and dry dock on French Island and heavy industry stretching from Hastings to Stony Point. Liberal Premier Henry Bolte wanted Western Port to be the “Ruhr of…