Once upon Geoff Ellis knew exactly what the council should do. And then he became a councillor.
 By Geoff Ellis
NOTE to self: Next time – removalists. A white ute dashes along Sheepways dragging a dust cloaked trailer. Back in Wattle Bank another trailer waits as the next load grows around it. The new place is log jammed. When does the tip close? Can the op-shop sell any of this treasure? Why is the dog barking?  By Geoff Ellis
FRANKENSTEIN wasn't the first scientist to have the next best thing become the exact opposite. He won’t be the last. Glyphosate-based products have long been the standard for weed control. Now concerns are being raised about their long-term effect. The jury is still out so, for once, perhaps we should take a cautious approach. Remember DDT?  By Geoff Ellis
LAST month members of the Bass Coast South Gippsland Reconciliation Group stood in the Sale Entertainment Centre trying to make sense of the motto on a crest. “MISERIS SUCCURRERE DISCO”. It’s in the detail of one of six plaques by Annemieke Mein commemorating famous Gippslanders. This plaque was the last item on our itinerary; the final monument to honour Angus McMillan.  By Geoff Ellis
RECENTLY I drove to Cranbourne and back in a morning. At Wonthaggi unleaded petrol was 115.9 cents (Brand A, Brand B and Brand C). At Bass, 34 kilometres away, unleaded petrol was 96.9 cents (Brand B). At Tooradin it was 91.9 cents for e10 petrol (Brand D). Nineteen kilomtres up the road from Tooradin, ULP was 90.9 cents with a voucher (Brand B).  Cartoon by Natasha Williams-Novak By Geoff Ellis
April 9, 2016 "ANY customer can have a car painted any colour they like ... so long as it is black," Henry Ford (inventing the mandatory option) in 1909.* “We should buy a Betamax VCR.” Geoff Ellis (planning to get married), ca 1982.  After 10 years of talk and planning, The Cape estate is starting to take shape. Developer Brendan Condon sells Geoff Ellis on the benefits of eco-houses.
 Cartoon: Natasha Williams-Novak The passionate local people who staff Wonthaggi’s visitor information centre are the best possible advertisement for the area.
Geoff Ellis’s tree change has thrown up surprising challenges. Some of them have eight legs.
A month of relentless eating leads to a month of remorseful sweating for Geoff Ellis, who finds his mind wandering in strange places.
 Pam Rothfield tells Geoff Ellis the stories behind some of the graves in the historic Phillip Island cemetery.
A Wonthaggi-based organisation is leading a citizen science project aimed at cleaning up sewage outfalls around Australia.
The prospect of the State Government placing the first order for water from the Wonthaggi desalination plant has opened some old wounds, reports Geoff Ellis.  Neil Rankine (back row, left), Vilya Congreave (blue jacket, centre of back row) and Jessica Harrison (red cap, right of the row) at a blockade of the desalination site, July 8, 2008. Photo: Catherine Watson By Geoff Ellis
LAST year, while cleaning out his Grantville shed, Allan George found something that doesn’t belong to him. In the bottom of a box was a Dead Man’s Penny that commemorated the death of John Andrew Cunningham. This plaque had been issued to the soldier’s Father, William Cunningham, of Malvern, in May, 1923.  On a visit to Grantville cemetery, Geoff Ellis discovered its occupants are in trusted hands.
 Climate change is just the latest challenge for Bob and Anne Davie. Geoff Ellis reports on a Ventnor couple who have always faced up to the ethical, economic and environmental challenges of farming.
 Farming is big business for Caleb and Shiona Berry, and that includes planning for a more sustainable future, writes GEOFF ELLIS.
 Migrant Pea Pickers, US, 1938. Photo: Dorothea Lange Consumers should use their wallets as an agent of change to demand fair working conditions for all, writes GEOFF ELLIS.
 Brian Enbom and his beefies on his Jumbunna property Like all good farmers, Brian Enbom always has another thing to do. Our local Landcarer of the year fits more into a day than seems humanly possible, writes GEOFF ELLIS.
 “Have you gone raving mad? I mean, I came here in all good faith, to help my country. I don't mind giving a reasonable amount, but a pint?” Tony Hanock in The Blood Donor. GEOFF ELLIS rolls up his sleeve and reflects on his family heritage, good and bad.
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