GOOD Samaritans have rallied to help a pensioner who feared becoming homeless because of rising rents and limited housing stock. First, a reader offered him a suitable place to live rent-free and now the wheel has turned even further for Larry (surname withheld), who has been given a job by a former colleague doing what he does best: fixing sewing machines. Larry, who told his story to The News in February (“Pensioner feels the brunt in house hunt” 5/2/18), says his life has now turned around. “I am so grateful to all,” he said last week from the cottage on…
Month: May 2018
FLINDERS MP Greg Hunt is urging “the community” to participate in the “feedback process” established by power supplier AGL which wants to moor a floating gas terminal at Crib Point. Work has started on preparing the existing jetty at Crib Point for the more than 300 metre long floating storage regasification unit (FSRU) although no government approvals have yet been given. The Port of Hastings Development Authority says it is undertaking “remediation works” on the jetty which are expected to be completed in January 2019. “[Sylvia] Simons was informed that Greg understands AGL are still completing their feasibility study to…
IT seems a boardwalk at Hastings is just as convenient for flippers as feet, if the appearance of a seal of Sunday is any guide. The male New Zealand long nose fur seal was spotted at 7.30am by Katrina Chalke who was jogging to Pelican Pantry for breakfast. As she tried to cross the first bridge after the Babbington Reserve the seal made it clear “with a roar and a flash of his “rather uninviting yellow coloured teeth” that he’d made a claim to a section of boardwalk. A phone call to her husband saw the message about the new…
THE WOMEN’S Peninsula Surfriders have recorded the club’s best finish in their first attempt at the Sailor Jerry Surftag Australian Championships on Friday 27 April. After taking out the qualifiers at Rye Back Beach last month, the women headed to the national championships for their first time at Duranbah Beach on the Gold Coast and finished up in seventh position. Peninsula Surfriders club president Lachy McDonald said they unfortunately headed up to the nationals not at full strength but couldn’t be happier with the end result. “To be competing at the nationals is something that we are quite proud of…
SOCCER PENINSULA Strikers’ senior coach Jamie Paterson resigned last Wednesday morning and assistant coach Lenny Greenan has been appointed in a caretaker capacity. Paterson’s decision took the State 2 South-East club by surprise but president Trevor Johnston is hopeful that a decision on who will take charge of the senior squad till the end of the season will be made in the next fortnight. “We are actively looking at candidates and we will exhaust every avenue to find someone who can hit the ground running and take on a rebuilding phase for the club,” Johnston said. “We want someone who…
INTERLEAGUE WITH regular MPNFL football put on hold for the week, the 2018 AFL Community Championships brought together the best and brightest from the league to take on the Northern Football Netball League at Preston City Oval this Saturday. The men’s interleague competition, being played a little closer to home than the AFL’s match in Shanghai played at the same time, saw the MPNFL and NFNL face off in a third vs. fourth place clash, with the winner set to take on top ranked Eastern Football League in 2019 for the right to be recognised as the number one Victorian…
WOMEN’S INTERLEAGUE AN historic match took place as the curtain raiser match at Preston City Oval on Saturday, as the Women’s Northern Football Netball League and the South Eastern Women’s Football League both played their first ever matches of representative interleague football. The first ever SEWF League side featured representatives from Mornington in Emily Rylance, Riley Cridland, Vicki Sanford, and Georgia Speedy. Jess Johnston, Jess Adams, and Sarah Astone were selected from Seaford. The side, led by Cranbourne’s Emily Wallace, struggled early, conceding within two minutes as NFNL’s Ashleigh Bayes made her mark by scoring the league’s first goal in…
IN the 401st casualty list published on Monday appears the name of a Peninsula soldier who has made the supreme sacrifice – Private H. S. Clarke, of Mornington. In the same list, Corporal W. J. Stewart, of Carrum, is reported wounded. *** MRS John Holley of Heath Rise nursery, Mornington Junction has just received word from the Defence Records that her 4th son, Private John Holley, of 8th Batallion has been killed in action in France. Deceased enlisted early in 1916 and has been in most of the principal engagements since that time. Colonel Hawker has forwarded a letter of…
A NEW solar and battery system at Sorrento Community Centre will lower electricity bills, act as a renewable energy education centre for visitors and redirect power back to the grid during days of peak demand. The system, supplied through the Community Grid Project and the state government’s New Energy Jobs Fund, features 7kW solar panels on the roof coupled with a 6kW Fronius solar inverter and 14kWhr Tesla Powerwall 2 battery. The project is the result of a partnership between United Energy, Mornington Peninsula Shire and GreenSync to will deliver a safe and reliable power supply to the southern peninsula…
AN attempt to break a Guinness World Record for the most people stargazing across multiple venues will be held this week at The Briars Astronomy Centre, Mt Martha. Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society will host the event which aims to have the most people ever stargazing at the moon through a telescope or binoculars for a 10-minute period, tomorrow night (23 May). The world record of 7960 people at 37 locations was set in 2015 by the Australian National University. Society members say they are “aiming to set a record so large that it will be nearly impossible to break again”.…
MOOROODUC farmer David Sims believes eagles killed a new-born calf overnight at his Derril Road property, Thursday 17 May. He said he saw the eagles on the carcase as he drove into the paddock next morning looking for its mother and watched as they flew off into trees when he approached. He said flesh had been torn from the calf’s mouth and ear. Mr Sims, who runs 30 cattle on his 32 hectare property, said it appeared the calf had been born alive and then been killed because the thin tissue on its feet had worn after it had walked…
FINES issued to five motorists in Booker Avenue, Mornington, last week have been withdrawn by Mornington Peninsula Shire. Motorist David Tucker and other staff from the nearby Peninsula Grange retirement village, presumed they had parked legally before work on Tuesday 8 May. But, when they came out at lunchtime, No Stopping signs had been installed and local laws officers – unaware that the signs had only just gone up – had booked them. (“Shire turns deaf ear on fines” The News 15/5/18). The unhappy motorists were advised they would have to appeal to the council if they wanted leniency as…
PEOPLE can show appreciation this month for State Emergency Services volunteers who help out during road rescues and storms. Wednesday 23 May is Wear Orange Wednesday (WOW) Day, a nationwide day for Australians to dress in orange to thank SES crews for their assistance in fraught times. SES volunteers across Victoria responded to more than 31,000 requests for help last year, putting in 302,623 hours collectively to respond to emergencies. VICSES operations chief officer Tim Wiebusch said WOW Day “is an important day of appreciation for our volunteers who selflessly dedicate their time and skills to helping their communities during…
MEMBERS of a Safety Beach action group are frustrated that VicRoads has done little to curb increased traffic noise on the Mornington Peninsula Freeway. They say the noise deprives them of sleep, causes health issues and has lowered their standard of living. The group is holding an open forum meeting to discuss their issues at Rosebud Country Club, Boneo Road, 6.30pm for 7pm, Wednesday 30 May. Organiser Wayne Ashby said VicRoads had “failed the people of the Mornington Peninsula in addressing traffic noise” – and especially those living in Safety Beach, Dromana, McCrae and Rosebud. “It is now very evident…
Mornington Peninsula Shire wants Hastings, not Baxter, to be the end of the line when it comes to an electrified railway. The Labor state government has started a study to assess the cost benefits of electrifying the line from Frankston to Baxter with $3 million from the federal Coalition government. However, Mornington Peninsula Shire says Baxter – which lies within its municipal boundary – is not suitable for an electric train terminus. The shire, which feels it has been left out of the planning to electrify the line, says it is “imperative” that it be included in any future discussions.…
POLICE are seeking to identify a woman, pictured, after a deception incident at Rosebud on Saturday 13 January. At about 1am a woman entered a Point Nepean Road service station and bought items using a stolen credit card. She is Caucasian in appearance, in her late teens to early 20s, and was wearing a white dressing gown. Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers 1800 333 000 or report confidentially online at crimestoppersvic.com.au First published in the Southern Peninsula News – 22 May 2018
By Hugh Fraser* TIMOR-Leste – the most democratic state in the south east Asia region – voted decisively at the 12 May parliamentary elections for majority government ending, 10 months of budget paralysis after last year’s inconclusive result. Together with Friends of Lospalos chair Xaioli Ma and former Mornington Peninsula Shire councillor Tim Rodgers, we had the privilege – which can be withdrawn at any time – to observe the election process as “Observadors Internasional” at the invitation of the Timor-Leste government. The observers were supported by 17 teams “in the field” from the Australian Embassy in Dili. We were…
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire council has lodged objections to boundary changes to the Dunkley electorate that would see Mornington and the northern part of Baxter move into the Flinders electorate. Shire mayor Cr Bryan Payne wrote to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 4 May to voice concerns about proposed electorate boundary changes to both Dunkley and Flinders. “In particular, we are concerned about the separation of Mount Eliza from the neighbouring township of Mornington,” Cr Payne stated in a letter to the AEC. “Mount Eliza benefits from being part of the same federal electorate as the township of Mornington, which…
CAPEL Sound residents suspected of cutting down trees to improve their bay views are being targeted by the area’s committee of management. “Over recent months we’ve had a number of incidents where vegetation has been destroyed – presumably by people trying to improve their views of the bay,” ranger Max Patton said. “As a response, we have written to the owners of properties along Point Nepean Road.” Mornington Peninsula Shire, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and the police have been notified of the incidents. It is an offence to unlawfully destroy any vegetation on Crown Land. Offenders…
LAST week’s federal budget held little comfort for those sleeping rough on the Mornington Peninsula. Homelessness Australia said social housing stock as a proportion of all housing had dropped to the lowest level on record, with just 4.7 per cent of all Australian houses being community and public housing, down from 5.3 per cent in 2005-06. The peak body has warned that without more investment in social housing, the number of people accessing homelessness services will hit close to 350,000 each year by 2022. It says failure of successive governments to build enough social housing to keep up with population…
POLICE have been alarmed by serious injury collisions involving cyclists around the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston. While cycling is usually regarded as a healthy pursuit, they are among groups classified as “vulnerable road users” because of their lack of protection on the road. Leading Senior Constable Greg Wolfe, of Mornington Peninsula Traffic operations, based at Somerville, said five incidents over the past two months included: A cyclist riding into the back of a car parked in Point Nepean Road, Sorrento, and suffering serious facial injuries. A 90-year-old pedestrian walking out in front of a cyclist on Point Nepean Road, Rosebud,…
Major Collision Investigation Unit detectives are investigating a fatal collision following a pursuit in Mt Eliza on 14 April. Police attempted to intercept a silver Commodore sedan alleged to have been involved in serious offences. The vehicle failed to stop on Nepean Highway near Mount Eliza Way about 8.20pm. A short pursuit was initiated. At the time of the incident a civilian vehicle and a police car collided on Nepean Highway near Humphries Road. Four occupants of the vehicle were taken to hospital and the police officer was not injured. One of the occupants of the vehicle, a 79-year-old Mt…
PRIMARY school pupils on the Mornington Peninsula are being offered a resource that can make them more resilient and better prepared to face everyday challenges. The author and illustrator of the book A for Attitude, Julie Davey, was at Boneo Primary School yesterday (Monday) at the request of year 3 co-ordinator Anita Presti before taking her positive message on an interstate tour in her self-funded caravan as part of her Can Do Tour. She has been to several schools already with the aim of promoting strategies to tackle anxiety and bullying head on. Ms Davey discussed with the 45 Boneo…
THE Port of Hastings Development Authority has started preparing the Crib Point jetty for a floating gas terminal “should the project proceed”. In a letter to residents dated 24 April the development authority said the work would include repairing concrete pylons, mooring dolphins and pipe racks as well as replacing the pier head. The authority estimates work will take up to nine months and has warned residents of increased road traffic. The port development authority was stripped of staff and finance following the November 2014 election of the Labor state government which dropped plans for a container port at Hastings.…
PENINSULA boxer Jason Whateley has fallen just shy of his dream gold medal at the Commonwealth Games on Saturday 14 April after being defeated by none-other than the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallist, David Nyika. After three attempts at qualifying for the Games, Whateley finally broke through earlier this year and cemented his spot in the 13-strong Australian boxing squad which headed to the Gold Coast for this year’s Commonwealth Games. Whateley entered the international competition with one goal in mind, a gold medal in the heavyweight division (91kg), and it took the world’s seventh best heavyweight boxer, David Nyika,…
BASKETBALL SOUTHERN Peninsula Sharks state championship women’s side continue to show that they deserve their spot in the highest division as they slotted their fifth victory for their season on the road against McKinnon Cougars in round seven of the Big V. The Sharks’ young squad shot at a 47 per cent clip to defeat the Cougars (58-82) away from home, with Jaz Shelley (26 pts) and Peyton Little (23 pts) again delivering solid performances. While the Cougars took a six point lead out of the first break, the Sharks quickly turned the game around in the second quarter to…
SOCCER Langwarrin has sacked giant second-string keeper Josh Dorron and is on the lookout for a replacement. Dorron will join State 1 South-East outfit Caulfield Cobras a week later than planned after Langy held up his clearance late last week. The local club was incensed when told that Dorron had trained elsewhere without informing Langy’s coaching staff. The good news is that long-serving Langy boss Gus Macleod welcomes three new faces at training this week. Queensland strikers Matt Heath and Chris Swain will be joined by tall central defender Lloyd Clothier. Heath is from Brisbane-based Olympic FC, Swain is from…
DIVISION TWO A TWO point thriller between Red Hill and Rye was the pick of the games in MPNFL Division Two football this weekend. Eventual winners Rye were comfortably ahead for most of the day, but a last quarter fight back from Red Hill almost soured their day. Going into the last quarter, Rye held a comfortable 29 point lead, with their opponents only managing to have kicked a paltry two goals and seven behinds. Red Hill however looked a different side after the last break, and piled on five goals to one in a thrilling last quarter that saw…
DIVISION ONE IT was a week of firsts in the MPNFL Division One competition this weekend with Frankston YCW slipping up for the first time this season, going down in a shock loss at home to Pines on Saturday. After a disappointing performance against bottom placed Mornington last week, YCW were made to pay for their poor form with their first defeat of the year in a tense contest. The low scoring affair saw both teams struggle for goals, with Frankston YCW putting on two goalless quarters. Neither side was able to bag a major in the final term, and…
THIS year’s Mornington Winter Music Festival celebrating Jazz, Blues, Soul and more hosts some of our music industries iconic and upcoming female performers. Deborah Conway has been an eminent contributor to Australian music for over 30 years. Conway was named a Living Legend twice by the Rolling Stone Magazine. “It is a challenge to find any musical work Conway has been involved with that isn’t simply magnificent” wrote Sydney Morning Herald. With hits such as ‘Man overboard’, ‘It’s only the beginning’ and ‘Release Me’ just to name a few, Deborah and musical collaborator Willy Zygier will put on a show…