NEWS DESK
Towering ‘threat’ to green wedge Keith Platt keith@mpnews.com.au
Inspired art: Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Councillor David Gill, CEO John Baker with Sophie Perez, winner of the most inspiring award in this year’s green wedge art competition. Picture: Supplied
Heeding the call for inspirational win
SOPHIE Perez’s depiction of the land as it falls away to Bass Strait on the southern edge of the Mornington peninsula has won the top prize in this year’s Green Wedge Paint Out Exhibition art competition. Artist Jennifer Riddle and Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery’s senior curator Danny Lacy, who judged the competition, described I Can Hear You Calling as “a bold painting that captures the evocative landscape”. “Overlooking Bass Strait, the landscape is filled with texture and depth, dirt roads dissecting the lush plant life landscape reveals itself as you drive around that corner, the thrill of the steep descent enshrined in this beautiful painting.”
Perez won the $1000 most inspiring award for her work. The 70 works entered in the competition “encapsulate the beauty of our peninsula”, Mornington Peninsula Shire mayor Cr David Gill said. “The green wedge paintings inspire our community to appreciate the environment that we are so proud of, and both the council and all community members must protect,” he said. Chris Puebla won the $500 green award for Lorna’s Triangle, painting that the judge said “wonderfully captured the soft light filtering in through the woodlands at Lorna’s Triangle”. Maxine Wild received the $500 encouragement award for The Edge of the Wedge (Boneo Road, Flinders).
Special mention awards were made to Julie Newson, Looking out from the vineyard at Elgee Park; Trish Bourke, Looking East, Cheviot Beach; Rodger Stebbing, Elgee Park; Katherine Moore, Devil’s Bend II; Maxine Pritchard, View from the Top; Ruth Belfrage, Peninsula Garden; and Lynne Bechervaise, Main Ridge Property. Works in this year’s green wedge exhibition will be shown at the shire’s Besgrove Street, Rosebud offices Saturday 15 June-Tuesday 6 August and Merricks House Gallery, Merricks General Wine Store, 3460 FrankstonFlinders Road, Merricks Saturday 15 June-Sunday 7 July. Details: mornpen. vic.gov.au/greenwedge
THE owners of an art gallery say a telecommunications tower planned to be built within the Mornington Peninsula’s green wedge-zone will be a blot on the landscape. Emily and Susan McCulloch say they received a “notification letter” about the planned tower in May “seven months after the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council had received the planning application”. The shire’s principal planner Hugh Pierce said on Friday the tower came under the federal government’s Mobile Black Spot Program “which exempts such a facility from both formal notification … and removes the ability for any potential objector to appeal council’s decision to VCAT”. “At this time council officers are still completing this assessment of the proposal and have not yet reached a final position,” he said. The sisters’ property Whistlewood, in Tucks Road, Shoreham includes a 1870s Tuck-built house. They warn that if given the go ahead, the tower could “set a precedent for such structures to be built on private land in all other similar locations throughout the peninsula's green wedge zone”. They also hold fears that the tower
could be used for the incoming 5G network 5G network, “about which little is known and which is attracting worldwide concern regarding impacts on health, wildlife and other issues”. The McCullochs say the 31.3 metre telecommunications tower in Tucks Road would “dominate [Whistelwood’s] eastern skyline and be highly visible from every gallery and living room, upstairs and down, the studio and over virtually our entire acreage”. “[The] outlook and environs are not just a view, but are integral to our purpose of being what has grown over almost 70 years and three generations of the McCulloch family – to support, foster and display art of the land, including Aboriginal, environmental and landscape art and invite artists to its environs in which to make art.” In an email encouraging opposition to the tower planned by Telstra through its contractor Visionstream, the McCullochs say there has been no “proper community consultation”. They say the tower would be in cluster of five or six rural properties, about 30 metres from the house of its nearest neighbour and 40 metres from Whistlewood's boundary and 80 metres from the house. “As the tower would sit on a prominent ridge line on Tucks Road it would compromise the tranquillity of this rural and historic road.”
Time and tide running out for jet-ski hoons
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driving at more than five knots within 50 metres of swimmers or within 200 metres of the shore. The council’s strong stance at its 25 June meeting echoes community concerns about jet-ski use and the need for tougher regulations and improved safety measures to better protect the community. “The communities in towns such as Rye affected by the jet-ski volume, safety risk and noise, have made it very clear they want jet-skis controlled,” Rye Community Group Alliance’s Mechelle Cheers said. “The council is now doing its bit to represent the views of peninsula communities, so it’s way beyond time for the Andrews government to act without any more procrastination.” The council voted to adopt an advocacy paper that calls on the state government to “immediately address safety concerns in relation to personal watercraft usage”. Stephen Taylor
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THE tide is turning against jet-ski hoons who face curbs on their antics at popular bay beaches. Mornington Peninsula Shire Council wants Maritime Safety Victoria to bring in tough new laws, possibly by this summer, to toughen rules on the water craft and possibly ban them from popular swimming areas such as Rye, The Pillars, Mt Martha and Safety Beach, as well as limit them to specific zones well away from swimmers. Other rules would ban them from mooring off beaches and at jetties and require riders to be aged over 18. CCTV cameras would be used to monitor errant behaviour. The possible new rules being sought by the shire acknowledge that jet-skis are causing serious safety risks to beachgoers and the marine environment. The spotlight will be on hoon-like behaviour which could result in fines from police or local laws officers for performing “doughnuts” within 50 metres of swimmers or other water users, or
THE RYE HOTEL 2415 Point Nepean Road, Rye Vic 3941 ENJOY DRINKS IN FRONT OF THE OPEN FIRE Southern Peninsula News
10 July 2019
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