Home and hosed
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. “IT’S clear to me that we’re building as if...
The inside story
Cartoon: Natasha Williams-Novak The passionate local people who staff Wonthaggi’s visitor information centre are the best possible advertisement for the area. By Geoff Ellis AFTER spending a day...
Man versus nature
Geoff Ellis’s tree change has thrown up surprising challenges. Some of them have eight legs. WHO hasn’t moved a picture or opened a drawer to be confronted by a Big Hairy Spider lurking in the shadows?...
Back to the daily grind
A month of relentless eating leads to a month of remorseful sweating for Geoff Ellis, who finds his mind wandering in strange places. THERE’S an unfamiliar space in our lounge room. Presents given and...
Tales of tragedy and triumph
Pam Rothfield tells Geoff Ellis the stories behind some of the graves in the historic Phillip Island cemetery. CHRISTMAS Morning, 1949. Just after 5am a guest at the Continental Guest House, near Cowes...
Oceans without borders
A Wonthaggi-based organisation is leading a citizen science project aimed at cleaning up sewage outfalls around Australia. By Geoff Ellis “Our oceans know no borders.” John Gemmill, from the Clean...
That sinking feeling
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...
A Waterline mystery
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...
Someone to watch over us
On a visit to Grantville cemetery, Geoff Ellis discovered its occupants are in trusted hands. THE graveyards of Bass Coast are an unlikely tourist attraction that are being explored by more and more...
Old habits die hard
Geoff Ellis farewells the chips and chocolates. MY GRANDFATHER lies buried deep inside my memory. Slowly dying in a hospice, one-armed and bedridden, his spectre merged with my shadow for a moment....
Bimbadeen, place of good view
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....
Taking the long view
Farming is big business for Caleb and Shiona Berry, and that includes planning for a more sustainable future, writes GEOFF ELLIS. NORTH from Wonthaggi the coastal plain grows into green hills and...
'You can't farm just to watch the roos'
Like every farmer, Daryl Hook is juggling the challenges of sustainability: environmental, financial and personal. Geoff Ellis report.
Fields of broken dreams
Consumers should use their wallets as an agent of change to demand fair working conditions for all, writes GEOFF ELLIS. LIKE me, you’ve probably spotted coolie hats in the fields around Wonthaggi,...
Pastures of plenty
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,...
In the blood
“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...
Everyone's a loser
Cows are not the only victims of the modern dairy industry, writes GEOFF ELLIS. AS SOMEONE who used to have to get cows to step backwards off a slowly spinning concrete platform, I agree wholeheartedly...