March 24th 2011

Mornington

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Your fortnightly community newspaper incorporating Mornington, Mount Martha and Mount Eliza For all your advertising and editorial needs, call us on 1300

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24 March – 6 April 2011

MPNEWS (1300 676 397) or email: team@mpnews.com.au www.mpnews.com.au

Safety launch MORNINGTON-based Volunteer Marine Rescue launched its new $300,000 rescue boat for Western Port at Hastings last Friday.

The purpose-built NoosaCat 3100 power catamaran, which can operate in Bass Strait, was christened Alwyn Tamo, in honour of the late doyen of Westernport Safety Council, who “womanned� the rescue radio for about 20 years in the twilight of her life, working from her home in Warneet.

The state government provided $233,500 and VMR $60,000 to buy and equip the boat with latest electronic search and rescue technology.

Lens ahead: Mornington MP David Morris, left, Hastings MP Neale Burgess, Sergeant David Jaensch of the Water Police and VMR president Col Strawbridge pour bubbly on the Alwyn Tamo.

Picture: Snez Plunkett

Backflip over ‘gay fence’

By Mike Hast MT Eliza landowner Charles Jacobsen says he will take Mornington Peninsula Shire to the planning tribunal over its backflip on allowing him to build a fence at Sunnyside Beach North.

Councillors on Monday night reversed their 21 February decision to approve a 260-metre long chainlink fence between bushland and the waterline in front of Mr Jacobsen’s beach house.

The normally cool Mr Jacobsen was visibly annoyed when he spoke outside

the council meeting in Mornington after councillors voted 8-3 to reverse their approval of the fence’s location. “We are going back to the VCAT [Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal],� he said. “We are not tolerating how this has been handled by certain councillors.�

He said it had been three years and five months since negotiations started over the fence on his Norman Lodge property as well as other matters, and “after tonight we are taking the council

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Mt Eliza Ward councillor Leigh Eustace had earlier in the night put up a new notice of motion to reverse the council’s February decision and allow a new alignment of the fence, further to the east, away from the water and along the line of a fence erected about 40 years ago by the property’s previous owner.

Much of the rusted chainlink fence still exists and sections are covered with vegetation.

When seeking the new alignment last month Mr Jacobsen told councillors the fence was needed to keep out people during revegetation of a coastal reserve he had gifted to the shire as part of the arrangement to allow him to build two new houses on his estate.

Norman Lodge is in the green wedge between Mt Eliza and Mornington and has restrictions on building houses.

Mr Jacobsen also said it would stop homosexuals engaging in “illegal and antisocial behaviour�.

At the 21 February meeting, Mr Jacobsen said people were performing “full homosexual acts on the beach�.

Men were using scrub that would be fenced off, he said. “The place is somehow advertised on the internet as a pick-up point. “In the shrubbery are love nests and the fence would limit access to these places and allow erection of signs� declaring it was not a nudist beach.

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NEWS DESK Proudly published by Mornington Peninsula News Group Pty. Ltd

PHONE: 1300 MPNEWS (1300 676 397) Published fortnightly. Circulation: 20,000

Editor: Mike Hast, 5979 8564 Advertising Sales: Carolyn Wagener, 0407 030 761 Production/Graphic Design: Stephanie Loverso Group Editor: Keith Platt, 0439 394 707 Publisher: Cameron McCullough, 0407 027 707 REGULAR CONTRIBUTORS: Neil Walker, Barry Irving, Cliff Ellen, Frances Cameron, Peter McCullough, Stuart McCullough, Gary Turner, Jaime McDougall, Marilyn Cunnington, Brad Stirton, Fran Henke.

ADDRESS: Mornington Peninsula News Group, PO Box 588, Hastings 3915 E-mail: team@mpnews.com.au Web: www.mpnews.com.au DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE: 1PM ON THURSDAY 31 MARCH NEXT ISSUE PUBLICATION DATE: THURSDAY 7 APRIL

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We exist to serve residents, community groups and businesses and ask for their support in return.

To advertise in the next Mornington News please contact Carolyn Wagener on 0407 030 761

Top night: At the tourism awards in Perth won by Mornington Peninsula Tourism were, from left, senior tourism officer Kellie Barrett, Joan and Bill Goodrem representing Mornington Peninsula Shire, shire economic development manager Shane Murphy and MPT executive officer Alva Hemming.

Peninsula goes national at awards THE Mornington Peninsula has been reaffirmed as a major destination, winning two awards at this year’s Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

Mornington Peninsula Tourism won the national award for Specialised Tourism Services and Max’s Restaurant at Red Hill Estate won the Tourism Restaurants and Catering category.

“To my knowledge this is the first time an attraction or privately owned tourism property on the peninsula has won a national award,” executive officer of Mornington Peninsula Tourism Alva Hemming said.

Moonlit Sanctuary in Pearcedale and transport operator Bunyip Tours were

finalists at the national awards.

Ms Hemming said the award won by her own organisation “recognised MPT’s integrated approach to tourism services and its unique collaboration with local industry to build sustainable tourism across the peninsula throughout the year”.

Victorian Tourism and Major Events Minister Louise Asher said the awards demonstrate Victoria’s outstanding performance and achievement at a national level.

“These awards recognise the drive and innovation of individual businesses to remain at the forefront of the industry. A key element of any tourist’s

holiday is enjoying high quality service. On this measure, Mornington Peninsula Tourism demonstrated delivery of first-rate tourism experiences,” Ms Asher said.

Mornington Peninsula Tourism was one of four Victorian winners at the tourism awards night in Perth on Friday 11 February.

“It was a simply spectacular win for the Mornington Peninsula,” Ms Hemming said. “We were competing against Australia’s best, and we have now proved that Mornington Peninsula Tourism provides unparalleled quality in tourism services to tourism businesses and visitors alike.”

Did you know...

Top eats: Collecting the award won by Max’s Restaurant at Red Hill Estate were Marcus Bradford, Max Paganoni and Jessica Browne.

Hope for grieving families

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Mornington News 24 March 2011

FAMILIES devastated by the death of a baby will come together at a Hope Eternal service being held at Mornington Park on Friday 25 March.

The service is being held by the Liquid Church, which holds Sunday services each week at Mornington Secondary College’s performing arts centre and fortnightly “life groups” at Rosebud, Safety Beach, Mt Martha, Hastings, Somerville and Skye.

Courtney, the 13-week-old daughter of Liquid Church pastors Carolyn and Murray Holmes, died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

“Although the pain has dulled, we have a quiet daily awareness that she’s not with us and that won’t ever leave us,” Ms Holmes said.

“A service like Hope Eternal will give the people of the Mornington Peninsula a chance to honour the precious little life of the one they’ve lost.”

Mr Holmes, a former pastor at Gateway Church in Langwarrin, said Liquid Church was “committed to being relevant and real within the community”.

“What could be more relevant than giving people a chance to be in a supportive and encouraging environment where everyone has an intimate understanding of what you’ve been through and, importantly, the continuing experience?”

Midwife Julie Greenwood said it was never too late for parents to grieve, “and never too late to honour the life of our precious little ones, regardless of how they were lost – whether through abortion, miscarriage, stillbirth or death in infancy”.

The service starts at 7.30pm at Mornington Park at the bayside end of Main St. Details: Call 59872335 or www.hopeeternal.com.au

Battle to demolish heritage house

By Mike Hast MORNINGTON property owners Angela and Elio Giucastro face a battle to win permission to demolish their partly wrecked, heritage-listed house at 42 Barkly St. The house has been vacant since March 2007 and has been vandalised as well as partly damaged by fires including one in January 2009 and one on 27 October last year when the Giucastros were at a swimwear fashion parade at Michelle Ann boutique with star attraction model Megan Gale.

Objections to the proposal have been lodged with Mornington Peninsula Shire including from the peninsula branch of the National Trust, a heritage protection lobbyist from Dromana, Mornington Environment Association and several Mornington residents including the former owner of the property, Denise Hassett.

Earlier this month The News reported the house had a link with James Louis Edgeworth Somers, a “beloved physician” of Mornington and the peninsula who ministered to the sick from 1893 to 1938, and who built the house in 1920.

He famously rode a big white horse around the town accompanied by his dogs. People always knew when he was coming by the baying of his hounds.

Ms Giucastro has submitted to the shire a petition signed by 28 residents of Barkly St supporting the demolition.

Franz Bjerkhamn, a member of MEA who has lodged an objection as an individual, said the house would be worth between $1-1.5 million if restored.

He said Dr James Edgeworth Somers had built the house for one of his daughters, a doctor, and her husband in 1920.

The Giucastros bought the property from Denise Hassett in 2006 for $715,000. Ms Hassett and her then-husband David Hassett had operated a bed and breakfast there since 1995 when they bought it from Dr Stewart Johnston, the last doctor to work out of the house since it was built 75 years before.

An owner before Dr Johnston had completely rewired and redecorated the house, Ms Hassett said.

She said the place was in good condition when she sold to the Giucastros in 2006. The News incorrectly reported earlier this month the house had been damaged by squatters before it was sold

(‘Wrecker set to move on last link to doctor’, 10/3/11).

Ms Hassett said “tenants from hell” had damaged the house in 2006 and early 2007 when it was rented out by the Giucastros.

Copper guttering and downpipes had been removed, and a restored claw-foot bath Ms Hassett rescued from a house in nearby Albert St had been stolen.

“It was a beautiful house when we had it,” she said. “The main beams and floor are made of Tasmanian myrtle.”

Ms Hassett said the B&B had hosted Prue Harvey and her daughter, comedian Tracy Harvey, who were distant relatives of Dr Somers; cartoonist and writer Michael Leunig; former Victorian premier Joan Kirner; ABC science broadcaster Robin Williams; Mark Latham before he was Opposition leader; and former equal opportunity commissioner Moira Rayner. “They all loved it.”

She said the house should have been heritage listed before she sold it.

The house is an unusual twostorey Federation Bungalow-style with Mediterranean influence.

The Giucastros, owners of Biscottini café and restaurant in Mornington, wanted to buy the property in 2006 and asked Mornington Peninsula Shire if it was subject to heritage conditions.

They were told no.

It had not been identified in the 1994 Mornington Heritage Study.

But the shire later discovered it was of “local significance” and in 2008 placed a temporary heritage overlay on the property, stopping the couple from pulling it down.

This was made permanent in March 2010.

The shire’s heritage planner, Simon Lloyd, said the Giucastros had submitted an engineer’s report in support of the requested demolition that showed the house was too far gone.

Ms Giucastro said the house would cost more than $700,000 to restore.

Mornington Ward councillor Bev Colomb said on Monday night the matter had not yet been listed for discussion by the council.

Wrecked: Two views of the heritagelisted house in Barkly St that the owners want to demolish. The interior near the stairs was badly damaged by a fire that started under the stairwell.

Off to VCAT – again BREWING giant Foster’s Group is taking Mornington Peninsula Shire to the planning tribunal after the shire knocked back its second attempt to get more seats at its La Baracca restaurant.

The venue is at the Main Ridge winery T’Gallant on Mornington-Flinders Rd. Shire councillors refused the application for a scaled-down expansion on Monday 31 January.

They knocked back plans for a 274-seat restaurant in March 2009 and Foster’s appealed the decision in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

The case was heard in September 2009 and the VCAT formally rejected the application in February last year, supporting shire councillors, who voted 10-0 to reject T’Gallant’s request to increase restaurant seats from the existing permit for 60 to 274, plus 40 seats for cellar door patrons.

The VCAT described T’Gallant’s plan as being of a “scale and intensity [that] cannot be supported” on the 16-hectare property in the green wedge on Mornington-Flinders Road.

Green wedge planning rules state wineries of 40 hectares can have 150-seat restaurants.

T’Gallant has 60 seats on 16 hectares.

The revised application was for a 150-seat restaurant plus 40 in the cellar door area. The plan was rejected 9-0.

Red Hill Community Action says a major problem is T’Gallant’s waste treatment plant, which is old technology and has to be pumped out regularly to prevent pollution.

Two years ago the shire fined T’Gallant more than $1100 for permit breaches, but it was challenged and remains in legal limbo.

Last month Red Hill area councillor Frank Martin said he had visited T’Gallant on Saturday and Sunday 29 and 30 January and noted the car park was overflowing on both days.

Mornington News 24 March 2011

PAGE 3

NEWS DESK

Humanity shines in quake aftermath

By Keith Platt MORNINGTON Peninsula couple Jenny and Steve Lewis are seeing history unfold before their eyes as Japan reels and recovers from last week’s earthquake, tsunami and ongoing nuclear nightmare.

Besides the shock and fear, destruction and damage, Ms Lewis is also in awe of the reaction of the Japanese.

“The world is now seeing what we have grown to love in the Japanese people: grace, dignity in the face of adversity, honesty, care, respect, no loss of law or decorum, no looting, no complaining or asking for some magical ‘other person’ to fix their problems.

“The world has responded to this shocking catastrophe but stories are widespread of people who have already lost everything in the tragedy helping others in need.”

The Lewises live in Yokohama, south of Tokyo.

A teacher in Hastings for 23 years, Ms Lewis moved there last year when Mr Lewis was posted to Japan.

“From a personal aspect, we are living in very uncertain times: will we have another large earthquake? Will the nuclear situation worsen?” she wrote on the internet.

“The country has had over 400 aftershocks since the big one and we in Yokohama have had too many to count. When the building starts rocking you hold your breath and hope it is not another big one.

“Some have been very strong. We had a 6.2 just 54 miles west of us at about 10.40pm the other night. It start-

ed quite differently, with a deep pulling and shuddering sensation under the building before the normal shaking. It was a very shallow quake, only one kilometre deep.

“The next night we had another one at the about the same time. Makes it hard to settle at night.”

Normally, Jenny Lewis loves to take photos, but on Friday 11 March she was so overcome by fear that she forgot to record the most terrifying event in her life – the Japanese earthquake.

“Truthfully, it was such a scary moment that for once in my life I didn’t take photos,” Ms Lewis told The News just days later.

Having returned to Yokohama from Melbourne on the Wednesday, she was able to maintain contact with friends and family using Skype and Facebook.

“Normally keen to write my blog, I have found my new post difficult to compose. It is such a huge tragedy and having such a widespread impact that I don’t know where to begin.”

Ms Lewis was eating lunch when the first tremors began at 2.46pm.

“Without warning the apartment began to shake. Uh oh! Here we go again, another tremor. Within seconds I realised this was serious, the intensity of the shake increased and increased. I typed a message on Facebook: ‘Having a serious earthquake, never felt anything like it. Can stand, shit I’m scared’ (should have said ‘can’t stand’ but the room and my hands were shaking too much)’.

“The shaking intensified. Getting stronger and stronger…faster and fast-

Feeling the shock: Jenny and Steve Lewis are in Japan as it undergoes the trauma of earthquake, tsunami and nuclear breakdown.

er. I waited for it to subside but subside it did not. The building shook violently and ferociously. The shaking was so violent and intense I still could not hit the correct keys. Too bad. I hit post without even correcting. The time according to my computer was 2.56pm.”

Husband Steve called while sheltering under a desk in his office.

“Steve witnessed the awesome rocking of the buildings from outside. I was still in the apartment and held on as I went for another ride. Within minutes of the quakes the phone systems became clogged and Steve and I didn’t have contact for a couple of hours.”

Ms Lewis said her greatest fear was

“falling to the ground”.

“I watched the opposite wall moving backwards and forwards about a metre.

My initial thoughts, which sound a bit dramatic, were ‘please don’t let me die in my 16th floor apartment, alone and in Japan away from my family’.

“Suddenly the TV flew across the floor, I listened as the heavy double sliding doors between the lounge and dining rooms slid shut and then continued to repeatedly bang open and shut, drawers in the kitchen fell out, chopping boards, cutlery and bottles fell on the floor and were flung into the hallway.

“Decorative vases fell, curtains

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quivered as they swung backwards and forward, drawers in the dressing room slid open then fell over, pretty well anything loose fell.

“Fortunately, we were unharmed but at the time were unsure if this was the very overdue Kanto earthquake happening. According to experts it was not.

“Our main concern is whether this huge 9.0 earthquake can have unsettled the three plates which meet under Tokyo and Yokohama. If the plates have moved so much and forced the Earth to move off its axis, who knows?”

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Mornington News 24 March 2011

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‘Literacy villages’ across peninsula for the young

By Keith Platt HASTINGS, Crib Point, Balnarring and Somers are at the forefront of a program to improve literacy among young people from birth to 18.

The Western Port region is the first of 12 “literacy villages” being created across the Mornington Peninsula and Frankston.

A second village north of Frankston – including Carrum Downs, Skye and Sandhurst – will follow close behind and provide a reference point to Western Port, which already has some existing literacy programs.

Each village will have a mayor coordinating activities of various “stakeholders”, which could include municipal councils, schools, kindergartens, libraries, community groups and residents.

Former shire councillor Brian Stahl is the “literacy mayor” of the Hastingsbased village. No mayor has been appointed at Carrum Downs.

The mayors will be expected to meet on a regular basis to discuss what is happening in their respective villages while working with project officers to develop action plans, seek sponsorship and access resources to promote literacy “and other support as required”.

The scale of the villages encompassing two municipalities is a first for Australia and, if successful, is likely to be seen as a model for other areas.

Mornington Peninsula CEO Michael Kennedy and Frankston CEO George

Modrich have for the past year worked closely with the regional director of the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, Peter Greenwell, in creating the literacy villages program for the two neighbouring municipalities.

Dr Kennedy said statistics showed the level of literacy of children starting school on the peninsula was “well below state levels … they were arriving at school but were not ready to learn”.

“This means they are not having access to every opportunity to reach their potential. It’s a very significant issue. If they get off to a bad start it is a struggle to catch up.”

Dr Kennedy said the village concept would work at two levels, with the shire operating at the “big village” level, providing health care for children, libraries and “raising awareness of literacy”.

“The local villages will be shaped by the needs of each area. Mornington and Mt Eliza might be different to Tootgarook or Hastings where there are already neighbourhood renewal programs.

“We want to be a community-driven project that’s supported by the councils and government. We don’t want them bogged down by bureaucracy.

“I expect the levels of success to be measured over a long time.”

Carol Coulson, project manager of the $1 million three-year Frankston/

Mornington Peninsula Literacy Partnership, is based at the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development offices in Frankston.

“We want to improve literacy,” Ms Coulson said. “Many people who get involved in the criminal justice system and the unemployed have low levels of literacy.”

Ms Coulson said most of the money for the literacy villages program coming from state and federal governments would pay for staff “and getting the message out about the importance of literacy”.

Data would be collected about literacy levels among young people in each of the 12 village areas while decisions were yet to be made on specific activities.

“There’s no definitive plan, but we’ll look at targeting communities through public forums, newspapers, newsletters and shopping centres. We’ll be doing many different things although we’re not sure yet just how it will evolve” Ms Coulson said.

“We’ve had two meetings in Hastings and Carrum Downs and there’s already a strong network supporting literacy at Hastings,” Ms Coulson said.

“Because it was already working in Hastings we chose a contrasting area, Carrum Downs, where there was nothing established. We will role the experiences from these two pilot projects into the next ones.”

June has been set as the target date for launching the entire project, including naming of the 12 villages.

Free entry: Pt Nepean and some of its restored historic buildings at the Quarantine Station are open free to the public.

Easter at Pt Nepean THE Easter school holidays bring an opportunity for families to find out about the work of rangers at Point Nepean National Park, Portsea.

The junior rangers program is one of many activities planned for the park between 11 and 26 April including tours and the discovery trail for children at the forts or Quarantine Station.

Families with children aged 6-12 can take part in the Park Discovery Digital Scavenger Hunt.

Children will be loaned a digital camera to record elements of the park, from insects and trees to park structures and visitors.

This free activity will be held weekdays at 1.15pm.

The junior ranger program is run from Gunners Cottage, which is 2.5 kilometres from the park’s information centre. Visitors can walk, cycle, take the transporter or drive and park at Gunners car park.

Quarantine Station tours will be led by a Parks Victoria ranger. Visitors will learn about the history of the former Quarantine Station and the stories of immigrants arriving to make a new life in Australia. The 45-minute tours run daily at 11:45pm from the Quarantine Station transporter stop.

Children can also discover the park with their Quarantine Station or Fort Nepean Kids Discovery Trail. Both are available from the information centre and park office.

The Quarantine Station is 1.5 kilometres from the information centre.

Visitors can walk, cycle or take the transporter.

The school holiday activities are free although there is a charge for the transporter.

For details call 13 1963 or visit www.parkweb.vic.gov.au Point Nepean National Park opens daily and is at the end of Point Nepean Rd, Portsea (Melway 156 C2).

Mornington News 24 March 2011

PAGE 5

NEWS DESK

Have a say on the shire’s maintenance contracts

Beach head: Charles Jacobsen wants a fence to align with the front of his beach house fence, cutting off access to scrub that is part of the coastal reserve gifted to the shire.

Council backflip over ‘gay fence’ Continued from Page 1

“This would allow police to arrest people.

Would you want your family to see full sex acts on the beach?” he asked the council.

The legal nudist Sunnyside Beach is just around the point, southwest of Mr Jacobsen’s beach house.

Mr Jacobsen’s claim caused a furore among the homosexual community and on Monday night Mr Jacobsen said he regretted his statement and wished he had said sex acts by heterosexuals or homosexuals.

He said he was doing the community a favour by building the fence.

Mr Jacobsen needed three approvals from the shire before the section 173 document could be registered and he could start building the two houses.

A 173 agreement is made between a landowner and a planning authority (in this case, the shire), and any works required by

the authority are registered on the property title. Any obligations and restrictions imposed by the council continue to bind any new owner of a property.

The three matters were: revegetation of the coastal reserve, a fence around the reserve and a sealed road down the cliff to Mr Jacobsen’s beach house.

On 21 February, councillors rejected Mr Jacobsen’s offer to go 50-50 with the shire on the $450,000 cost of revegetation.

They wanted him to pay the full cost. The revegetation includes a section of land previously cleared by Mr Jacobsen.

They accepted his offer to pay 100 per cent of the cost of erecting the fence, with the shire equally sharing its maintenance costs for 10 years. The alignment rejected on Monday night had been agreed to in February.

Mr Jacobsen and the shire agreed to equally share the cost of building a

concrete access track and its maintenance for 10 years.

In February he said if the councillors did not agree to the three items, he would withdraw the offer of the coastal reserve and go to the VCAT. Mr Jacobsen paid more than $10 million for Norman Lodge estate, formerly owned by the Myer family, in 2004.

He bought the adjoining 11.7 hectares of the 32 hectares formerly owned by Sir Reginald Ansett for $14.5 million in May 2006.

The land was declared green wedge by the Hamer government in 1971 and strengthened in 2003 by more stringent planning guidelines introduced by former Bracks government planning minister Mary Delahunty.

In March 2005, the Bracks Government rejected a request from the Port Phillip Conservation Council to buy the land.

MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire is seeking comments from residents about its maintenance contracts, which are due for renewal in 2013.

The contracts with four companies cover buildings, pathways, drains, playgrounds, street and park furniture, street cleaning and recreation reserves.

The shire is conducting a survey asking residents if they think maintenance of public assets was up to scratch, was it better or worse than five years ago, and if more emphasis should be placed on beaches, shopping centres and car parks, parks and playgrounds, sporting reserves, public halls, roads and footpaths, bushland reserves, roadside vegetation or graffiti removal.

It also asks residents if they were happy when they asked for something to be done in the past five years.

This is a chance to make a contribution and not just complain in private about the shire’s maintenance.

The shire’s manager of infrastructure maintenance, Barry Pankhurst, said it wanted to “work with the community to ensure that standards for maintenance and presentation of community assets continue to meet our community’s needs”.

The survey is available from customer service centres in Rosebud, Hastings and Mornington or online at www. mornpen.vic.gov.au/Page/ Forms.asp?Form_id=46 Details: 5950 1263.

Making medical appointments A PILOT project is being run to help Mornington Peninsula residents travel to medical appointments in Melbourne.

Under the Medical Companion Project, volunteers will meet people at Southern Cross Station or Flinders Street Station and accompany them to and from their appointment in central Melbourne.

It is estimated that 50,000 people from rural and regional Victoria travel to Melbourne each year to seek medical treatment that is not available

where they live. Many travellers are frail, aged or people living with a disability who otherwise rely on family members, friends or community transport services to drive or accompany them to Melbourne doctors.

Metropolitan travellers can also use the free service, which runs until December.

Anyone wanting to use the service can book by calling the not-for-profit organisation Travellers Aid Australia on 1300 700 399.

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PAGE 7

NEWS DESK

La Niña blamed for beach loss

By Mike Hast THE destruction of Portsea beach was caused by La Niña and not dredging of Port Phillip’s entrance, the state government will tell a meeting in Portsea next Wednesday.

Office of the Environmental Monitor director Don Hough will release a report pointing the finger at cooler than average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, which produce stronger than normal easterlies, key markers of La Niña conditions.

La Niña has been blamed for Australia’s higher than average rainfall since last winter, spring and summer, the cause of devastating floods in Queensland and Victoria.

The meeting is a follow-up to one last August when the Department of Sustainability and Environment, and the Office of the Environmental Monitor, which was formed by the government to oversee the deepening of Port Phillip shipping channels in 2008 and 2009, vigorously denied increased swell at Portsea had been caused by dredging of The Heads.

Last August, Mr Hough said the tide and wave modelling done for the dredging project’s two environmental effects statements had been comprehensive. “The erosion [of Portsea beach] has not been caused by dredging.”

Mr Hough conceded the swell had increased at Portsea, but could not say why.

Now the government and its experts claimed to have found the culprit – La Niña.

A report was commissioned late last year and has just been completed by Cardno Lawson Treloar, a consultant used by the government and the Port of Melbourne Corporation to provide evidence to two inquiries into the environmental impacts of dredging.

David Provis, a senior principal of Cardno Lawson Treloar, in July 2007 provided a supplementary note to the second inquiry stating there would be no predicted impact if the Great Ship Channel was dredged to 22 metres, almost three metres more than the proposed 19.1 metres.

The extra depth was caused by inaccurate dredging and dislodged rocks rolling around on the seabed.

Critics of dredging at The Heads, including divers, claim the Queen of the Netherlands dredger and moving rocks removed up to six metres from The Plateau and Rip Bank and this is what had allowed stronger swells to enter Port Phillip and wrap around the coast, destroying the beach.

Last August, Port of Melbourne chief executive Stephen Bradford refuted the claim, saying: “We’ve taken off no more than three metres.”

The report to be released next week will contain data about waves in Bass Strait entering Port Phillip before and after dredging. The data has been collected from a “wave rider” buoy that’s been anchored off Point Lonsdale for about 10 years.

Its main purpose is to provide dynamic undersea clearance data to ascertain the size of ships that can enter the bay at any particular stage of the tide.

The data has been analysed using computer models designed in Europe and Mr Hough will claim channel deepening has not affected waves hitting Portsea as any waves coming through the channel wash over the Great Sands in the north and not Portsea in the east.

La Niña will be blamed for a raised water level in Bass Strait, which has seen stronger waves entering Port Phillip.

The veracity of the claim should be easy to test later in the year as the Bureau of Meteorology says La Niña is weakening and the ocean is heating up again, a precursor to the return of El Niño, the reverse phenomena that usually brings dry conditions to Australia.

The La Niña that started last winter was the strongest since 1917. The condition usually lasts about a year with the last one in 1989-99.

La Niña and El Niño are measured by the Southern Oscillation Index, which shows changes in the temperatures of the underlying ocean. El Niño occurs every three to eight years.

Andrew Henderson, owner of Portsea Hotel, which overlooks the beach, has been a vocal critic of dredging of The Heads and last year called on the government to stop the destruction.

Emergency work was done in July and August, and in following months more than 1000 huge textile sandbags were installed to build a 150-metre long revetment, or retaining wall.

Sand was brought in from Gippsland, with some of it washing away before contractors were forced to make a

Slippery slope: Even on calm days wakes from ships entering Port Phillip are enough to cover Portsea beach.

temporary wall of rocks along the shoreline to protect the work.

The News believes the work cost well over $3 million after an initial estimate of $1 million. Mornington Peninsula Shire, which is cosponsoring the meeting next week, spent more than $50,000 on paths and landscaping.

Mr Henderson said the government was spending lots of money to “find any other reason for erosion other than channel deepening”.

“There’s no doubt the loss of the

beach has been caused by dredging.

“The swell is smashing the beach again this morning.”

The News spoke to several surfers about the La Niña theory and they scoffed.

One said blaming La Niña was absurd. “It’s patently obvious that taking rock off The Plateau has allowed in more swell. There is more swell in the middle of The Heads and what happens to that swell is influenced by the deepened channels.”

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KIDS Room Hobbies has a huge range of hobby and toy products. The product range consists of mainly electric, nitro and petrol-powered cars, boats, tanks, helicopters and aircraft.

The store also stocks slot car and train sets, static models, die-cast collectables as well as other toys and puzzles for younger children.

Kids Room Hobbies stock well-known brands such as Thunder Tiger, Tamiya, Kyosho, G V Racing, BSD, Windhobby, HSP, Hobby Tech and King Motor. Parts are available for all stocked hobby products, and repairs are carried out by full-time experienced staff members.

Demonstrations are carried out daily at the

Briefly Calling tree amigos MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire’s free tree week runs from Saturday 26 March to Friday 1 April.

Ratepayers and residents can collect two free plants from one of three centres: Mornington Peninsula Youth Enterprises’ nursery, Mitchell St, Mornington; Rae’s Mitre 10, 136 High St, Hastings; and Konnections, corner McDowell St and Rosebud Pde, Rosebud. MPYE and Konnections are not open on Sunday.

Residents must bring proof of residency: a driver’s licence, copy of a rate notice or a copy of Peninsula-Wide, the shire’s quarterly newspaper.

For details, call the shire on 1300 850 600.

Ward meeting MORNINGTON Ward councillor Bev Colomb is holding a ward meeting for residents, ratepayers and business people 9.30-11.30am on Saturday 2 April at the shire office, Queens St, Mornington (Melway 104 D11).

Topics will include Mornington harbour and the marina application, heritage and town planning, community buildings and infrastructure, the

Dandenong showroom so drop in and staff will fly a plane or run a car for you. All nitro cars come with a free starter kit, fuel and batteries as well as free tune and service for the life of the car.

Ever wanted to fly a plane or helicopter? Staff at Kids Room Hobbies teach customers to fly at no extra costs.

Book a time and they’ll have an experienced flyer on hand to take you up and guide you through the basics of flight.

Dandenong: 10 Swift Way, 9768 2586.

Frankston: Shop 46a, Beach St, 9783 1166.

New location: Shop 7/1 Mornington-Tyabb Rd, Mornington, 5977 1444.

town’s 150th anniversary later this year and a general discussion about the ward.

Cr Colomb said people could bring newsletters and brochures to distribute. Coffee, tea and brunch will be provided. Details: 5950 1428.

Plant group SOUTHERN Peninsula Indigenous Flora and Fauna Association meets at 7.30pm on Monday 4 April at Parks Victoria, Hinton St, Rosebud.

Anyone can attend and bring plants for identification or raise environmental topics. Supper provided. Details: Jan, 5986 6566.

Zero emissions talk

THE independent, not-for-profit Beyond Zero Emissions group presents research on renewable energy at Frankston library, 60 Playne St, at 7pm on Thursday 31 March.

BZE campaigns to reduce atmospheric greenhouse gases.

The seminar will explain in layman’s language how Australia can make the transition from fossil fuels to carbon-neutral renewable energy.

Details: Frankston Library, 9784 1020.

Industry anger builds over ‘cheap’ housing imports

By Keith Platt HOUSING industry workers have been angered by suggestions that prefabricated houses should be brought from Thailand to provide cheap housing on the Mornington Peninsula.

Rye-based builder Troy Kloszynski said similar quality houses could be built here for $10,000 less than prices being quoted by a peninsula-based agent for Ezy Build Australia.

David Tootell, of Crib Point, said the Thai prefabs would cost $110,000 for a two bedroom “country-style” or $185,000 for four bedrooms.

Mr Kloszynski said making the houses overseas would take work away from local tradespeople.

“For a start we don’t know what wages or conditions are being paid to the workers in Thailand and I reckon the same product can be made here for $10,000 less as well as providing employment on the peninsula.”

Mr Tootell’s suggestion followed the release of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s draft report, Social Housing and Affordable Housing Policy, which looks at ways of providing housing to those who can least afford it.

The policy advocates low-cost housing making up three per cent of the shire’s housing stock within 10 years; it is now 1.4 per cent.

To reach the target, 146 low-cost

houses would need to be built every year over the next decade.

The report defines low-cost housing as being where the rent, lease or mortgage costs no more than 30 per cent of a household’s income.

The draft report suggests using council-owned land and easing some planning and design rules to cut costs.

It suggests towns that fit the criteria for low-cost housing as being Sorrento, Rye, Tootgarook, Rosebud West, Rosebud, Dromana, Mt Martha, Mornington, Mt Eliza, Balnarring, Crib Point, Hastings, Tyabb, Somerville and Baxter.

“Lots of people are ropeable about bringing houses from Thailand.

Tradies are angry. There are enough builders and tradies around here. I get at least two calls a week from skilled people seeking work,” ,” Mr Kloszynski said.

“I’ve been in the industry for 18 years and a registered builder for five.

I build for realistic prices.”

He had read the draft housing policy and believed “it will make it impossible for the small builder to compete for work against the production developers”.

“Under the law we have to provide a five-star rating but council wants six stars. They’re making it real hard.

“I was gobsmacked when their

Build local: Troy Kloszynski says moves to import cheap houses from Thailand will hit the peninsula’s economy.

catchphrase is sustainability.”

Mr Kloszynski said prefabricated homes were already available in Australia for the same price as those promoted by Mr Tootell.

Rye and Blairgowrie alone had 93 registered domestic builders.

“According to the census the highest percentage of occupation in Rye is ‘tradesperson/and or related worker’.

“Clearly, importing cheap housing from overseas would not only hurt

Dump green waste free

Australians, but also our community.”

Demand for all types of housing on the peninsula has soared, increasing prices and rents.

Increasing numbers of people are having trouble meeting mortgage payments while public housing waiting lists have blown out to 10 years.

There are a growing number of people “sleeping rough” on the peninsula.

Criteria for choosing locations included the houses being built within urban growth boundaries, within one kilometre of public transport, and near shops, schools, employment opportunities and recreation facilities.

A preamble to the draft policy states the peninsula is undergoing a prolonged and increasing shortage of public housing for specific vulnerable groups, including the elderly, people with disabilities, carers and singleparent families.

“Low waged singles and families are also experiencing increasing difficulty obtaining suitable housing,” the draft policy states.

While acknowledging that responsibility for public housing rests mainly with the state and federal governments, the shire says it has “an important role to play” in such areas as planning, consulting the community and encouraging and providing incentives for public housing.

RESIDENTS of Mornington Peninsula Shire can dump green waste free of charge at the shire’s three waste disposal centres on the weekend of 2-3 April.

The service was started after Black Saturday in 2009 to encourage residents to reduce green waste and fire fuel loads around homes.

Proof of residency is required (driver’s licence or a copy of a rates notice) and only green waste (all types of garden waste and untreated timber) delivered by non-commercial vehicles and trailers will be accepted.

Waste centres open 8am-5pm in Truemans Rd, Rye, McKirdys Rd, Tyabb, and Watt Rd, Mornington.

Delays are expected at Mornington so driving across to Tyabb may be better. Mornington can only accept three cubic metres of green waste per trip.

For more information about the free green waste weekend or the new green bin collection service, call customer service on 1300 850 600 during weekday office hours.

Life savers’ grant for new recruits ROSEBUD District Life Saving Club has been awarded $3300 under the Victorian Volunteer Small Grants program to conduct a recruiting campaign.

The club needs new members to operate beach patrol services.

Community groups seeking funding for activities can apply for grants at www.grants.dpcd.vic.gov.au

Mornington News 24 March 2011

PAGE 9

NEWS DESK

Road damage: The surface of the Esplanade at Mt Martha is crumbling due to blocked drains on nearby roads managed by Mornington Peninsula Shire. Erosion has cut deeply into steep cliffs directly below the roadway, right.

Expect delays during repairs to eroded Esplanade IS this bend on the Esplanade, Mt Martha, a landslide in waiting? The road surface has been undermined by water spilling from blocked drains and the cliff below appears to be in danger of crumbling.

VicRoads is about to start repairs, which will see lane closures and reduced speed limits.

The cliff edge is right next to the

roadside and runoff is eroding the steep incline all the way to the beach below.

John-Ault Connell, of Mornington Peninsula Shire’s project management team, said the latest landslip happened on Thursday 10 March about 100 metres north of Marguerita Av. “The slip is about three metres wide close to the shoulder and widens down the embankment.”

Mr Connell said VicRoads was responsible for maintenance of the Esplanade.

Duncan Elliott, VicRoads’ regional director metro south east region said the latest erosion was caused by blocked drains “on nearby local roads”, which are maintained by the shire.

“VicRoads will be working with Mornington Peninsula Council to clear

the blocked drains on the Esplanade and nearby local roads over the coming week.

“VicRoads will organise repair to the road surface and expects works to be complete by early April. During repair works, lane closures and reduced speed limits will be necessary to ensure the safety of road users and workers in the area.”

Mr Elliott said VicRoads is aware of cliff erosion on the Esplanade near the Balcombe Bridge, however an “investigation has not identified any safety issues to the road or motorists”.

Cliffs close to the cracked section of the road have been eroding for some years, and beach access tracks near Alice and Augusta streets are closed.

Keith Platt

Cars consuming our nature strips

By Mike Hast MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has a big problem on its hands. Well, on its nature strips actually (also known as road reserves by town planners).

Where once the shire would come down on you like a tonne of bricks for parking on its nature strip – the land between your property and the road – nowadays it appears you can get away with just about anything.

The problem started when local governments began approving housing developments with small blocks and narrow roads.

A glaring example is what happened in Mornington East in the 1980s when the Shire of Mornington approved compact subdivisions.

With room for just one or two cars on a property, a third car had to go on the nature strip.

You couldn’t park on the road as there was no room. And when you had visitors, their cars might fill the street.

(Fireys hate these narrow roads; watch the sparks fly when they have to manoeuvre their big red trucks up a narrow road to save a burning house.)

So a precedent had been set and people started parking on nature strips throughout the shire. On narrow ones, wide ones, everywhere. Parking officers were told to put their fine books away.

The problem raised its head at

PAGE 10

Mornington News 24 March 2011

the council’s general meeting on 15 March.

Murray Gardner, who lives in Rutland Ave, Mt Eliza, near the corner of Wimborne Ave, has closed off his old driveway on Wimborne with vegetation and opened up a new one in Rutland around the corner, claiming it was safer when driving into and out of his property.

The property is in Ranelagh Estate, designed by the acclaimed Walter Burley Griffin and his wife Marion Mahony Griffin in 1924.

The nature strips are huge in Ranelagh, up to 16 metres wide, part of Griffin’s design of what is known as a garden city. The couple also did Eaglemont near Ivanhoe, Castlecrag in Sydney and, of course, most famously Australia’s national capital, Canberra.

Griffin’s garden cities are characterised by curving roads, parks, indigenous bush and trees, and the previously mentioned wide nature strips.

Councillors have fired up over Mr Gardner’s Rutland Ave property because he has created more than a normal driveway across the council’s

land. It’s very wide. Next to the house is room for several cars. Or a boat.

And here’s the reason for the angst – it’s on heritage-listed land.

All of Ranelagh’s roads, road reserves and parks were listed on the register of Heritage Victoria in May 2005.

But someone forgot to tell a shire planner who approved the Rutland Ave driveway.

Heritage Victoria has become involved and it will hold a hearing about the driveway, which it does not approve.

Mr Gardner might have got away with building a mini freeway across this heritage-listed land (like Linking Melbourne Authority is doing with Peninsula Link across the heritage property Westerfield in Frankston South), but odds are he’ll have to reduce its width, dig up the gravel area at the end and plant some trees and bushes.

The matter will also see the council impose parking restrictions on Ranelagh nature strips. There are a few other landowners who might get a knock on the door and an order to remove gravel parking areas (and in one case replace a section of gutter sawn off to allow parking).

The shire will also introduce a maximum width of 3.5 metres for Ranelagh driveways Mr Gardner is likely to go the shire for compensation.

Driving driveway study COUNCILLORS fired up about parking on road reserves when debating the Rutland Ave matter.

Cr Leigh Eustace set it up perfectly when he snookered shire planner Allan Cowley over the error in approving the new Rutland Ave driveway.

“Why did Heritage Victoria refuse a driveway we’d already approved?”

Mr Cowley said the Ranelagh nature strips (he called them road reserves) were on the heritage register and that it was unusual for estates to be registered.

He said the new driveway was inconsistent with the aims of the Ranelagh Conservation Management Plan (July 2009) – which sought to protect and conserve the natural and park-like atmosphere of the estate – and it had reduced the number of trees and bushes.

“The driveway has a parking bay and doesn’t actually lead to the property.”

(Well, it does lead to the property, but it doesn’t actually go into the property, like the old one now covered in plants.)

Cr David Gibb said parking on nature strips should be unacceptable.

Mr Cowley said the Rutland Ave owner had photos of other people who parked on nature strips in Ranelagh.

“The area is unique and we ought to stop people parking on road reserves,” Cr Gibb said.

Cr Anne Shaw: “I have a problem with car parks and driveways on nature strips.”

Cr Reade Smith: “We have other areas where we allow parking on nature strips; Mt Martha and Mornington, where developers haven’t allowed enough space.”

Mornington area councillor Bev Colomb said there were new estates where you can’t park on both sides of the road as it would not allow traffic to pass.

Cr Shaw started the revolution when she asked for a workshop on parking on nature strips.

Councillors voted for: “A briefing paper or workshop be provided for councillors on parking – on the topic of permits or other alternatives for permanent parking places on road reserves.”

Perhaps another briefing is needed on why councils allowed developers to build such narrow roads in housing estates in the first place.

Yes, yes, we know it’s all about making land affordable for people to make their Great Australian Dream come true, but the dream can turn into a visual nightmare when you overlook 30 cars and trucks and vans parked on your short, narrow street.

And the CFA can’t get its trucks in to fight a fire.

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PAGE 11

NEWS DESK

Last chance for Western Port’s submarine

By Mike Hast THE troubled Oberon class submarine HMAS Otama has been lying at anchor off Crib Point for nine years next month and its owners are within a periscope lens of selling it.

Last week Western Port Oberon Association president Max Bryant called on state government planning minister Matthew Guy and Hastings MP Neale Burgess to honour an election promise to bring the sub ashore.

Last November, three weeks before the state election, the two Liberal MPs said a Coalition government would “immediately consult with the local community and, subject to the community’s wishes, bring the Otama submarine ashore”.

The promise was the latest lifeline thrown to the association, which has been battling for nine years to install Otama as the centrepiece of Hastings– Cerberus Naval Memorial Park, originally conceived to boost tourism in Hastings.

Otama has been rusting away on a mooring off Crib Point since it was towed to Western Port in May 2002 at a cost of $300,000 after the Oberon association bought it for $50,000 from the Royal Australian Navy. It used part of a $500,000 Centenary of Federation grant organised by Peter Reith, then Flinders federal MP and a cabinet minister in the Howard government.

The balance, $150,000, has been spent on mooring, maintenance and setting up a temporary museum and maritime memorial centre in the former BP administration centre at Crib Point, near where the sub is moored.

Rust is eating away at the sub’s outer hull, although not its crucial 25-millimetre thick pressure hull.

Mr Guy said last year: “The Western Port community has waited too long to have its say about whether this iconic piece of naval history is to come ashore and where.”

Mr Burgess said that whether the submarine comes ashore will be entirely in the hands of the community.

“If the local community wants the submarine ashore, it will come ashore.”

On Friday Mr Burgess told The News a survey of all residents in the Western Port region would be conducted through Mornington Peninsula Shire’s quarterly newsletter Peninsula Wide.

Only Western Port residents would be able to vote.

He said the shire would do a “split run”, printing an edition for Western Port region and a separate edition for the rest of the shire.

Residents will be asked if the sub should be brought ashore and where.

HMAS Rust: The Otama lies deteriorating nine years after being towed to Western Port from Western Australia.

“My preference is for Hastings,” Mr Burgess said.

If more than 50 per cent voted for the sub, it would be brought ashore, he said.

The original plan was to build the naval memorial park between Hastings Yacht Club and Western Port Marina.

A channel was to be excavated and the sub floated in about 100 metres on a high tide.

Mr Bryant said the submarine and naval park was meant to help revitalise the town and had the backing of Mornington Peninsula Shire, but the state government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment scuppered the proposal.

Alternative plans to bring Otama ashore at Crib Point were abandoned

by WPOA when the state government gave Boral permission to build a bitumen storage plant next to the site earmarked for the submarine, adjacent to the oil and gas jetty.

A third proposal to take the sub to Stony Point received in-principle support from authorities, but was delayed indefinitely when the proposed car ferry to Phillip Island was revived.

Also, Patrick Ports holds a lease on land needed for the sub until 2017, although there was a proposal to shift its depot and tugboats to Long Island,

north of Hastings.

Mr Burgess said the Labor government had been the number one hindrance to the submarine coming ashore; continually moving the goal posts and changing rules to keep it off land. “Each time the Otama looked like coming ashore, the government would find another reason why it couldn’t.

“Two feasibility studies conducted by the shire found that the Otama would generate in excess of $5 million a year for our local community. On that basis, the previous government owes this community an apology and a great deal of money,” he said.

In the past two years, the association has talked with Frankston Council about putting the sub at the proposed marina below Olivers Hill, now on hold due to lack of interest from developers; Koo Wee Rup RSL, which wanted to cut it in half and put the sub on either side of South Gippsland Hwy; and a Queensland consortium, which offered $1 million for Otama and proposed to tow it to Cairns.

The association attracted worldwide interest in November 2008 when it advertised Otama on eBay for $4.9 million. It says it received four genuine offers including one from a group aiming to restore it for use as a drugsmuggling submarine.

All about Otama OTAMA was laid down at Greenock in Scotland on 25 May 1973 and launched by Princess Anne on 3 December 1975. The Princess was also the guest of honour at the commissioning ceremony on 27 April 1978.

An Oberon class submarine, Otama weighs 2000 tonne, is 90 metres long, carried 63 submariners and had a range of 9000 nautical miles and a submerged speed of 17 knots.

It was the last of the Royal Australian Navy’s six Oberons, which served for more than 30 years, and the last of 35 Porpoise and Oberon class submarines built for the navies of the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Chile and Australia.

Otama saw service in Europe, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific and Indian oceans. It was decommissioned in December 2000.

Of the RAN’s other five Oberon subs, Oxley was scrapped, Ovens was gifted to the WA Maritime

Museum in Fremantle, Otway gifted to Holbrook in NSW, Onslow to the National Maritime Museum in Sydney, and Orion to Western Australia.

The sub is intact and missing only its torpedoes and the weapons system used to fire them.

Otama is a northern Queensland Aboriginal word for “dolphin”, the submariners’ worldwide emblem.

The moon’s balloons when it comes closer to Eart Earthh SATURDAY night’s full moon was the closest to the Earth for 18 years, just 356,575 kilometres away (221,575 miles). Known as a perigee moon it, appeared 14 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than usual, according to NASA. The moon takes an elliptical orbit around the Earth, and when it seems smaller and more distant, it’s on the farthest side (apogee) of its orbit. On the perigee side, it’s about 50,000 kilometres closer.

It was a near-perfect coincidence that only happens every 18 years.

There had been talk of a link between the “supermoon” and natural disasters such as the New Zealand and Japan earthquakes, but scientists said lunar gravity at perigee pulls tides only a few centimetres (an inch or so) higher than

PAGE 12

Closer and brighter: The moon was 14 per cent closer and 30 per cent brighter on the weekend.

usual. Local geography can amplify the effect to about 15 centimetres (six inches).

On 6 March, the moon swung to apogee – its farthest point for the month

Mornington News 24 March 2011

– when it was 406,583 kilometres (252,639 miles) distant.

Supermoon conditions were not in effect during the 11 March earthquake in Japan.

Peter Skilton of Mornington Peninsula Astronomical Society said the moon is really quite small in the night sky.

“When you see it in a Hollywood movie, for example, it has usually been added by CGI techniques, or photographed with a very long focal length lens and superimposed in the background so as to greatly exaggerate its real size,” he said.

“If you hold out an outstretched arm, your thumbnail will normally easily completely eclipse it. However, if you see the moon just as it rises above the eastern horizon, or is about to set over the western horizon, the brain perceives it to be a lot larger than six hours later or earlier when it was high in the northern sky.

“This is because you see it relative to familiar background objects such as

distant trees or far off buildings.

“The effect is noticeable to everyone, yet the moon is actually the identical size each time. This happens every month when the moon’s elliptical orbit around the Earth brings it closer to us.

“So the moon appeared slightly larger than normal in the sky, but the real phenomenon that the public will perceive is the horizon context one.”  The society holds public night viewing nights at The Briars, Nepean Hwy, Mt Martha, at 8pm on the first Friday each month using telescopes of various sizes and types. When the sky is cloudy, presentations are shown in the MPAS Viewing Centre. The society is hosting the biennial Victorian Astronomy Convention at The Briars over the weekend of 29 April to 1 May. Details: 0419 253 252.

NEWS DESK

Go slow on the wildlife

Fatal hit: This koala had to be put down because of injuries it received when hit by a vehicle in White Hill Rd, Red Hill.

Komett thanks his lucky stars KOMETT the 17-year-old Maltese cross was brought back from the dead last week after falling into the water near Hastings pier.

The quick thinking and cool heads of two staff at Pelican Park pool revived the little feller as distraught owner John Kuljis looked on.

What started as a quiet walk around the pier precinct turned to near tragedy for John when Komett slipped and fell into Western Port, was dragged out by his owner, rushed in his arms across to the adjacent aquatic centre and given CPR and oxygen by two staff members.

When the dog spluttered back to life, he was taken to Hastings Veterinary Clinic where Mark West and Kim Walter gave him more oxygen and other support therapy.

Komett has made a full recovery and was back on his feet 24 hours after the incident, although a little unsteady.

The incident started about 6.30 last Wednesday afternoon when John and Komett were returning to John’s car, which was parked next to Hastings Yacht Club.

Komett’s a senior citizen nowadays and John takes him for a stroll most days rather than the long walks and runs of the past. The friendly Komett gets to say hello to a few two-legged and four-legged locals and visitors as well as check his pee-mail.

Man and dog made their way back to the car along the edge of the car park, which borders the water’s edge, after wandering along the foreshore near Pelican Park and its aquatic centre and cafe.

As John approached his car, thinking Komett was close behind, a woman caught his eye and said matter of factly “I think your dog’s just fallen in the water”.

John turned around, stunned, rushed a few steps back to the car park edge and saw Komett struggling in the water.

“I couldn’t believe it; it all happened so quickly,” John said. “The poor little feller was dog paddling weakly, but had his head beneath the water.

“He wasn’t strong enough to keep his

head up.”

John threw himself forward on to the ground and reached out for Komett.

A surge of water took the dog just out of reach. John grabbed at him again and got a handful of the dog’s fur, pulling him up and on to land.

“I was stunned; Komett had stopped breathing. Paddling one second and seemingly dead the next. I was distraught.”

John gave the dog mouth-to-muzzle resuscitation, but he didn’t respond. He looked up to see dozens of onlookers, including shocked children, and cried out: “Can anyone help me?”

The woman who’d alerted John said “take him to the pool; they might help”.

He grabbed Komett, raced across the car park and in through the entrance, repeating his plea to a woman behind the reception desk. It was Rebecca Jeffrey, a fitness instructor.

She asked him to come around and quickly started CPR on the little dog’s chest, small repeated pushes on his heart and lungs.

John knelt next to them, going deeper into shock by the second. Flashing through his mind was the day he’d bought the cheeky puppy, a Maltese fox terrier cross, at a Burwood pet shop. Their 17 years together, living in Chadstone when John worked as an architect in the big smoke, moving to Tooradin for a sea-change and arriving in Hastings a few years ago.

John had been doing it tough for a while, but Komett was his constant companion, his little mate who gave him unconditional love. Anyone who has owned a pet will know what John was going through.

John snapped out of it as aquatics operations coordinator Brett Fletcher appeared next to them with an oxygen revival kit, ripped it open, inserted a tube into Komett’s gullet and turned on the air.

A crowd had gathered around the scene, children with their hands over their mouths, perhaps praying for the little dog.

For John it seemed like an eternity, but seconds later Komett spluttered, coughed and started breathing again.

By Keith Platt WILDLIFE carers are appealing to drivers to slow down after the death of a koala in Red Hill that had already been twice released back into the wild after being treated for injuries.

The koala’s luck ran out last month as it was crossing White Hill Rd. After suffering horrific head injuries it managed to climb a tree from where it was eventually rescued by Ian Gondos of the Australian Wildlife Assistance Rescue and Education group (AWARE) and Brenda Marmion of Crystal Ocean Wildlife in Dromana.

The koala was so badly injured that it had to be put down.

“We’re always having problems with cars hitting wildlife,” Ms Marmion told The News, adding that she was carrying a “pinky” wallaby and a similar aged brushtail possum in bags inside her jumper as she spoke on the phone.

“The wallaby’s got head injuries, which are probably the result of it being thrown from the pouch by its

mother who may have been chased by foxes or dogs.

“I don’t know if it will live. It’s got cuts on its head, which is slightly swollen. It’s not doing too well.”

Ms Marmion said the baby wallaby had been found at Red Hill while the possum had been found on the ground in the pademelons’ centre at the Moonlit Sanctuary wildlife centre in Pearcedale.

The pademelon is similar to a wallaby but with shorter, thicker and a sparsely haired tail.

Ms Marmion said some native animals had been breeding up to three times in the past season “because the conditions have been so good”.

Many koalas lived near White Hill Rd and she had asked council to erect signs warning of their presence “at the top and the bottom of the road”.

Other native animals often brought into her wildlife refuge included flying foxes and birds caught in protective netting over fruit trees.

“The black netting is the worst, al-

though they still get caught in the white nylon netting,” she said.

“The animals don’t seem to get caught quite so often if the nets are stretched over a frame rather than draped loosely over the trees.

“CDs hanging on strings reflect light, even moonlight, which can also help.”

Ms Marmion said the flying foxes were her “favourite” animals, but warned anyone handling them to be careful about being bitten.

Flying foxes caught on the Mornington Peninsula were returned to the colony at Yarra Bend near Ivanhoe once they had recovered from any injuries, she said.

Besides the two joeys nestling inside her jumper, Ms Marmion was last week nursing a ringtail possum, five sugar gliders, two koalas, two tawny frogmouths, a galah with head injuries, a crimson rosella and an eastern rosella.

“It’s a quiet season, really,” she said.

“But I’d like motorists to think about the injured animals and slow down.”

there in one piece.”

At the vet Dr West and Dr Walter sprang into action, taking Komett into a treatment room and doing their vet magic. Meanwhile, Brett had arrived to take Rebecca and the oxygen gear back to the pool.

Komett was in a stable condition.

Mark sent John away at about 7.15 when the vet’s closed. He told him to come back at 8.30. John was up at the vet’s at 8, pacing around in the empty car park.

Back home, Komett didn’t eat that night or the next morning, but within 24 hours was moving around, eating some chicken, drinking water and, if dogs can do such a thing, counting his lucky stars.

John was overawed by the assistance he received. “Complete strangers helped us,” he said. “It was a humbling experience and, of course, a very happy ending.”

Paw note: Komett is famous for appearing with his owner in one of The X Factor promos last year when the two were hurtling down Swanston St on a bicycle trying to make the Frankston train.

Footnote: John is nearly as famous as Komett. The co-founder of Arada Thai restaurant in High St, Hastings, he is a rider of recumbent bicycles, or trikes, and is now working at Hastingsbased MR Components with Michael Rogan, building human-powered vehicles and aluminium trikes.

Near miss: Komett and his owner John Kuljis at Hastings foreshore, close to where the dog nearly met his maker last week.

A murmur spread through the crowd; a few people clapped and cried out.

Rebecca and Brett had revived the dog, brought him back from death’s door.

They suggested he go to the vet.

Someone phoned the vet clinic to make sure they were open. John and Rebecca, who carried Komett in a towel and the oxygen pack, walked quickly out of Pelican Park and toward John’s car. John raced ahead, jumped in and reversed out of his spot. Someone opened the passenger door and helped Rebecca get in.

John drove out of the car park and onto the road, planting his foot in the Capri sport car. “Slow down, John,” Rebecca warned. “We’ve got to get

Mornington News 24 March 2011

PAGE 13

Healthy Living Your health and wellbeing

The feet – do you ignore one of our most valuable assets?

PAUL Dowie is a former track and field athlete, member of the Australian Taekwondo team and Australian Olympic squad, local podiatrist and founder of the Foot and Leg Pain Clinics.

He understands the importance of protecting and preserving one of your primary assets – your feet.

But how well do you know your feet?

Leonardo DeVinci described the human foot as “a masterpiece of engineering and a work of art”.

Did you know?

Your feet contain more nerves than anywhere

else in the body, outside of the central nervous system, and are a highly complex mechanical system that you rely on for nearly all your daily activities.

These include standing, walking, running and engaging in sport and recreational activities.

Each foot consists of 26 bones (a quarter of all bones in the body), 33 joints, 107 ligaments, 19 muscles and tendons and an intricate network of nerves and blood vessels.

The average person takes in excess of 10,00015,000 steps a day (equating to more than 128,000

By Laura Jones BARIATRIC surgery can help people to lose weight and reduce obesity related diseases, by enabling people to become satisfied from smaller amounts of food. However to achieve the best results, patients must also aim to work towards living a healthy lifestyle. My role as a bariatric dietitian includes providing regular follow up, support and education for patients.

In particular I help people to develop a non-dieting approach to their weight loss, which is something a lot of bariatric patients have not achieved before. It is also essential that a patient’s diet is assessed for nutritional adequacy to prevent nutritional deficiencies and related ill

health. I also offer suggestions for vitamin supplementation, quick healthy meal ideas, meal planning and helping patients to understand food labels.

Dietitians don’t just help people with improving their nutritional knowledge; they also focus on eating behavior, behavioral change, motivation and more importantly adjusting diet for other health conditions that a patient may have. Only an accredited practising dietitian can give advice on the nutritional management of chronic diseases such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease. In addition, research has shown that regular follow up with your bariatric team, including the dietitian, can lead to better health and weight loss

kilometres in a lifetime, more than three times around the Earth).

Each step generates between 1.5 and three times a person’s bodyweight, meaning your feet absorb cumulative weight-bearing forces of hundreds of tonnes each day.

Pretty remarkable.

That’s why it’s so important to look after your feet.

Although genetics play a major role in the predisposition to pain, injury and problems, with the right knowledge and professional advice you can

outcomes in patients. In summary, the dietitian can offer patients with plenty of support, motivation and guidance to help them achieve the best possible health and weight loss outcomes after bariatric surgery.

For more information, call Lap Surgery on 9760 2777.

minimise such problems.

If you have any foot or leg problems including ankle, shin, knee, hip pain or soreness, you should have it treated by an experienced sports podiatrist who specialises in musculoskeletal issues.

Foot and Leg Pain Clinics specialise in such issues and are one of Australia’s largest podiatry companies.

The Mt Eliza clinic at 135 Mt Eliza Way is currently offering 50 per cent off initial consultations.

Phone 1300 328 300 or 9708 8866 for details.

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Mornington News 24 March 2011

Healthy Living Many hands to make playground fun UP to 1000 people will descend on the Rye foreshore over four days in September for one of the most ambitious community building projects ever attempted on the peninsula.

Popping up like a mushroom will be an adventure playground looking like a pirate ship and designed by famous United States architectural firm Leathers & Associates, based partly on ideas from the Rye community, including children.

A horde of professional and amateur builders, handypeople and novices will be supported by hundreds more making and serving drinks and food, minding children and running errands.

The project is the idea of Rye Beach Action Community Group and will be a lasting legacy of Rye’s 150th anniversary this year.

Project coordinator is Katrina Humphrey, co-founder of Rye’s Up, which started two years ago to oppose plans for fast food outlets in the town. It now campaigns to improve the town generally and is a sub-committee of Rye Beach Community Action Group.

Rye Primary School library was abuzz with people and ideas late last month for the first planning session. Children as young as six were encouraged to speak up, with one young boy telling the meeting he wanted to be able to race down a

slide and into a soft landing where lasers would burst above his head like meteors.

This may be a little ambitious, but the playground will be based on Luxembourg’s pirate ship (see picture) and could cost $300,000.

It will be the southern peninsula’s second Leathers adventure playground, following one built in Sorrento Historic Park in 1995, which has been called one of the great community-led building projects of its time.

The Rye planning meeting was led by Dennis Wille of Leathers, which was started by architect Bob Leathers in 1971 and is now run by his son Marc.

Bob Leathers wanted to specialise in housing design and construction when he set up practice after graduating, but was asked to organise a group of people to build a playground at his children’s primary school.

He based his design on their ideas, and the playground became famous, leading to the company specialising in community-built projects. Almost 2000 have been constructed in all 50 US states as well as overseas, including 14 in Australia since 1989.

Mr Wille now has the enviable task of travelling the world and helping build adventure playgrounds.

Katrina Humphrey said Rye’s Up

Ahoy me hearties: The pirate ship adventure playground in Luxembourg, inspiration for the planned Rye playground. Picture courtesy Andrew Humphrey

would now embark on a massive recruitment campaign: “We need people for fundraising, preparing grant applications, public relations, finding 1000 volunteers, sourcing building materials and tools from local suppliers as well as groups and businesses to donate time and provide food for the volunteers during the build,” she said.

“The playground will have a history wall and we’ll need artists to make this a beautiful place for our community.”

The finished project would generate business for Rye shops

and make the town a destination for visitors and their children.

She said community-built projects inspire everyone in a town or suburb, and offer an experience of a lifetime.

To join the project, contact Katrina Humphrey on 0409 533 046 or email ryeplayground@ gmail.com A volunteer form is at www. ryeplayground.blogspot.com and more on Leathers playgrounds is at www.leathersassociates.com Mike Hast

Curves of Mornington empowers women to help fight heart disease From 21 March to 2 April 2011, Curves Mornington will waive its usual service fee, in exchange for a donation to the Heart Foundation. Funds raised will go towards helping to raise awareness of the risks of heart disease in Australian women Far from being a men’s-only health condition, heart disease is the number one cause of death in Australian women. The disease kills four times as many women as breast cancer, with around 11,000 lives lost each year in Australia.

Reducing the risks of heart disease requires both regular physical activity and healthy eating. Increasingly however, women are so busy these days that it can be hard to fit everything in.

Curves is a proven ’one-stop shop’ for women, in terms of both physical activity and healthy eating.

The scientifically developed 30-minute Curves workout, combined with the proven Curves Weight Management Plan, is certainly a strategy that women should consider, in terms of reducing their heart risks.

Please call 5975 5526 for more information or drop into Curves Mornington at Level 1, 8 Spray Street Mornington. Entry to Spray Street is off Main Street, via Elizabeth Street.

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PAGE 15

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Mornington News 24 March 2011

It’s the type of running that ends in walking. Answer page 17.

Autumn a good time to plant

MORNINGTON RSL

FUNCTION FACILITIES AVAILABLE

Riddle:

By Frances Cameron AUTUMN has snuck up on us again, and if there is one thing we can be certain of these days, it’s that the world turns, the seasons change, and the cycle continues.

This certainty is reassuring to me. In autumn we know the air temperature is beginning to cool, but the soil still retains some warmth, making it a good time for planting.

The deciduous trees are beginning to start their descent into dormancy, giving us a glorious display of colour before they do. The longer nights and shorter days of winter are on the way.

I was looking for inspiration by re-reading columns written for March in previous years.

They were full of information about how we could cope with the extreme heat conditions that were prevalent at the time. How things change.

We have previously endured the tragedy of fire affecting people on the fringes of Melbourne and in country Victoria; this year we are suffering the tragedy of months of devastating floods in northern Victoria and Queensland. Our thoughts have also been with our cousins in New Zealand after their terrible earthquakes and the people in northeastern Japan devastated by earthquake and tsunami.

Last March I wrote about water saving, this month my thoughts are more on how to cope with excessive rain.

Waterlogged plants can suffer as much as plants that aren’t receiving enough water. Check pots to see if they are draining well. Sometimes if the plant has become root-bound, the drainage holes can be blocked. If this is the case, repotting the plant is the only remedy.

After heavy rain, check around the roots of plants and replace soil that has been washed away. Make sure any water you catch doesn’t

stagnate and become habitat for breeding mosquitos, and please check that any containers you use for collecting water don’t become death traps for birds.

They can fall into deep water and drown, so put some wire mesh over the top of containers holding rainwater.

In the vegie patch, tomatoes are still producing, and other vegies are ready, or nearly ready, for harvesting.

Pumpkins can be picked when the vine has died down and the pumpkin sounds hollow when tapped. Putting a pumpkin on to a bed of straw will stop bugs attacking it and help to make it colour more evenly.

Jerusalem artichokes can also be dug up when the stem of the plant dies back. Try to dig up as many of the tubers as you can, as they spread very well in many areas of the peninsula. The flowers make very pretty cut flowers.

Prepare the soil for a winter vegetable crop with good quality compost or manure. Dig out any deep-rooted weeds such as kikuyu and couch grass, and remove any lumps of stone or other large pieces of non-organic material to give seeds free rein to spread their roots uninterrupted.

Catalogues full of spring bulbs to tempt us are starting to appear now. I like to grow new bulbs each year to try something different.

The anticipation of gorgeous spring flowers appearing from such insignificant-looking pieces of plant matter is one of the highlights of the gardening year for me, providing something to look forward to through the chill, dreary months of winter.

Happy gardening. peninsulagardener.blogspot.com

FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT

The Battle for Pseudo Echo

By Stuart McCullough ON reflection, it was something of a golden age. Acid wash jeans were in the ascendency, hair spray was plentiful and the synthesizer had finally won the respect it so richly deserved.

While we now recognise 1986 as the very peak of the human condition, it didn’t happen by chance. No, readers, this state of enlightenment was achieved through neither slothful meditation nor dumb luck, but rather by sheer hard graft by four men collectively known as Pseudo Echo.

At the dawn of rock and roll, all the heavy hitters were piano players: Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino – piano players to a man. But as rock music developed through the Sixties and Seventies, the piano was eclipsed by the rise of the electric guitar.

It’s not hard to see why.

There’s something about a Gibson SG or Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster that is effortlessly cool. It doesn’t matter how dorky you are, strapping on an electric guitar changes everything. Young men understood this inherently and for decades have cured their social awkwardness by way of Stratocasters.

By contrast, the role of piano or, if you prefer, keyboard player became something of a rock and roll afterthought, generally filled by the dorkiest member of the group. I speak not just as a keyboard player but as a keyboard player who owns a bunch of guitars.

Pseudo Echo changed all this through their fearless use of the “key-tar”. In an age of pub rock, the importance of Pseudo Echo cannot be overstated.

Unless of course you claim that they constitute the greatest

discovery in the field of science since the neutron; in which case that would definitely be over the top.

However, if you said that they wore their electronic influences proudly on the sleeves of their string vests, then you’d be right on the money. They even took their name from a synthesizer effect – that’s how synthcentric they were.

Their debut album Autumnal Park included hits such as Listening and A Beat for You. What made it interesting is

Hickinbotham Family Fun Day THE Hickinbotham Easter Sunday Family Fun Day is on again, with live music on stage from 11am to 5pm. A great line up of music with a mix of styles for all ages.

When he first started the Family Day back in 1999, Andrew Hickinbotham never imagined it would grow to be such a fantastic event. “We love the fact it has evolved into a true family outing where everyone can have a great fun day, whilst at the same time, raising money for local charities that provide crucial support roles within the community.”

Running from 11am to 5pm,

this year’s Family Day features loads of things to keep the kids occupied including The Grand Grape Squash, The Pink Lady Chocolates Bilby Hunt, Easter Bonnet parade, Painting competitions, CFA display, Laser tagging, Animal Petting Farm, Sand Wizard art, Sheep Lotto, Face painting, Harley rides, auction, and more.

It is a true country style Family day, with the event being held beneath the gums in the winery surrounds, so put in your collapsible chairs or a picnic rug and come to be entertained. The local scout groups will be cooking egg and bacon

A grape event: Grape squash winners celebrate their victory

rolls, steak sandwiches, baked potatoes and poffertjes. Their will be proper coffee available, and wood fired pizzas.

Entry is $20 adults and children under 12 are free (each child receives a complimentary voucher for The Bilby Hunt and Animal Petting Farm ).

The proceeds from the day go to the support of worthy local charity groups.

Hickinbotham Winery is located at 194 Nepean Highway (near Wallaces Road) in Dromana. The day is proudly supported by Mornington Peninsula Shire, Big Bang Media and Pink Lady Chocolates.

that it was music that could have come from anywhere. It sounded international. What’s more, it smelt strongly of synthesizer.

Suddenly, every kid who was ever forced to take piano lessons could imagine a career as a professional musician. But while the first album turned them into Australia’s secondmost popular group after INXS (that’s according to Wikipedia – tellingly, this claim comes with the bucket of cold water that are the words “citation needed”), it was their second album, Love an Adventure, that launched them into the stratosphere.

The classic line-up of the band – Brian Canham, brothers Vince and James Leigh and the wonderfully named Pierre Pierre – was now operating at full steam. (In the Eighties, nothing said “special” quite like a double name.)

In the music world at the time, aside from Pierre Pierre, there was Garry Gary Beers from INXS. The extra Gary was a nickname from school.

These double names should not be confused with bands that were so diabolically awful that they had to be named twice. In this rogue’s gallery you’ll find the dreadful Duran Duran and

the just plain awful Mr Mister.)

The album Love an Adventure may well be Pseudo Echo’s masterpiece. Besides the title track, it included the hit that drove the kids in the Countdown audience absolutely mental: Don’t Go. During this time, their unbridled use of the key-tar totally redefined what it was to play keyboards in a band.

However, it was then that fate intervened. When the American version of their magnum opus was released, it included a cover of the Lipps Incorporated song Funky Town. The song was an absolute sensation; becoming a top 10 hit in Australia, the UK and the US. Significantly, it showed off a side of the band that had previously been buried under mountains of key-tar, Brian Canham’s guitar playing.

Prior to this, I was unaware that Brian could even play guitar, much less shred an eyegouging solo. But he could and he did, and while there was still plenty of key-tar to keep the purists happy, it heralded the kind of success that ultimately ruins you.

Not that this was clear at first. To begin with, the success of Funky Town created a sense of confidence, especially in Melbourne, that just can’t be

Joke!!!

bought. Those that mattered knew, implicitly, that Funky Town was a very real place (albeit one that was, in fact, named The Chevron) and that the clutching of the song to the public’s collective bosom heralded its coming of age.

Emboldened by their success, the band made a career-ending decision to abandon the keytar in favour of more heavy guitar riffage. Worse still, they replaced their mullets – which along with the key-tar had defined the band – with something more head-banger friendly.

In doing so, they did not so much succeed in reinventing themselves as in alienating anyone who had ever bought their records.

Having flirted with success, they ended up marrying commercial failure. The album Race sank quicker than a concrete submarine. The band did the honourable thing and broke up shortly after.

It’s a pity we don’t have the equivalent of a Smithsonian Institution in this country. If we did, then the shiny red key-tar of Pseudo Echo would surely be a part of it. And as for where to build such a museum, the answer is simple: in Funky Town. www.stuartmccullough.com

RIddle Solution

There were three men on a hill with their watches.

The first man threw his watch down the hill and it broke.

The second man threw his watch down the hill and it broke.

It’s the type of running that ends in walking.

Answer: Running out of petrol.

Sudoku Solution

The third man threw his watch down the hill, walked all the way to the bottom, and caught it.

The other two men were puzzled and asked the third man how he did it.

The third man said, “Easy. My watch is 5 minutes slow!”

The most ridiculous and strange, fresh for you...

Mornington News 24 March 2011

PAGE 17

FOOD & ENTERTAINMENT

Entertainment AWARD-winning country music singer James Blundell had fallen on tough times recently, but has picked himself up and hit back with a new album.

James was forced into bankruptcy in 2010 and moved back to his family property at Mt Malakoff in southeast Queensland.

His girlfriend, former Australian Idol contestant Jesse Curran, stuck with him and is featured on his latest album, Woolshed Creek Creek..

“I should have shifted back to the family property 10 years ago. It has taken me 25 years to get back home and its pure serenity here,” he said.

“I am currently building my new home on the property complete with recording studio and hope to be finished by May.” The former Toowoomba Prep School pupil got his break winning the Star Maker talent quest in 1987 and released Gidgee Bug Pub Pub,, which won him a Golden Guitar for best new talent in 1988.

He then released the album This Road,, which sold more than 150,000 Road copies and featured the hit Way Out West,, recorded with James Reyne.

West

Above: James columnist.

Blundell

and

your

James grew up listening to The Seekers and Slim Dusty.

In 2003, he wrote Postcards from Saigon,, protesting against the war in Saigon Iraq. He was also the voice behind the Qantas TV commercial singing Peter Allen’s hit I Still Call Australia Home Home..

His new album was recorded at home in the woolshed at Mt Malakoff with some great production by Paul Greene, a former Olympic sprinter now full-time singer-songwriter.

Woolshed Creek was a real family affair with his father Peter Blundell

Snr and brother Pete Blundell singing backup vocals on Move Into the City and Milk Me Me..

Peter Blundell Snr performs lead vocals on the hidden track Old Paint.

Paint.

Pete Blundell also sang backup vocals on Fat Man in a Van while Pete Denahy was passing by and dropped in to lend a hand on the violin.

“I have many memories of the woolshed including 21st birthdays, dances and romances,” James said.

“Paul Greene turned up one day with his dog Jack and together with my and Jesse’s dogs Diesel, Flash and Honey and a supply of Jack Daniels, a smoking potbelly stove and a bunch of songs, we went to work and made Woolshed Creek Creek..

Best tracks include Fat Man in a Van, Milk Me, Billy, Juliana’s Footsteps, Can’t Love Alone, Move Into the City and Old Paint.

Paint.

And here’s a plug for Paul Greene’s dog Jack who is featured on “barks” at the end of Juliana’s Footsteps Footsteps..

James has been invited to an American festival in October and will go on tour after that.

He also appeared at a flood relief concert in Toowoomba last weekend.

“I bleed for the flood victims and anything we can do, we will. The Toowoomba concert was important and l probably knew half the crowd there.”

James is dedicated to his sons Briar, 12, and Travis, 9, both talented musicians. Briar plays drums and Travis piano and guitar.

What is JB playing in his car CD stacker? “At the moment l am listening to traditional R&B, Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp and Kym Cheshire. I also enjoy Catherine Britt, Travis Collins, Kirsty Lee Akers and Dave Garnham.”

James will tour with Catherine Britt in July and August, performing at the Apollo Bay Music Festival on 9 April, Hallam Hotel 3 August, York on Lilydale 5 August and the Karralyka Centre in Ringwood Thursday 11 August. www.jamesblundell.com.au *** LUKE Austen has released a new single Two Miles Down Down,, written by Troy Cassar-Daley.

“The track is a working class song, depicting the lives of the men and women who go underground every day to make a living. Something l

minute break every hour on day one to play the one cent machines, followed by a break every two hours on day two and so on; sort of like restricting the smokes to the point of total abstinence.

Maximum beer intake will be four pots per day. Morning half-hour walks followed by a half-hour swim. It will take a week. ***

the likes of “The O’Reilly Factor” on the Fox News channel. Who knows, but one thing is certain, the differences between the 1940s and now are massive.

Does power corrupt? You can bet on it. The big question is: who’s doing the corrupting? ***

with Gary Turner know all too well with my father spending 15 years as an underground miner,” he said.

Look out for the new video clip Two Miles Down Down,, directed by Golden Guitar winner Duncan Toombs, on CMC soon. *** Top 10 albums 1. Woolshed Creek – James Blundell 2. Red Stiletto – Vanessa Lea & Road Train 3. White Flag – Katrina Burgoyne 4. Left of Center – Left of Center 5. Holding My Breath – Adam Toms 6. Better Late Than Never – Jason Lee 7. Behind Bars – Allan Caswell 8. Saturday Night Country – Various 9. Bad Machines – Shane Nicholson 10. Ultimate Country Driving Songs – Various

A Grain Of Salt NOW that time is catching up, I’m having thoughts along the lines of joining Darling, who departed six years back. Not voluntary thoughts mind, more likely coming from that mysterious monster hidden in my subconscious. The black knight!

Like, what if there is something afterwards, controlling a register of bad deeds? The Catholic church is the world’s largest Christian church but, alas, I’m not a member. Does a social membership of an RSL carry any weight? I’ve never been to confession.

Do they confess everything? Surely a furphy. Do people go to church “just to go” or do they really believe?

Perhaps I should join as an eachway bet? Be frightening to arrive up there and have some bloke or, worse still, some female read out a long list of my misdemeanours. “Ellen, 99 bad deeds and four billion bad thoughts.”

The black knight in the background, smiling, beckoning, with Darling alongside, awaiting the decision, brandishing a shovel. *** HAVE we ever experienced a political situation as we are in now? Nobody wants Gillard, fewer still want Abbott and almost everybody I speak with can

offer no tangible reasons other than instinct, which spells confusion.

Kevvy Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull are now preferred to Julia and Tony.

Why? Carbon tax and nuclear power go way over our heads, one party trying reason, another in opposition to everything and newspapers adding to the confusion and voters influenced by rising prices.

And so it goes, with bias and ignorance, as always, reigning supreme. It’s not our fault, for mine.

Both parties favour popularism in lieu of truthful information. In fact, like us, both parties appear to be running on instinct, which spells a loss of our respect.

Even our floods, followed by the dreadful earthquakes in New Zealand and Japan involved backbiting. It’s all so very sad. *** DEAR Brendan, mate: Journey on down to the Mornington Peninsula (rather than Los Angeles) and meet me in the dedicated smokers zone of the Rye RSL. I’ll give you the mail on how to dodge the Channel 9 vultures as well as sound investments in term deposits.

If you behave, I’ll allow you a five-

Mornington

IF Wikileaks taught us anything (doubtful at best), it’s taught us that all governments lie, with the point being: do we care? And if they lie where does reality lie?

As a kid watching those American war films, I was indoctrinated to the point of believing the Germans and Japanese were cruel races as opposed to our wonderful fairness, helped along by God’s will.

And so to the American soldier who supplied information to Julian Assange and is now confined to a 12 by six-metre cell for 23 hours of every day with one hour for exercises with his legs in chains for months on end.

Perhaps it began with Richard Nixon and his use of the weird American justice system to hijack and destroy one actor in the “Deep Throat” censorship case and continued on with

AS I see it, adaptability is the keyword in all relationships, but it must not impede your growth, as in forming your own opinions, your own form of creativity.

The problem in some relationships is that one of the partners has too much say, and with it no knowledge of the need not to suffocate the other.

True, we all need love and approval, and a feeling of belonging but there surely has to be more. Both require the ability to listen; easier said than done.

Some say you make your own luck (generally famous actors or bigshot millionaires), disregarding the probability factor and so the vagaries of luck.

Others suggest a path is already set at birth; others that the first seven or eight of life years sets the pattern.

Maybe, maybe not; there is no clear evidence and all of these ideas occur

with Cliff Ellen in retrospect.

Parents want their children to be handsome or pretty, and clever. They infuse them with their beliefs with the honest intention that they know best.

Children, however, no matter their appearance or intelligence levels are all beautiful, and they all need love (like us) and they all have the potential for creativity. But do parents who want the best for their children want the same ideals for each other? If they don’t they should. *** “We are not satisfied with real life; we want to live some imaginary life in the eyes of other people and to seem different from what we actually are.”

(Pascal, 1623-1662) When I was a kid, I fantasised about the advantages of invisibility. Alas, on reaching 70 there are none. Adios. cliffie9@bigpond.com

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Mornington News 24 March 2011

Mayor’s fairway to charity MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire mayor Graham Pittock is taking to the greens and teeing off for charity in April.

The mayor is hosting a golf day at The National Golf Club on Friday 8 April to raise money for the Shire of Campaspe to help flood victims in and around Rochester.

The day starts at noon with registration, a light lunch and an Ambrose-style golfing experience, including complimentary golf carts.

After a round of golf, players can have a pre-dinner drink,

barbecue dinner and presentations. A dinner-only option is available if partners of players want to join the festivities.

Entry is $150 a person or $600 a team of four. Dinneronly tickets are $50 each.

“The event aims to assist flood-affected communities of the Shire of Campaspe, which is coordinating the Rochester and district flood appeal to assist those who were affected by the devastating Victorian floods,” Cr Pittock said.

“Rochester and its surrounding district are small rural and

semi-rural communities located on the Campaspe River, 180 kilometres north of Melbourne.

The floods inundated more than 80 per cent of the town.

“Corporate recognition is available with placement of signs and any additional information you may wish to place on dinner tables.”

The National is a membersonly club with three golf courses. Entries close Friday 1 April.

Call Mark Howells on 5950 1422 or email howemr@mornpen.vic.gov.au or visit www. mornpen.vic.gov.au.

Lining up for charity: Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Graham Pittock is calling on golfers to help raise money for flood relief.

Sporting a Smile Occasionally the name of a sportsperson creeps into the language: the now ubiquitious drop-punt was initially referred to as “the Jack Dyer punt” and any cricketer run out by the bowler knows who Mankad was.

In soccer the name of Columbian Andres Escobar has become synonymous with sports stars facing personal injury from their failures on the field. Escobar’s misfortunes started in the match against the US at the World Cup in 1994.

The defender reached with his foot to stop a crossed ball but instead deflected it into his

ESCOBAR own net. Columbia lost the game 2-1 and was bundled out of the World Cup. Presumably a lot of money was lost by betting syndicates. Just over a week later Escobar was shot 12 times outside a Medellin nightclub. It was claimed that his killer shouted “Goal” for each bullet which struck him.

Humberto Muoz Castro was found guilty of Escobar’s murder in June 1995 and sentenced to 43 years. In an own goal for justice, he was released in 2005.

www.littlekickers.com.au www w w.l

Bright future for Cedarberg WHILE Victoria’s best horses – headed by Black Caviar and Shocking – are continuing their campaigns in Sydney, the Mornington trained Cedarberg in one to follow, whether he runs at home or interstate.

After finishing an unlucky 2nd in the Mornington Cup, Cedarberg, who is in the stable of Pat Carey, finished a closeup 7th in the Group 1 Australian Cup. A lightly-raced 4yo, he should be seen to advantage over 2400m or further, especially under handicap conditions.

Another horse to follow from the Australian Cup in the Lloyd Williams owned Linton, who was a gallant 2nd to 2009 Melbourne Cup winner Shocking.

He will be fitter for that outing and will be hard to beat in any race he contests over the next few months.

Shocking’s stablemate Whobegotyou, who was a strong winner of the Group 2 Blamey Stakes, is racing as well as ever and now that he is back to his best has to be respected in next month’s Doncaster Handicap [1600m] at Randwick. Others who caught the eye in the Blamey were the imported pair Our Imposing and Fanjura.

Our Imposing, who was having his third start for Mt. Macedon based conditioner Robert Hickmont, worked home stylishly over the final 100 metres while Lee Freedman seems to have Fanjura on the right path after encountering some problems in his last campaign.

Cranbourne trainer Greg Eurell,who is best known for his association with Apache Cat, has another classy galloper in Pinker Pinker. A 3yo filly she was taking on older mares at Flemington and showed her ability by overcoming difficulties to score.

V.R.C St Leger winner Exceptionally produced a late

finish when 7th behind Pinker Pinker in the Group 3 event and will be hard to toss when she gets out over longer distances.

Classy mare Beaded was no match for the brilliant Black Caviar when 3rd in the Newmarket Handicap but should return to the winners’ list in the Group 1 Robert Sangster at Morphettville on March 26.

Her stablemate Chasse was resuming from a spell when a slashing 5th over 1100m at Flemington and is sure to win his fair share this time in.

Mark Kavanagh trained Kittens is a filly full of promise.

She started at 60/1 when a pleasing 7th behind Do Ra Mi in the Kewney Stakes at Flemington and although she won’t be those odds again she is worth following when she gets to 1600m and beyond.

Others who have caught my attention over the past fortnight are Valentine Miss, Flying Tessie, Mr Chard, Palatine, Adulterer and Sleeque.

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Mornington News 24 March 2011

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