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Community Corner
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NEWS AND UPDATES FROM YOUR CORNER OF THE WORLD Anglesea Community Network – four years on
Following its launch in 2017, the Anglesea Community Network (ACN) has now firmly established itself in town. ACN set itself the aim of better facilitating the communication and information flow within and across the community. Prior to the emergence of COVID, it held a large number of public meetings across topics such as: Bushfire preparedness, eight sessions with the CFA from 2018 to 2020.
Two of our members sit on the Great Ocean Road coastal towns network group, to help protect towns along the coast. A presentation on water issues from Barwon Water’s
CEO.
Sustainable water strategy for the Anglesea River. Streetscaping and planning group to preserve the character of Anglesea. More recently, we entered discussions and activities around: COVID recovery via a series of ‘flashes’ to rapidly feed relevant information into the community. A series of public forums were conducted by Zoom to help monitor the welfare of the town during the pandemic. Affordable housing developments especially for workers in the business sector. Pedestrian safety linked to footpaths and seating. The establishment of Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority. Establishment of a Movie Club in Anglesea.
It is well worth remembering that ACN is not: A peak organisation for the town. The driver of any issue. A replacement for any other group. A political lobby group. You can join the discussions about any or all of the topics and keep up-to-date with any public forums by subscribing to our regular Bulletin. info@angleseacommunitynetwork.org.au www.angleseacommunitynetwork.org.au
We have had a challenging year like most of the community. Our connection was strengthened looking after each other and providing Zoom classes where appropriate. Now that we are back at the Art House our 16 sessions each week are fully booked and well attended. The Annual Art Exhibition was held in August, and inbetween lockdowns we provided members and the community with some creative relief.
This year was the inaugural presentation of 3D art and we know that this will go from strength to strength. Plans are well underway to hold the Kids Art Bash from 2 – 23 January. We are looking forward again to seeing local families and visitors.
There will be many art activities for children and teenagers to choose from.
Bookings will be through Eventbrite and we will provide a COVIDSafe event.
Our volunteers will be ready to welcome you. The AGM was held on 23 October and the Committee was re-elected for 2022.
We wish you all a happy, safe and healthy Christmas. Jennifer O’Sullivan, President Around 30 volunteers from the 3231 and 3230 Rubbish Rangers joined forces on a recent Saturday morning to tackle the roadside rubbish along the mad mile section of the Great Ocean Road, up from the Chocolaterie. Feedback is that they continue to collect a staggering amount of rubbish each Saturday morning, so more volunteers are always welcome to join in occasionally – or regularly – on a Saturday morning. See local community Facebook pages for more details.
AIREYS PRIMARY SCHOOL
It’s been another year pivoting back and forth from face-toface to online teaching and learning, but with all students now back on site, the school looks forward to celebrating the end of the year with families and a year of learning in 2022 with fewer restrictions.
The Year 2/3 students at Aireys Inlet Primary School have been working hard on their ‘Environmental Warrior’ stories. They have designed characters inspired by the local flora and fauna and are writing stories about how these characters save the world from an environmental issue.
Arts Victoria creatives Scarlet and Rebecca partnered with the school children to help create models of characters and animate them using a stop-motion app. The kids have had great fun learning new creative skills.
The whole of 2021 has been a challenge given the recurring lockdowns, but Zoom has enabled U3A to keep in touch with many of its members.
The term four program was more ambitious than ever, with 29 classes on offer. Apart from regular classes, U3A also planned some additional activities including: A contribution to the Surf Coast
Shire’s Positive Aging month in
October, showcasing classes in Art,
Ikebaba, Poetry and a Trivia Quiz. An Occasional Lecture covering the
Stephanie Alexander Kitchen program at Torquay Primary School with Terri Mintram.
A tour of the Australian National
Surfing Museum, led by local surfing icon, Bob Smith. Family History Research – a practical course for people who wish to learn more about how to access and use online Family History resources with Toni McCormack. Launch and readings from the poetry group’s anthology
‘Wondering and Wandering’ and two poetry pamphlets by members
Jean Bohuslav (Strings) and Helen
Seymour ( Shot Silk to Gun Shots ) There were still interruptions to some of these events but the committee is now preparing the term one 2022 program with determination. Thanks to the many people who have encouraged and inspired the group over two difficult years. New members are putting their hands up to offer volunteer hours and possibly two new committee members will join. So rather than the year of disruptions discouraging members, it appears to have had the opposite effect and so U3A looks forward to continual growth in 2022. The term one 2022 program will be released in early December.
From left: U3A members Helen Seymour and Jean Bohuslav.
For further information and enrolments, go to Courses & Activities – U3A SurfCoast or call 0435 374 139 or email info@u3asurfcoast.org.au
IN BRIEF
Red Cross welcomes new members
Aireys Inlet/Anglesea Branch of Victoria Red Cross meets every second month on Monday morning at Aireys Inlet Community Hall . We enjoy a range of Red Cross fund raising and occasional social activities together. New members are very welcome.
If you’d like further information, please contact a delegate from the Committee: President Chris Walker 0408 444 199 Secretary: Trish Gough 0413 321 839 Treasurer: Margo Davey 0412 742 117
$500 community donation to Foodlink
The Community Bank Anglesea is pleased to donate $500 to Anglesea and Aireys Foodlink (see photo page 2).
Foodlink is a non-denominational, community aid organisation coordinated through and supported by the Anglesea Community House. It provides emergency food relief for Anglesea and Aireys Inlet residents.
The group does not receive any government funding and relies totally on public donations. To make a donation please call the Community House on 5263 2116.
COMMUNITY CORNER Fun at Playgroup
Children attending the Community House playgroup have been able to have some great fun on a new Hart Mini Climber Set.
Platypus Toy Library kindly thanks the Anglesea Lions Club and Seaside Seconds for this wonderful donation.
Platypus Toy Library has an extensive range of toys, games, puzzles, games and dress ups. Larger items are available for play at the Community House playgroup held on Thursdays 9.30 to 11.30am. Come along and join the fun! This term the Platypus Toy Library has been open every second week on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Please check our Facebook page for details. If you are having an end-of-year clean up, the toy library is happy to accept toys, games or puzzles in good condition. Please contact: platypustoylibrary3230@gmail.com, or phone 0408 147 217 to arrange item pick up or drop off.
The mural on the wall of Stabb's Butcher Shop was created as part of the Surf Coast Shire Council's Creative Coalitions project. The project enabled a local artist and a small business to work together. Deb Elliott, artist and photographer, and Katrina Stabb from Stabb's Butchers worked together. Katrina had seen many of Deb's artworks on Facebook and asked for a mural depicting an early morning sunrise. The council provided Deb with a $1,000 grant to cover the cost of paint and anti-graffiti coating. The mural was painted over six weeks and took approximately 45 hours to complete. For Deb, the highlight was talking to people as they walked past the mural.
‘I loved creating the mural. At 6.5m x 2.5m, the mural is eight times bigger than anything I have painted before,’ said Deb.
‘Many thanks to the Stabb family for accommodating it and to the Surf Coast Shire Council Creative Coalitions project for providing the funds to buy the paint and equipment required.’ The finished mural is a gift from both Deb and Katrina to the residents of Anglesea and for visitors to the town or people passing through.
The sun rises on Stabb’s Butcher wall
McMillan Street Hub car park renewal
The Surf Coast Shire Council is finalising plans for car park renewal works at the McMillan Street Hub in Anglesea. The works will make it safer and easier for pedestrians and vehicles to move throughout the precinct, and will include: new road pavement, pathway improvements and line marking; minor landscaping works, which will be undertaken in consultation with ANGAIR (noting that the hero tree out the front will be retained); changes to car park entrance and exit locations; and new signage at the entrance and throughout the precinct to improve way finding. The concept design reflects Council’s earlier community consultation with precinct user groups. All works are scheduled to take place during April 2022. To view the concept designs in more detail, or if you have any questions or comments please call 5261 0600 or email info@surfcoast.vic.gov.au
Volunteering with Seaside Seconds –‘the best
op shop in Victoria’
By Marianne Messer, Seaside Seconds ‘Thank you’ said the young dad on his way to the sorting room out back, overloaded with bags of baby clothes. ‘Glad to pass these on to someone else.’
‘Thank you’ my next customer added seconds later, thrilled with her collection of kids’ books. ‘I come from Lara. This is the best op shop in Victoria.’ As one of around 50 volunteers who regularly work at Seaside Seconds, ‘thanks’ is the word I most often hear.
Thanks for the chance to recycle and not add to landfill. Thanks for changing small change into something useful. Thanks for looking after the planet! Known as Anglesea’s department store, Seaside Seconds regularly helps customers caught short for dishes or cutlery for weekend guests. We entertain families with books, toys and
Op Shop volunteer Marianne Messer
games, all for a few dollars, cash or eftpos! We supply warm tops or beachwear to our visitors when the weather changes. We help parents clothe kids without breaking the bank. We help handymen and women find tools, fashionistas find vintage, book worms find best sellers, collectors find treasures.
But our greatest joy is being able to provide grants and a helping hand back to our community. As a not-for-profit, this year Seaside Seconds has gifted new toys for a library, shirts for a basketball team, and a dishwasher for a community group, to name but a few. We have also helped those who suddenly had no income, unexpected bills to pay, not enough food or sadly to relocate.
And it’s great fun! Thanks for the bargains I’ve found, the friendships I’ve formed and the chance to volunteer at the ‘best op shop in Victoria’. Anglesea – a place for all to live
Co-written by Michael Varney and local housing working group members – see email below for further contact details
No doubt, if you call Anglesea home, you’ll agree we are the jewel in the Surf Coast crown. A place of beauty, rest and restoration, where the bush meets the sea. Anglesea has the ‘vibe’ but our world is changing. How do we keep Anglesea a place where: the older can stay? the next generation can remain? workers can live? we can continue to thrive as a healthy, vibrant and diverse community? Housing affordability is a national challenge that is impacting Anglesea in a way that has the potential to shape our long-term future. The availability of diverse and affordable housing options are important considerations for a sustainable future, and local councils are already working with communities to face the challenge. What is changing?
Rental Affordability: According to the Domain June 2021 Rent Report, Anglesea had the highest increase in rent for Victoria at 31.1%. The current median weekly rent for Anglesea is $590, significantly higher than the Victorian regional median of $380. Local real estate agents confirm that demand for rental properties is ‘high to very high’. There has been little change to the total number of houses that are available for long-term rental over the last year. Housing Affordability: Median house prices have also risen substantially, currently at $1.18m, a 73% rise over five years compared to 45% for regional Victoria. Population Age: The age distribution within our community is predicted to get progressively older. Surf Coast Shire population forecasts predict the largest increase in age demographic between 2016 and 2026 to be those aged between 70 to 84. These forecasts pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic and do not incorporate the large move to regional Victoria. What can we do?
We can begin by starting the conversation, raising awareness and asking some questions: How can we increase housing diversity and affordability so Anglesea is a place for all to live?
How can we increase access to suitable housing for an ageing population? How can we make Anglesea affordable for the next generation to live here? There are no quick answers but there is a strong desire to look after the community we are and ensure a future for all.
A working group of concerned local individuals has formed and begun a conversation with representatives from the Surf Coast Shire and BATA (Business and Tourism Anglesea). Are you interested to join? What concerns you? If you are interested or have an opinion to share please email housingchallenge3230@gmail.com
COMMUNITY CORNER Suppor ting the Anglesea River
By Greg Woodward, DELWP Extraction of water from the Anglesea River started in late September 2021. The water will be stored and released over the upcoming summer period to maintain water levels in the estuary and deliver social, economic and environmental benefits for the local community. Since 2016, the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP), Barwon Water, Corangamite CMA and Surf Coast Shire Council have worked together to collect and store water from the river during the winter-spring period and pump it back in over the drier summer months.
For 46 years, Alcoa had extracted groundwater for use in power generation and subsequently discharged it into the Anglesea River. With the station’s closure, water levels in the lower river and estuary would drop quickly over the summer period without these planned releases. Alcoa has continued to support DELWP and the broader Anglesea community with ongoing support for the Anglesea River height management process.
Another view of Anglesea River
Co-written by Dick O’Hanlon (Anglesea River working group member & Estuary Watch volunteer) and Keith Shipton
The Anglesea River is in trouble. The water is now permanently too acidic to sustain fish life, leading to more mosquitos. The acidity and metals content is marginal for swimming and repulsive algal blooms are increasingly persistent. The general view of the many authorities involved is that these problems are the inevitable consequence of a changed climate and nothing can or should be done. However, we believe there is strong historical and climate data that indicates the current problems are not caused by climate but by local factors. We believe the long-term future of the estuary is good. The next 10 to 20 years however will remain problematic unless serious actions are taken. The most recent investigations have attributed acidity spikes in the Marshy and Salt Creek tributaries to seasonal drying out of the lower swamps and consequent oxidation of Acid Sulphate Soils (ASS). Additional monitoring equipment installed in 2016 showed, surprisingly, that water entering the estuary from both creeks, especially Marshy Creek, is always highly acidic. It wasn't until Alcoa stopped pumping pH neutral water into the estuary in 2016 that the threat posed by this acidity became clear. Strains on aquifers
From 1994 until now, the Upper Eastern View (UEV) aquifer level has dropped dramatically by about 7m locally in the area of the lower Salt Creek swamp. The drop in UEV aquifer level local to the Marshy Creek lower swamp is around 60–80m since 1968. Away from the extraction wells the UEV aquifer levels have remained more or less constant. This localised ‘Cone of Depression’ is caused by the longterm extraction of water from the UEV by Alcoa. See Figure 2 (noting it is quite small but we can provide a better copy if you text Dick—see mobile at end). The lower swamps are contained in perched water tables, which are surrounded by the UEV aquifer. Prior to mining, the UEV aquifer level was meters higher than the lower swamp levels. If the perched aquifers were fully impermeable the water level in the UEV aquifer would have no effect on the flow and level in the two creeks. The data however suggests that the perched and UEV aquifers were strongly connected pre-mining. From 1968 to 1981, the average annual Salt Creek flow was 3175ML/year with 17 no-flow days. For the period 20102017, the average annual Salt Creek flow was only 466 ML/ year with 233 no-flow days. This reduction is much larger than changes in rainfall and evapotranspiration would explain. Lower swamp water now leaks down into the UEV aquifer. During wet periods the swamp becomes saturated and flows, but drains without replenishment during dry periods. This now exaggerated seasonal loss of level in the lower swamps exposes fresh soil to oxidation. When the rain returns, levels rise and acidic water flows into the estuary. Alcoa is still using 1.5 million litres from this source to fill the old mine pit, in a trial ending in May 2022.
Figure 2— Cone of Depression
Suggested next steps
Independently review the effect of extracting UEV water on the swamps prior to extending the Alcoa entitlement. Jointly develop solutions to reduce the acidity in the estuary. The science around groundwater is complex. The above review was done in conjunction with a leading environmental scientist and hydro-geologist.
