BRUMBIES were in the news for all the wrong reasons last week as government and conservation bodies discussed their removal from Victorian and NSW alpine regions. Later this year many of the former wild horses will converge on the Melbourne Showground for the 2016 Australian Brumby Challenge. Held in conjunction with Equitana Melbourne, the challenge involves the allocation and schooling of brumbies caught in the wild by professional and amateur trainers. The unhandled and untrained horses, humanely caught as part of an ongoing national park management program, will be gentled and, if old enough, saddle trained over a 150-day period…
Author: Stephen Taylor
OLDER boaters are much more likely to find themselves in trouble when out on the water than youngsters, according to Maritime Safety Victoria’s latest incident statistics. Figures for 2015-16 show the most likely cause of them being in the water is capsizing their boat. In just two days in early August, five people in two different incidents found themselves immersed in cold water after they capsized and none of them was able to call for help immediately. Of the five, four were aged 60 or over and their two boats had capsized, which continued the trend identified in the MSV…
AWAITING the judges’ nod was not as nerve wracking this year as last year for Mornington restaurateur Jill Henderson at the Restaurant and Catering Association’s 2016 Awards for Excellence presentations. And her decision to avoid any stress paid off as her Winey Cow Restaurant in Main St won two awards – best regional cafe and cafe of the year – at a function at the Melbourne Function Centre last month. Cafe of the year is open to cafes and restaurants all over Victoria and Tasmania. “We entered the awards last year for the first time and, I must admit, I…
CARJACKINGS and home invasions were the focus of new legislation introduced into state parliament last week. The Crimes Act 1958 will be amended to create new offences of carjacking, aggravated carjacking, home invasion and aggravated home invasion. The legislated offences will attract harsher penalties and give police the “laws they need to keep the community safe”. The legislation, developed in consultation with Victoria Police, will include statutory minimum sentences for aggravated carjacking and aggravated home invasion. And, to combat the rise of youth gangs, the legislation’s show-cause provisions will apply regardless of the age of the offender. Southern Metro Region…
WIRE sculptor Annie Glass is patiently bending and winding galvanised steel wire around her first scarecrow as a tribute to the classic children’s movie the Wizard of Oz. “I’ve always wanted an opportunity to do something artistic based around my favourite movie,” Glass said. Her larger-than-life scarecrow will have an Australian flavour with a cocky flying around him, a crow on his arm and Dorothy’s dog Toto nipping at his heels. Glass is building her scarecrow for the inaugural Artist’s Permanent Sculpture category in the Hinterland Scarecrow Festival Trail, 16 September-3 October. For the first time, there’s a $2000 prize…
RALPH the lamb is back! Defying “million-to-one odds” the black-faced lamb made it home to the Big Goose children’s farm on Friday morning, much to the delight of owner Justin Orr. The five-week-old bottle-fed cutie survived 13 nights out in the wild after allegedly being stolen from the Mornington-Tyabb Rd animal park, overnight Sunday 21 August. An overjoyed Mr Orr said Ralph ran up to road workers putting up road signs in Tyabb about 7km from where he was allegedly dumped by thieves. They recognised him from media reports and contacted the farm. The lamb has distinctive markings with a…
IT’S a baking hot day and it seems all the home air-conditioners on the Mornington Peninsula are switched on and guzzling power at the same time. This surge in seasonal demand, spurred on by holiday makers, leads to an unsustainable peak and then crash, the system fails and there’s a blackout. That’s the sort of scenario underpinning the Community Grids project – described as a “landmark” demand response and energy storage project, about to be rolled out on the southern peninsula. Community Grids aims to improve the reliability of the area’s electricity supply without the need for costly infrastructure upgrades.…
AN application to open a tavern with an extended liquor licence in Main St, Mornington should be “called in” by Mornington Peninsula Shire councillors, according to Mornington MP David Morris. The term refers to the occasional government practice where a minister “calls in” a project or proposal being considered by a council and makes the decision for it, thereby overriding the normal planning process. Mr Morris wants to ensure councillors and not council officers decide if Mornington should get a tavern. “I don’t normally stick my nose in, but I am concerned that the community is not aware of what…
PORTSEA Life Saving Club members are “absolutely thrilled” with a $1 million grant from Mornington Peninsula Shire towards their proposed new clubhouse. The money brings them closer to a planned $7.36 million rebuild of the 50-year-old club house and sub-structure works on the popular back beach. Club president Stuart Rayner said the money to be paid over three years “moves us closer to our funding requirement” alongside a state government contribution of $1.5 million and the club’s own fundraising of $3 million. Members will set out to raise another $1 million over the next six months. “We’ll be hitting the…
STUDENTS and community groups are facing higher rental charges following a rise in prices to use Mornington Peninsula Shire’s community halls and meeting rooms. Regular hirers were invited to information sessions in November to update them on changes to conditions of hire, booking procedures and payment requirements. They were then asked to confirm their dates of hire for the next 18 months ( July 2017) but no mention was made of proposed rate increases during that time. Billy Lids Theatre Company proprietor Annette Precht said existing hall hirers would have been entitled to assume that there would be no rate…
A ROW is brewing over a proposed high-density housing estate in Mt Martha in which 47 units and townhouses will be crammed onto one big block. The 180 Bentons Rd site with its existing large, old homestead on five acres could be transformed into high-density living with up to 28 single storey units and 26 two-storey townhouses. Bentons Blossom Pty Ltd previously asked for 52 units in the $45 million project but reduced this to 47 in the hope of winning approval. The company propose blocking off access to busy Bentons Rd and, instead, linking three narrow internal roads with…
A CFA career firefighter is riding across Victoria to raise awareness of mental health as a result of his experience with depression. Wangaratta-based operations officer Terry Heafield stopped off at Mornington fire station on Friday for morning tea and to speak of his experiences. His told firefighters to seek help and not be ashamed if they were depressed. He said depression should be seen as an ailment, not a weakness. The Mornington stopover was part of the Frankston to Rosebud leg of the trip which will take him 2500km through country towns and ending at Geelong where his brothers are…
RAM-RAIDERS have crashed their way into five businesses at Pearcedale, Somerville, Baxter, Langwarrin and Frankston. They used a stolen Suzuki Swift, an Isuzu utility and crowbars to smash through the front glass doors of three service stations, a newsagency, and a shopping centre, causing tens of thousands of dollars’ damage on top of the thefts of cash and goods. At 3.20am, Tuesday 9 August, in the first of three raids that day, three men in the black Suzuki smashed the front glass doors of a BP service station on Baxter-Tooradin Rd, Pearcedale with crowbars. Once inside they grabbed food and…
POLICE are praising “astute members of the public” for helping them seize a massive haul of cannabis in Rosebud last Thursday. Sergeant Chris Russo, of Mornington Peninsula CIU, said 164 plants were seized as well as 76 cuttings which were in the process of being propagated. He said the crop had a street value of $150,000. Seven police raided the Eastbourne Rd house which had been set up as a hydroponic cannabis warehouse. Six rooms were filled with black plastic tubs for growing the plants which were hooked up to a water system in the bath. A power bypass system…
NEPEAN MP Martin Dixon says the realisation that “life can be too short” is behind his decision to retire from politics at the 2018 state election. The “life” reference refers to his former wife and partner of 38 years, Christine, who died of cancer in April. He has two adult children. Mr Dixon said “everything has changed now” and that he looks forward to “doing something different with a lot more time to do it” after 20 years as a member of parliament. “I might buy a boat and do some travelling,” the Rye resident said. “And there are some…
A ROSEBUD road with an unenviable crash history is set for a safety upgrade next month. Works will begin on Eastbourne Rd between Jetty Rd and Boneo Rd which Mornington Peninsula mayor Cr Graham Pittock describes as a “black length”. “This road really does have a bleak crash history – including three fatalities in the past two years,” he said. “Over a five-year period 14 casualty crashes were recorded, with three of these serious injuries.” Common crash types include right-turning vehicles and parked vehicles. Eastbourne Rd will be changed from two traffic lanes each way to a single traffic lane…
FIREFIGHTERS from Rosebud and Rye had to break down a laundry door to rescue a woman trapped in a burning house in Coleman Crescent, Rosebud, early this morning (Wednesday 10 August). The woman aged in her 40s had suffered a cardiac arrest in the single storey brick veneer when the fire took hold in her bedroom. Senior station officer Grant Kidd, of Rosebud CFA, said crews carried the non-responsive woman outside where she was revived by ambulance officers and airlifted to The Alfred hospital. He said the woman called triple zero at 6.16am and fire crews arrived within minutes. He…
THREE Balnarring fishermen were lucky to survive hypothermia after being forced to swim 800 metres in freezing waters, 6pm Saturday (6 August). The men, one in his 50s and two in their 30s, were fishing from their four metre dinghy when the anchor became snagged under rocks. The boat flipped when they tried to free it, throwing them into the dark water. One of the men swam to shore to raise the alarm while the others initially stayed with the boat until help arrived. The Police Air Wing helicopter, Hastings police, Hastings Coast Guard, water police and Volunteer Marine Rescue…
HOW to make a scarecrow? That was one class especially enjoyable for grade 5 pupils at Eastbourne Primary School. Red Hill artist Michael Leeworthy was at the Rosebud West school as part of the Mornington Peninsula Hinterland Scarecrow Festival and Trail. “Scarecrow making takes pupils away from the digital world into craft making and gets them to use their imaginations and work with others,” he said. Leeworthy is visiting eight peninsula schools and kindergartens as part of an artist-in-residence program. Showing the pupils two ways of making a scarecrow he sensibly kept the details simple. In his kit was a…
CREWS from three volunteer rescue organisations joined forces off Safety Beach last week for coordinated water training exercises. The Water Police took an active role and oversaw the exercises on Sunday 31 July. About 40 volunteers from Southern Peninsula Rescue Squad, Mornington Volunteer Marine Rescue, and Safety Beach and Queenscliff Coast Guards, manned six boats to practise man overboard drills and search and rescue operations at sea. Crews reported that the sight of the rescue vessels all lined up in Martha Cove was “impressive”. The aim of the exercises was to simulate the demands and dangers of real life rescues,…
INCREASING pressure from developers to build bulky multi-storey apartment towers along Ocean Beach Rd, Sorrento, has prompted Mornington Peninsula Shire to amend the planning scheme. Some of their planning applications – for buildings five storeys above ground level – are at odds with the low-scale character of the historic town. Senior planner James Bryan, in a report to the shire’s 25 July meeting, said that “without clearer development controls, the out of character developments will erode the valued historical character and built-form aesthetics of the village”. Amendments C203 and C204 aim to protect properties in the Sorrento activity centre, along…
IT’S not unusual for a mum to be proud of her son – that’s what mums are like. But the obvious joy and encouragement shown by Mornington’s Anita Duesterhaus for her 18-month-old bundle of joy is enchanting. Malakye was born without a right forearm and hand. In the great scheme of things, such an omission should hardly be noticed, so Ms Duesterhaus’s defence of her progeny, even while he was in her womb, is unsurprising. “I was offered a termination at 34 weeks,” she said last week. “There was nothing wrong with my son other than he never grew his…
THE Briars homestead has been blessed with its second French connection. The first was a family link to Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a house guest of William Balcombe (1779-1829) at his house The Briars, on the island of St Helena, while he was in exile in the early 1800s. Balcombe’s son, Alexander (1811-77), went on to establish the Mt Martha property with a land grant in 1840. He and his wife built a rough-hewn slab house – also called The Briars, in 1842 – making it one of the oldest pastoral properties on the peninsula. Now, six French teenagers –…
RIDING for the Disabled Western Port members are riding high – thanks to the offer of a new, more permanent home from Mornington Peninsula Shire. They have entered into a new five-year agreement to use land at Woolleys Rd Bushland Reserve, Crib Point, for $520 a year with CPI increases. This follows a one-year deal given to the riders last year to review their use of the land and, if suitable, to issue a new licence for a longer term. The shire last week offered the riders longer-term use of the land. The group had previously agisted horses on private…
CONTINENTAL Hotel developer Julian Gerner says Mornington Peninsula Shire’s approval of his development application gives him “something tangible to show financiers” in the lead-up to starting the $50 million project. “I am pleased that the overall scheme has been endorsed,” he said. “I am excited, but there’s an awful lot of work to do – much of it well advanced.” The council at last week’s meeting backed an application by Mr Gerner’s Continental Development company for extensive alterations and additions to the historic hotel. This paves the way for the creation of 24 new hotel rooms, four-storey above-ground building with…
A CHANCE encounter between a group of scuba divers and a yacht club operations manager may have ecological benefits for Port Phillip Bay’s marine life. Dive2U’s Nicole Morton, a company which does dive training, marine science education and scientific diving and support, was taking a filmmaker from Old Pal Productions out to see the world famous spider crabs near Blairgowrie pier. “We got chatting with the yacht squadron’s operations manager, David Opie, better known as ‘Soapy’, who told us that the north-south trending wave wall had been destroyed by teredo navalis – or shipworm – and was no longer protecting…
ANOTHER big blow on Monday last week gave Mornington pier its second storm battering in two weeks. Huge seas and strong winds again smashed over the concrete structure which just two weeks before had seen nine 15-tonne concrete panels torn off in 60-knot winds. Top deck planking, handrails and a seat were also damaged. Since that storm the outer section of the pier has been closed to the public. The damaged panels were recovered by divers and a crane on a barge and taken away for inspection. No details of what caused the pier to break down have been released…
A WOMAN who has loved opportunity shops all her life – “getting a bargain, finding a treasure and being able to afford it because of the prices” – has opened her own op shop. Trudy Lennon-Bowers, of Mornington, said her “life changed” when her father passed away last year. “I started to think about exactly what was important in my life and what wasn’t,” she said. “I was working three 12-hour days as a development chemist for Dulux, driving two hours a day and never seeing my husband or kids, and thought to myself: What am I doing? “I was…
A LOVE of crafts – particularly knitting and crochet – was behind Lynda Sibbald’s decision 18 years ago to take over the Mornington Wool Centre, which had been a feature of the town since 1971. Business grew steadily and she found it necessary to move to new premises in Yuilles Rd, Mornington, to cater for the rise in demand. Now this “hidden gem” – tucked in between a plumbers’ supply and power tool outlets – is able to take whole bus tours, prams, walkers and wheelchairs. It offers loads more room to display stock and samples and the huge glass-fronted…
ROSEBUD resident Thelma Appleford celebrated her 100th birthday with her sons, daughter, grandsons, granddaughter and great grandchildren on Saturday 23 July. Also there to celebrate were her nephews, great-nephews, cousins and neighbours. Congratulatory letters were received from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove and the Queen Elizabeth. Born Thelma Jean Brown on 23 July 1916, Mrs Appleford grew up and married in the Coburg area. She experienced the tough times of the Great Depression when she and husband Edwin lived in Greensborough. In January 1939 she recalls standing in a grassy paddock holding her little son Don’s…