Point of view from Bass Coast

Holding the line

11/7/2026

Four generations of Agnes Chambers’ family followed in her footsteps in a project to honour the Wonthaggi Miners Women’s Auxiliary. From left, Nicola Strating, Doris Chambers, Nellie, 3,
Corinn Strating and Lyndal Chambers. All photos: Karli Duckett

By Lyndal Chambers

HAVE you seen the new work of art emblazoned on the Union Theatre? I’m thrilled to see Radical Women come to fruition.

The work honours my grandmother Agnes Chambers, alongside Agnes Doig and the Wonthaggi Miners Women’s Auxiliary.

My granny, Agnes Chambers, was president of the Auxiliary for many years. She believed in a fair go for working people and was prepared to speak out to achieve that aim, as were the other incredible women of the Auxiliary. They stood up and took action for their families, their husbands and their community.

Notes from the hinterland

2/7/2026

A diarist's reflections on a Covid diary, six years on

By Jillian Durance

January 2020
Standing at the front gate we could not see the house, that’s how dense it was. Fires incinerated the forest and devoured houses in faraway Mallacoota. Smoke from East Gippsland descended around New Year. It seemed - at first - so much like the mists we loved, the sea mist floating up from the Inlet on summer days, or the mist of autumn filtering through the sunlit slopes and purple valleys, but this pall, a strange greyish-yellow, would sit with us for days, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth, smarting eyes, destroying sleep. Were there flames nearby we did not know about? It tainted the tank water so that we couldn’t drink it. We showered in smoky water for days. Smoke was the colour of our summer.

Can we fix it? Yes, we can!

18/6/2026

By Joanne van der Heyden

HEADING into winter, the Fixit Cafe volunteers were kept busy with heaters and coffee machines last month.

With the next café on Sunday, it's the perfect time to take advantage of this free service to make sure the things you rely on to get you through the cold months are in working order, from portable heaters and slow cookers to your favourite warm jumper.

A few home truths

17/6/2026

Bass Coast: Ordinary working people are being priced out of their own community.

By Terry Burke

AFTER more than 40 years studying housing policy, I've seen few issues generate as much heat and misinformation as the proposed changes to the tax regime around housing. From where I sit in Bass Coast, the real issue is much simpler: will the changes help ordinary people find a place to live in their own community?

Imagine you're a nurse offered a job at Wonthaggi Hospital, a teacher appointed to Bass Coast Secondary College, or a young tradesperson who grew up in Inverloch. You earn a decent wage but after months of searching you still can't find an affordable home to rent, let alone buy.

Crunch time for Surf Parade

14/6/2026

As councillors prepare for a decisive vote on Wednesday, Michelle Gardiner writes that questions remain about funding, process and decisions made behind closed doors.

By Michelle Gardiner

LAST month the Bass Coast Post ran my investigation into how Inverloch was led down a one-way street on Surf Parade. Since then new information has come to light and decisions have been made behind closed doors.

Councillors will vote on Surf Parade on Wednesday. Here is what the public record shows.

On 29 April 2026, at the same meeting at which Brett Tessari was elected the new mayor, council approved a contract variation for the Wonthaggi to Inverloch Shared Path in closed session. Trail savings from that project are the proposed funding source for Surf Parade Stage 3B.

Mind the gaps

20/5/2026

Catching the V/Line bus to the city is scenic but unpredictable. Here’s our chance to fix it.

By Catherine Watson

WHEN the V/Line bus to the city works well, it’s a dream run, much better than driving.

Time: anywhere from two and a half to three and a half hours, depending on traffic and roadworks.
Cost: next to nothing. Free in May and half-price for the rest of the year.
Highlights: the view from the bus. From up high, you see things you never noticed before.
Convenience: no navigation, no parking, no city driving.
Drivers: apart from one notorious grump, they are helpful, cheerful and professional.

But anyone who uses the buses regularly has their own stories about long waits when it all goes wrong. As a regular bus user before entering Parliament, Bass MP Jordan Crugnale knows the gaps and frustrations all too well.

How Inverloch was led down a one-way street

1/5/2026

In June 2026, Bass Coast Shire Council will vote on whether to make part of Surf Parade
permanently one-way.

This article is drawn entirely from Council’s own public record.

By Michelle Gardiner

IN 2019, Bass Coast Shire Council asked Inverloch how it wanted the final section of the Surf Parade shared path built. Of 1,636 submissions, 73 per cent chose two-way traffic with parking. Council voted 5 to 4 to pursue that option.

In May 2024, it voted for one-way instead. At each step between, the options offered to the community changed – and the original choice slowly disappeared.

On church going

1/5/2026

Nikki Nicols got involved with her local church because she didn’t want it to close.

By Nikki Nicols

MY INVOLVEMENT with the Wonthaggi Uniting Church began with my living close and watching the many funerals the church congregation hosted. Then it was watching the children running around the lawns and building cubby houses.

Over time, however, the funerals ceased and the church became quiet. I said to my neighbours that I need to get involved in the church as I didn't wish to see it disappear. It had so much meaning to people in the town and its many members have given so much over many years.

Thinking big on old school site

1/5/2026

The old Wonthaggi tech site reimagined by AI, complete with gallery, park and library. Perhaps a little beyond our modest means at this stage, but we can dream big.

THE old Wonthaggi Secondary College site has been vacant since 2019, when the school moved to a new campus in McKenzie Street.

Despite repeated attempts by the community to get something happening, bickering between Bass Coast Shire Council and the State Government has stalled any progress on the site, which is still managed by the Victorian Department of Education.

But after years of stalemate, the momentum seems to be building on several fronts.

Send her packing, again!

31/3/2026

Former independent MP Susan Davies

By Susan Davies

IN 1998 I was a rookie Victorian MP, elected as an Independent in a 1997 rural byelection protest vote. The then rampant Kennett government was trampling over rural communities and people were very cranky (as they are again now).

Pauline Hanson was crowing at the eight One Nation MPs who'd been elected in Queensland (before they started to abandon her party). Convinced she could make a dent at the coming federal election, she was planning to tour conservative rural Gippsland and beyond to make her mark in Victoria, as she is again now.

In those days Jeff Kennett had a spine and rejected her divisive, anti-migrant message (unlike now). I went beyond my own Gippsland West patch into central Gippsland with a message on WIN TV. "There is no kindness, care or community in Pauline Hanson's politics,” I said. “This is not us, this is not our communities, not rural Victoria. Send her packing.”

Rethinking Surf Parade

30/3/2026

Four Inverloch residents take on the challenge of this vexed section. Have they cracked it?

By Glenn Morris

COMPLETION of the shared pathway along Surf Parade to the Surf Club has taxed the minds of Bass Coast Council and the local community for over 10 years now.

The council has decided to proceed with the pathway extension and provide additional carparking by changing Surf Parade into a one-way street from Ozone St to Goroke St.

Further community feedback on this decision has been sought, sparking yet another objection from a large group of community members opposed to the one-way proposal. A recently formed One Way No Way campaign has already obtained over 800 signatures to a petition calling on the one-way scheme to be scrapped in favour of a two-way road solution.

The MotoGP’s gone. What now?

6/3/2026

Unlike motorbike riders, serious golfers love bad weather. The legendary St Andrews Links
- home of golf - by John Allan. Creative commons.

By Catherine Watson

SO WE lost the MotoGP. After almost three decades, the shire’s biggest event is heading to an Adelaide street circuit. Ninety thousand fans over three days. Tens of millions of dollars for the local economy. Gone to those sneaky South Australians.

There’s plenty of blame going on but a more interesting question is what comes next on Phillip island?

The loss of the iconic race has sparked a range of ideas from electric motorbikes to historic racing festivals, international golf, and even a long game of sweet revenge to win back the MotoGP.

Small shop with a big heart

6/3/2026

By Toni Cooper

ON ANY given day at the Hadden House Op Shop in Bass you’ll find shelves and hangers of second-hand treasures. You’ll also find familiar faces, easy conversations and a sense of belonging that keeps people coming back.

Run entirely by volunteers, the op shop sits at the heart of the Bass Community Centre and plays an important role in supporting its work. Every donation sorted and every purchase made helps fund local community programs that bring people together.

The multi-roomed shop is filled with clothing, books, bric-a-brac and household items, all generously donated by the community. With plenty of off-street parking and a relaxed atmosphere, it has become a familiar stop for passing visitors.

After 12 years in limbo, a place to call home

5/3/2026

Big day: Khaled and Amira with Sham, Mohanad, Salam and Mohamad on their first day at
Wonthaggi North Primary School.

By Maddy Harford

WHAT does it take to begin again from scratch after war comes to your home town – to start a new life in a new country, with a new language, far from family and friends?

Syrian couple Khaled and Amira had been in a Lebanese refugee camp since 2014. While there they have had four children.

On January 8 2026, they arrived at Tullamarine airport to be welcomed by members of the Bass Coast Refugee Sponsorship Group, who drove them to their new home in Wonthaggi.

Warrior woman

17/2/2026

Phyllis Papps the librarian, 1976. There is little in the mild demeanour to suggest the courageous feminist who faced down homophobia and discrimination,

By Jan Bourne

MIRANDA Phyllis Dimitra Papaioannou was born on Saturday 15th April 1944, in Cairo, Egypt, the only daughter and second child to her Greek parents Dimitri and Marguerite (Rita). She joined her brother three-year-old Apollo in completing the family.

Both Dimitri (known as Jim) and Rita were college educated, spoke five languages each and Jim, a trained accountant, worked for the British Army as a staff sergeant. The family enjoyed an affluent lifestyle in Cairo until the late 1940s when the political situation became unstable and Jim decided to take his family to Australia as unassisted migrants.

Arriving in 1950, Jim and Rita had to work hard in factory jobs to be able to save and build their own home in Ringwood. Later, Jim’s credentials were acknowledged and the ensuing professional work enabled Rita to stay home and look after their children.

I had a dream

14/1/2026

Matt Stone delves into the dream world.

By Matt Stone

I DREAM, but not with quite the same repercussions as Martin Luther King Jnr, who famously said, in his 1963 “I Have A Dream” speech, “I had a dream.”

I was never sure of what he actually dreamt so I did some research. The gist of it was racial equality, freedom from inequality, justice and fairness, unity and brotherhood and opportunity for all. Hmm, doesn’t sound like the America of today, does it?

He paid a high price for his dream five years later, when he was (supposedly) assassinated by James Earl Ray. It was later proved Ray was falsely convicted – love a good conspiracy. That’s more like the America of today!

On the subject of dreams, I always dream. In fact the only way I know I have slept is the memory of dreaming – but I have little recollection of what I dreamt, unless Liane accuses me of kicking her in the leg, and I then recall trying to kick a football that kept rolling away. Hopefully, for matrimonial harmony, my football dream days are far and few between.

Keep your koel, ed

12/12/2025

A noisy intruder sparks Matt Stone’s musings on a word with
many tangents. Image with a little help from AI.

By Matt Stone

NOT that I would ever be disrespectful of our dear editor of the Bass Coast Post, but I'm a little concerned that she's starting to lose it a bit. Normally cool and collected, she sent a text message the other day: “That f&*# varmint shrieked until nearly midnight and started again at 4.47am. It sounded as if it was just outside my window but probably not. How is your varmint going?”

We knew at once that she was referring to the Koel bird. The true koels, Eudynamys, are a genus of cuckoos from Asia, Australia and the Pacific. They are large sexually dimorphic cuckoos that eat fruits and insects and have loud distinctive calls. They are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of other species.

Meet the ologists

10/11/2025

Matt's crash course in the world of medical specialists.

By Matt Stone

UNTIL my recent bout with giant cell arteritis I had never known there were so many ologists. Of course I knew about the oncologist for cancer and dermatologist for Liane’s rosacea but except for cardiologists I think I had reached my lot that I could answer quickly in a quiz.

Now I realise there are a significant number with each ologist having a specific focus with their skills honed through years of study and practice in their chosen field.

The suffix ology comes from the Greek logia and means the study of. Outside of medicine there are lots of examples like biology, geology, sociology, anthropology, theology, ontology and psychology.

Stories of home

10/11/2025

EAL students work on mind scapes comparing the natural places in their first home and their new Australian home.

By Daryl Pellizzer

THE other morning I worked with Mr Win Kyi. We watched a video on ABC’s Behind the News about Deep Time. It showed that first nations people have been in Australia for 65,000 years.

Win Kyi asked me if there were many Aboriginal teachers or police or doctors. We talked about how if Aboriginal people studied and got the right qualifications then they could do those jobs. I explained that compared to the number of non-indigenous Australians there are not many indigenous people here. There were a lot more before colonisation. Many were shot or moved off their land so they didn’t have the food and water that they needed.

All in a day’s work

9/11/2025

Podcaster Cathie Agg: “It’s best to shut up and just let the person talk."

By Catherine Watson

I MUST admit I was a little nervous about interviewing Cathie Agg. Like most newspaper reporters, I’m a haphazard interviewer. Cathie’s the real deal: trained in radio, practised in audio. She does her homework – including a pre-interview interview – and knows exactly what she wants to know.

Her podcast, Love Your Work, delves into how people’s work aligns with their personal values. She started with a simple idea: to ask people in Bass Coast and South Gippsland about their favourite job. Then she came across research showing that people are happiest when their work reflects their personal values. That struck a chord.

The one that got away

16/10/2025

The State Government missed a chance to secure the old Holden Proving Ground for conservation.

By Neil Rankine

NEWS that a Chinese car company plans to buy the old Holden Proving Ground means the Government has missed its chance to secure a unique part of Victoria’s natural heritage.

This isn’t just any patch of land. The 900-hectare proving ground forms the central link in the Western Port Woodlands, a nationally significant stretch of coastal forest and the last functional forest left in Bass Coast.

If the site is cleared or fragmented, the woodland corridor will be effectively destroyed.

In late 2023, a coalition of 21 conservation and community groups wrote to Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos urging the State Government to buy the proving ground for conservation, a request backed by the Bunurong Land Council.

The business end of living

14/10/2025

"Thinking about death can be difficult, but it can also lead to clarity, connection and dignity.”
Photo: Jillian Adams

By Catherine Watson

WHEN it comes to death, most of us are procrastinators. We know it’s coming … but we’ll think about it later.

However, a growing number of Bass Coast residents are ready to face the big questions: “How do I want to die? Who will make decisions if I can’t? What kind of care do I want at the end?”

More than 70 people turned up to a conversation about dying well at Cape Paterson last Friday. There’s another session at the Wonthaggi Town Hall this Friday, October 17. The free event, hosted by U3A Wonthaggi, will explore what it means to die well, and how to plan for it.

Call that democracy!

16/9/2025

Frank Schooneveldt asks why our councillors aren’t allowed to talk to us.

By Frank Schooneveldt

ACCORDING to the latest Sentinel-Times (16/09/2025) Bass Coast Shire councillors are highly restricted in what they can do and say.

To quote Cr Meg Edwards, “As one of your elected representatives on Bass Coast Council I welcome listening, reading and understanding your views and concerns on council issues and look forward to assisting you where possible. While I personally welcome the opportunity to meet with you and your group in person, Bass Coast Council has a policy that requires any invitation to a Councillor, be put via Councillor Support who can be contacted via the following email address.”

So, where to start?

16/9/2025

By Matt Stone

RECENTLY I’ve been paying more attention to how people express themselves than I have previously. Whilst I am generally interested in what people say, as there are many fascinating/interesting topics people can and do talk about, the fact that there are nearly as many “conversationalists” that are dead-set boring may have affected my attitude[1]. As they say, it’s in the eye of the beholder!

So, what I have noticed is the use of the word “so”, which I had not paid much attention to in the past. So, I wondered whether it is the new “like”, the grammatical use of which, like, I cannot quite fathom.

Seeing the light

10/9/2025

By Annette Stewart

I WAS among a group of keen night-time photographers from the Phillip Island Camera Club who gathered at Pyramid Rock at 2am on Monday to watch the total lunar eclipse.