Bass Coast Post
  • Home
    • Recent articles
  • Federal Election 2025
  • News
    • Point of view
    • View from the chamber
  • Writers
    • Anne Davie
    • Anne Heath Mennell
    • Bob Middleton
    • Carolyn Landon
    • Catherine Watson
    • Christine Grayden
    • Dick Wettenhall
    • Ed Thexton
    • Etsuko Yasunaga
    • Frank Coldebella
    • Gayle Marien
    • Geoff Ellis
    • Gill Heal
    • Harry Freeman
    • Ian Burns
    • Joan Woods
    • John Coldebella
    • Julie Paterson
    • Julie Statkus
    • Kit Sleeman
    • Laura Brearley >
      • Coastal Connections
    • Lauren Burns
    • Liane Arno
    • Linda Cuttriss
    • Linda Gordon
    • Lisa Schonberg
    • Liz Low
    • Marian Quigley
    • Mark Robertson
    • Mary Whelan
    • Meryl Brown Tobin
    • Michael Whelan
    • Mikhaela Barlow
    • Miriam Strickland
    • Natasha Williams-Novak
    • Neil Daly
    • Patsy Hunt
    • Pauline Wilkinson
    • Richard Kemp
    • Sally McNiece
    • Terri Allen
    • Tim Shannon
  • Features
    • Features 2024
    • Features 2023
    • Features 2022
    • Features 2021
    • Features 2020
    • Features 2019
    • Features 2018
    • Features 2017
    • Features 2016
    • Features 2015
    • Features 2014
    • Features 2013
    • Features 2012
  • Arts
  • Local history
  • Environment
  • Nature notes
    • Nature notes
  • A cook's journal
  • Community
    • Diary
    • Courses
    • Groups
    • Stories
  • Contact us

FEATURE ARTICLES 2013

Feature articles 2015
Feature articles 2014
Feature articles 2012

Nightmare on Western Port revisited

Picture
December 21, 2013 - With the Victorian premier espousing the “Shanghai of the South” for Western Port, Anne Paul revisited an academic study published 35 years ago. 


December 21, 2013 - Gill Heal looks back at the first 18 months of the Bass Coast Post 
and sees democracy at work, with its rights and obligations.

Picture
Chance encounter
December 21, 2013 - A visit to Punchbowl had Bob Middleton thinking about beagles, foxes and too much hay.

Picture
A mine of information
December 21, 2013 - Teaching a young man to read and providing a sympathetic ear were all part of the job for Wonthaggi’s first librarian, Georgie McRae. Carol Cox reports.


Picture
In their sights
December 13, 2013 - In the wake of a vitriolic debate about dogs on beaches, Catherine Watson asks at what point a community campaign becomes bullying.


The roads less travelled

Picture
December 13, 2013 - For 30 years, two old friends have 
criss-crossed the back roads of Bass Coast, one step at a time. 
Joan Woods reports. 

Picture
Here we go again
December 6, 2013 - Phillip Islanders have defended “their bay” against a nuclear plant, an oil refinery, a canal development and a ferry terminal. The Port of Hastings development is the latest threat, writes Anne Davie. 

Picture
The dog debates
December 7, 2013 - When Bass Coast councillors voted to trial a new time exclusion for dogs on Inverloch beaches this summer, the debate became red-hot. We hear from two of the many corners. 


Picture
A welcome racket
December 5, 2013 - Early each morning Linda Cuttriss is woken by raucous cackling and shrieking.  It’s pandemonium, but a welcome one, because it means the shearwaters are back in the breeding business.


In praise of dirt roads

Picture
In praise of dirt roads
November 30, 2013 - Our lives are dominated by metaphorical straight lines: rigid timetables, appointments and deadlines. A meandering dirt road offers relief, writes Liz Low.

Picture
Beyond the three R's
November 30, 2013 - Concerns about rates, roads and rubbish will always dominate local debate, writes Anne Davie, but we also need to count the blessings of our beautiful surroundings and rich community life.

Picture
In Darwin's footsteps
November 30, 2013 - Local snorkellers followed in the footsteps of Charles Darwin and Benjamin Franklin, citizen scientists of their time, when they went below the surface of Shack Bay.  

Picture
The end of a perfect night
November 21, 2013 - If you’ve ever been dubious about safety air bags, Carolyn Landon’s experience might change your mind. Without them, she doubts that she’d be alive to tell this tale, which she wrote to her family in the US after a high-speed crash.

Picture
The great defender
November 16, 2013 - From the personal to the political, Hazel Swift 
walks a straight line. Gill Heal meets a woman known to many simply 
as The Cat Lady.


The mystery of the bare coastal park

Picture
The mystery of the bare coastal park
November 16, 2013 - Aquasure’s announcement last year of a 225-hectare coastal reserve surrounding the desalination plant soothed local feelings, but so far the reality doesn't match the vision. 

Picture
Cunning as a chicken killer
November 15, 2013 - Bob Middleton was always on the fox’s side, until the night he forgot to lock the chook shed.



Picture
A small town with big ideas
With Wonthaggi marked as one of the state’s “growth centres”, Neil Rankine writes that we have a rare opportunity to ensure we attract the right sort of development and reinvigorate the town centre.

Picture
Build it and they will come
November 2, 2013 - Part hipster, part hippie, Kongwak Market has defied the doubters. It turns 10 this weekend.

Picture
Out of a planning nightmare, a new dream arises
November 2, 2013 - With views of Western Port and Churchill Island, Scenic Estate was a developer’s dream. Now a 50-year planning disaster is ending with plans for Phillip Island’s newest coastal reserve.

Picture
Art of the possible
October 24, 2013 - The reality rarely matches the dream but Wonthaggi’s Artspace Gallery appears to be an exception.

Percy's tale
October 24, 2013 - Born a dwarf and abandoned by his family, ‘Percy’ Drawbridge eventually made his home in Cowes. Anne Davie recalls a sweet-natured man who became a favourite with the local children, cats and dogs.

The streets of my town

Picture
The streets of my town
October 19, 2013 - Reports of Wonthaggi’s future role in accommodating Melbourne’s overflow made Linda Gordon uneasy about the sorts of new estate we can expect. 


Picture
Not a blackboard in sight
October 18, 2013 - When students turn teachers, new worlds open for the teachers and the taught. Former teacher Gill Heal reports from Bass Valley Primary School.


At your service

Picture
October 19, 2013 - Bill Twite’s mother said he was an accident, but a good one. Joan Woods reports on the former policeman’s life of service to his family and his community.

Kitchen sink dramas

Picture
October 19, 2013 - Under siege by a family obsessed with her bad habits, Lis Williams suddenly feels sympathy for her own mother. 

In defence of the pesky pine

Picture
October 19, 2013 - In Bird Week, Heather Murray Tobias argues that what we call weeds may also be home to many bird species.

The view from outside

Picture
The view from outside
October 5, 2013 - Twenty photographers, 20 perspectives shot over two weekends ... MAPping Wonthaggi takes a fresh look at our familiar world. 

Picture
A rupert of an election
October 5, 2013 - Handing out how-to-vote cards on election day provided plenty of opportunity for Frank Coldebella to contemplate voters, democracy, free speech and obesity.

Garden warriors in a grand tradition

Picture
September 28, 2013 - Joy Button delves into Coronet Bay’s history and discovers some wonderful characters, not least among a new garden group, the Horticultural Healers.


Of plastic bags and paper cups

Picture
September 28, 2013 - As he carefully separates his bottles, newspapers and plastic from the rubbish, Bob Middleton has a sneaking suspicion he’s being conned.

The alchemy of light

Picture
September 21, 2013 - The films were always wonderful but what Keith Stevens loved most was the flickering beam that came from the projectionist’s room.  He talks cinema with Gill Heal. 

To sum up, it's just hot air

Picture
September 21, 2013 - The Coalition claimed its Direct Action plan would absorb 15 million tonnes of CO2 a year. Bernie McComb did the sums and found a $74.5 billion hole in the argument. 

Send in the A team

Picture
September 14, 2013 - Bob Middleton cheers himself up by imagining his political team of the century.

One eyesore leads to another

Picture
September 14, 2013 - A single bad decision in coastal planning can lead to others, argues Cr Phil Wright, citing the Smiths Beach ramp. 

Picture
Planning blind in Cape
September 8, 2013 - Nicholas argues against allowing engineers to change Cape Paterson to their version of an urban paradise. 

Welcome to our house

Picture
September 1, 2013: Sparks can fly – in the best sense – when people work together, says Jan Bourne. Gill Heal reports on the woman who has guided Wonthaggi's neighbourhood house for 11 years.


News travels fast

Picture
August 31, 2013 - On Saturday Julie Statkus attended a crash course in journalism. By Saturday night, she was putting it into practice with this report.

Along for the ride

Picture
August 23, 2013 - Gippyrideshare co-ordinator Fred Boreham is a living advertisement for the car pooling scheme.


A good death

Picture
August 23, 2013 - Bob Middleton contemplates mortality and decides dying is best done while life is still good.   


High times in the old hall

Picture
August 16, 2013 - Tired of travelling to the city to hear live music, Ian and Suzanne Henderson decided to bring the music to Gippsland. Bob Middleton pays tribute to the Lyrebird Arts Council.

Frog Hollow: A miner’s cottage in Wonthaggi, Part 2

Picture
August 16, 2013 - Four generations of Terri Allen’s family have lived in the house her grandfather built in Broome Crescent in 1915. The second part of her story about the family house is also a history of Australian domestic life in the 20th century.  

Answering the distress call

Picture
August 10, 2013 - In the past 25 years Faye Hardie has rescued and rehoused hundreds of cats and dogs. And every one of them has a story. Catherine Watson reports.


A small shire with big ideas

Picture
August 2, 2013 - Two new initiatives on Phillip Island - Community Plus and Evenings at Harry's - are tapping into a hunger for serious discussion of ideas and strategies. 

The Mouse that roared

Picture
July 23, 2013 - An unnecessary blood test led to an unexpected bonding of cat and human. Catherine Watson reports.


Frog Hollow: a miner's cottage in Wonthaggi

Picture
July 14, 2013 - Terri Allen's memoir of  her house, its surrounds, and the people who have lived there since 1915. 

A word to the wise

Picture
July 14, 2013 - Annoyed by clumsy locutions, peculiar pronunciations and asinine Americanisms, Pamela Jacka believes it’s time to stand up for the English language and the Australian idiom.

Balancing the books

Picture
July 6, 2013 - At $2 a pop, thousands of used book sales add up to a touch of luxury for residents of Melaleuca Lodge. Bob Middleton visited Bill’s Book Shed for the inside story on an island institution. 

On the scent of a fortune

Picture
July 6, 2013 - A lifetime of searching for ambergris, and in the end Catherine Watson found it by mistake.

The search for order

Picture
June 30, 2013 - Meryl and Hartley Tobin’s passions are very different, but they both bring a meticulous approach to their subjects. Gill Heal reports.

Dark thoughts

Picture
June 22, 2013 - While others are dozing, Bob Middleton tackles some of the big issues.


The authentic voice of Wonthaggi

Picture
June 15, 2013 - In the early 1990s, Nell Sleeman wrote down her memories of life in Wonthaggi in the 1920s and 1930s. Twenty years later, her words have the authentic flavour of another world. 

Someone to watch over us

Picture
June 9, 2013 - When the unthinkable happens, Loch’s rescue unit is quickly on the scene. Gill Heal spoke to one family who will never forget their kindness to a loved son and brother. 

Picture
Rusting link to rich coal lore
June 9, 2013 - High tides recently exposed old tramway rails at the Cape Paterson beach. The 150-year-old rails are the last link to the earliest efforts to mine coal in our area, Mike McCarthy writes.


Bananas, bees and bloody big pumpkins

Picture
June 2, 2013 - Banana bender, prodigious pumpkin grower, fowl fancier and ace apiarist, Colin Willmott is a man at the top of his game. Bob Middleton headed down the hill to meet the legend.  


The work diaries

Picture
June 2, 2013 - Newly redundant and just past her prime, Catherine Watson sets out in search of a new calling.

Watching the river flow

Picture
May 26, 2015 - For neighbouring farmers, the periodic flooding of the Powlett estuary is a time of some anxiety. For water birds and freshwater fish, it's a time of full and plenty. 


A pearler, stitch by thrilling stitch

Picture
May 19, 2013 - Anna Kentwell’s seaweed dress encrusted with pearls nestled in flowers of coral was a labour of love and imagination. 
Gill Heal reports.


Beau’s poetry, with a little help from Nell

Picture
May 19, 2013 - Beau Sleeman’s verse gives a fascinating insight into the Wonthaggi of the mid-1900s, a world of backyard chooks and the Friday night town parade of fighters and preachers. Carolyn Landon reports.


Going his own way, on sea and land

Picture
May 12, 2013 - Furniture-designer, soap-maker, house-builder, jeweller and wind surfer Brad Pickering is a man who’ll try anything once. Bob Middleton reports from Woodleigh.

Let's get creative

Picture
May 5, 2013 - A new rural land strategy is a missed opportunity to integrate farming, conservation and tourism, Phil Wright argues, but it’s not too late to get it right. 


Back from the brink

Picture
April 26, 2013 - They left for Vietnam as boys and returned a year later as battle-scarred men. Gill Heal reports on one man’s experience of trying to settle back into a life of farming and footy.

Time marches on

Picture
April 25, 2013 - Time marches on and winter looms, but Bob Middleton finds comfort in the unchanging rhythm of the seasons.

War and peace, one street at a time

Picture
April 20, 2013 - A few days before Anzac Day, Catherine Watson  looks around her street and is reminded that war is a waste of time.

Picture
The co-op bakehouse
​April 18, 2013 - Carolyn Landon’s essay reveals the significance of the Wonthaggi Co-operative Distribution Society Bakehouse.

Nothing to write home about

Picture
April 14, 2013 - When it comes to building sustainable houses, 
we know what works; we just don’t do it. In fact we seem to 
be going backwards, writes Terence Nott.
 

The mystery of the phantom whistle

Picture
April 14, 2013 - In 1937, the Wonthaggi mine whistle signalled the 
town's worst-ever disaster. Or did it? Carolyn Landon sets out to solve the mystery. 

Throwing caution to the wind

Picture
April 6, 2013 - There is a tide in the affairs of man, Shakespeare reckoned, and you only get one chance to catch it. Liz Alger was determined not to miss her chance.


On a board and a prayer

Picture
April 6, 2013 - “Two blokes, 10 days, one ocean – what could possibly go wrong?” So runs the tagline for Inverloch film-maker Mick Green’s documentary Paradise Blown.

Missing in action

Picture
March 30, 2013 - Going back to photograph Warley Hospital after it closed was a haunting experience for Cowes photographer Lisa Schonberg.

Let’s sink ferry plan once and for all

Picture
March 30, 2013 - The last thing we need in Cowes in summer is more cars, writes Phil Wright.



Auction no place for the chicken-hearted

Picture
March 23, 2013 - At his first chook auction, Bob Middleton is outdrawn by some young turks

Quarry green light could see property prices tumble

Picture
March 16, 2013 - Grantville residents and ratepayers are not as 
well disposed to the proposed sand quarry as some suggest, 
writes Janet Donaldson


A gentle woman who stood firm

Picture
March 16, 2013 - A mother, teacher, librarian, historian, author and activist, Lyn Chambers believed everything we do is ultimately a political decision. Carolyn Landon recalls a modest woman who made a big impact on Wonthaggi.


Outrage just a flash in the pan

Picture
March 16, 2013 - When Catherine Watson read a newspaper report that Cape Woolamai traders were kicking up a stink about their new public toilets, she wondered if there might be another side to the story.

Water in the bank

Picture
March 16, 2013 - It was fitting that last Sunday’s public tour of the Candowie reservoir was held on one of the hottest days this year, in the middle of a two-week heat wave in one of the driest summers on record.

Two parts goodwill, one part vigilance a promising mix

Picture
March 10, 2013 - Information and compromise have helped to ease fears about the impact of a new sand quarry near Grantville. Gill Heal and Bob Middleton spoke to residents and the developer.


Power to the people

Picture
March 3, 2013 - When the Wonthaggi Bowling Club installs solar panels, you can guess solar power is no longer the province just of greenies and hippies. Catherine Watson crunches the numbers - financial and environmental - for those still weighing up the pros and cons.

Smokin' Joe Foster

Picture
February 23, 2013 - Just give Joe Foster a chainsaw and wave him off for the day. Bob Middleton reports on a neighbour with a reputation for pitching in when the going gets touch. 

Not just water under the bridge

Picture
February 16, 2013 - The resignation of former state water minister Tim Holding prompted Mark Robertson to reflect on the ongoing costs – environmental and financial – of the desalination project and the job that lies ahead for local residents. 


The mysterious case of the Newhaven poisoning

Picture
On February 5, the Sentinel-Times reported that a Newhaven man 
was claiming compensation from the council after allegedly being 
poisoned by an insecticide. Frank Coldebella and Catherine Watson 
went in search of the story behind the headline. 


A day at the Cape

Picture
February 16, 2013 - The Gilmour family connection with Cape Paterson goes back more than a century, Carolyn Landon writes.




Too much spin

Picture
February 9, 2013 - In 2003, it took only a few angry voices to convince Bass Coast councillors and most of the community that wind farms were a blot on the landscape. Has the pendulum swung back?

The knee report

Picture
February 10, 2013 - When word got around that Clive Dobson had done his knee, the shockwaves went from the outskirts of Wonthaggi all the way down to Cape and back again. 


Courage under fire

Picture
February 3, 2013 - Bass Coast’s volunteer firefighters are facing one of the most dangerous fire seasons in years. GILL HEAL asks what motivates them to put their lives on the line for strangers.

What would Olive say?

Picture
February 2, 2013 - For  99 years, Olive Justice was a familiar face on Phillip Island, and now her name has become synonymous with a bitter battle over a valuable site in Cowes. But what would Olive Justice want to happen to the place named after her?

The bay's big bash

Picture
February 2, 2013 - A tug of war and sack race vied with some hot moves on the new BMX ramps and some good old Aussie pub rock to make a sensational Australia Day celebration at Pioneer Bay.  Zena Benbow reports.


Ticket to ride

Picture
February 2, 2013 - For Courtney Moir, a licence and car add up to freedom to live life the way she wants to. But she needed a little help to get there. 


The view from the top

Picture
February 13, 2013 - If you won Tattslotto, you might just be able to afford Punchbowl’s pink palace but you’d probably need to win Tattslotto again to maintain it. Catherine Watson reports.

Hot summers, big snakes and a mayor in overalls

Picture
January 26, 2013 - In January 1958, Anna Coldebella spoke to the Express about becoming a naturalised Australian. Fifty-five years later, her son fills in the story of her early years in Wonthaggi.


A turn for the better

Picture
January 20, 2013 - If there’s one thing "Wonthaggi" has plenty of it’s wind. Energy researcher Ben Courtice looks at whether it could prove to be one of the shire’s biggest assets.

Put out to pasture, but not forgotten

Picture
January 20, 2013 - Visit any agricultural show and it’s the
vintage tractors that draw the crowds. Bob Middleton asks
what is it about a humble old grey fergie that makes
some men grow misty-eyed.  

Drag racing for dogs

Picture
January 20, 2013 - It’s the joy of the dogs that’s so entrancing about flyball. From sleek border collies to little old terriers, all are focused on the game, and it’s the best game in the world. Catherine Watson reports.


Salt of the earth

Picture
January 13, 2013 - For almost a century, Harry Cleeland was a 
part of Cape Woolamai. Gill Heal recalls a gentle, graceful man 
much of whose life was governed by the sea but who
preferred to stick to shore. 

Hoodies update

Picture
January 12, 2013 - After watching a pair of Cape Paterson hooded plovers fail to raise a single chick from four clutches of eggs last summer, Graeme Henry was delighted when two chicks hatched out in early December. He continues the story. 


Feathers in their caps

Picture
January 12, 2013 - The second Saturday of the year is D-day for the region's best poultry breeders, craft-makers, bakers, gardeners and jam makers as they set their sights on the Bass Coast Agricultural Show. Catherine Watson spoke to some of the winners.