Chinese check biosphere’s water works THE involvement of secondary college students in managing the environmental health of a creek draining into Western Port has attracted the interest of Chinese water quality experts. Somerville Secondary College, the first school to sign up to the Western Port Biosphere’s water stewardship program, last Friday hosted a group from Jiangsu Province, north of Shanghai, led by Dr Zhu Donglin from Jiangsu Engineering Consulting and Dr Zhou Fengqi from Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences. Biosphere executive officer Cecelia Witton said the visit was “a fabulous opportunity to showcase the work the school already has underway in protecting their waterway [Watson Creek]”. The group from China is in Australia to look at water stewardship projects which Ms Witton describes as “a form of catchment and water management which is applied at a site scale, and can be externally accredited”. She said the Watson Creek model of water stewardship will be extended across the biosphere reserve – which includes the entire peninsula and parts of Frankston, Casey and bass Coast. Ms Witton said the benefits of being a water steward included saving water and fertiliser management costs; improved biodiversity within the creeks and receiving waters (Yaringa Marine National Park in the case of Watson Creek); recognition of good practice through a documented water stewardship plan; and, the potential for funding of onsite works. A reference group supporting the Watson Creek project includes
Water savings: Cecelia Witton and Lance Lloyd of the Western Port Biosphere at the Watson Creek water stewardship project with Chinese delegates Zhou Fengqi and Zhu Donglin and Somerville Secondary College students Sarah Murray and Chloe Field. Picture: Gary Sissons
representatives from the Western Port Biosphere Reserve, Mornington Peninsula Shire, Port Phillip and Westernport Catchment Management Authority, Parks Victoria, Melbourne Water, South East Water, Southern Rural Water, EPA Victoria, Inghams Enterprises and Water Stewardship Australia.
Sign up for Lifesearch Anyone wanting to join the Biosphere’s Lifesearch program to record plants, birds, and other animals within the reserve from Saturday 17 October
to Sunday 25 October can register at www.biosphere.org.au/get-involved/ lifesearch from Monday 5 October. There are prizes for the school, and individual or group who record the most observations during Lifesearch. Data will be collected as part of a citizen science project and will be uploaded to the Atlas of Living Australia’s database. Schools can participate in the program during school hours. Friends groups are invited to make observations at the reserves they look after. Members of the community are invited to participate by observing
HASTINGS COMMUNITY HOUSE INC 185 High St Hastings Vic 5979 2918
Term 4 2015 Email: hastingsch@bigpond.com Website: www.hastingsch.com www.facebook.com/HastingsCommunityHouse
NOTICE OF ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Notice is given that the Annual General Meeting of Hastings Community House Inc will be held on 25th November 2015 at 12.30pm. Meeting held at Hastings Community House, 185 High Street Hastings.
species on their own properties or at local parks and reserves. Lifesearch is inspired by 13-yearold Harewood Lyall, who lived at Harewood Homestead, Tooradin in the early 1900s. In 1912 he noted down his bird-watching observations, which inspired the first Western Port Biosphere Birdsearch event in 2012. Schools competed for the Biosphere Birdsearch Shield, currently held by Newhaven College. In 2014 the biosphere expanded this concept to Lifesearch, which aimed to document the whole span of biodiversity within the reserve.
Plea for police Continued from Page 1 “Police are only as good as the public they represent. People like to speak to someone they know and trust if giving information. “The plain facts are that there are not enough police today and many members I have known for years are frustrated, with many now facing long travel times to even get to Somerville. “From experience I know that this is an unworkable situation. It is no use the public complaining of long wait times for police attendance if they don’t speak out now.” Mr Hunt told the meeting the town “deserves the police station it was promised. It deserves the police station that was built”. “But it is an absurdity that, after $16 million has been spent building a station, there will be no public access and no local police.” Mr Burgess slammed the term “police building” for the station, which he says was promised as a police station in the general sense of the word: with a manned counter and public access. “Somerville does not want to take the specialist police units from the southern peninsula or Hastings – it wants and needs its own uniformed officers.” Others speakers at the meeting were Opposition police spokesman Ed O’Donohue and Police Association secretary Ron Iddles.
Seniors in tune A FREE afternoon of melodies followed by afternoon tea will be held at Hastings Senior Citizens’ Club, 16 Herring St, Hastings, 1.30pm, Friday 9 October. All are welcome. The seniors hold regular activities including bingo, cards, carpet bowls, snooker and craft. New members welcome.
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Please RSVP direct to the Hastings Community House Treasurer, Beryl Gregg – by the close of business on the 18/11/15 hastingschaccounts@bigpond.com
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9708 8626 1/7 Davies Ave, Mt Eliza Western Port News 22 September 2015
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