Point of view from Bass Coast

Brave new world

13/5/2020

Stargazer, by Frank Schooneveldt

By Frank Schooneveldt

THE Big Bang occurred around 13.8 billion years ago.

Homo sapiens (wise man) evolved only 200,000 years ago.

There are now around 7.8 billion members of Homo sapiens living on planet earth (2020). Is this sustainable?

There is not much of planet earth that Homo sapiens has not touched, altered, changed or destroyed.

Homo sapiens is still evolving and like all the other Homo species will die out and be replaced by a new species, either of the Homo genus or something entirely different.

Some people think Homo sapiens are special. Some people think Homo sapiens are the rulers of the earth.

Some people think Homo sapiens are immortal.

Some people have a view that they do not fear death because they were created by a god. And therefore they will go to a god. They believe they are immortal.

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Too close to home

2/5/2020

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“THESE are angry little morsels.,” Jennifer wrote when she sent this piece in response to a request from the Post to keep a diary of her week of working at home and home schooling. "I thought about prettying them up, but why? If you can’t be honest in a diary format, then what is the point of writing?”

While some of us are thriving in these crazy times, Jennifer’s brutally honest account reminds us that, others are buckling under the increased demands and loss of personal space.

* Jennifer asked that the diary be anonymous so names have been changed.

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Just dropped in

17/4/2020

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By Maddy Harford

THAT familiar, irritating sound – not unlike fingernails across a blackboard – pierces the waves of emerging consciousness – again!

It’s been every morning for more than a week now. The noise persists for differing lengths of times; always getting louder and louder until it stops with a muffled thump.

I lie quietly, hoping he will get up and deal with it. No movement from the other side of the bed. Perhaps it hasn’t yet pierced his waves of emerging consciousness. How could it not?! I will say at the outset, though, that we share this task fairly equitably, depending on how well each has slept that night.

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Crises I have known

15/4/2020

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An outdoor school session for children affected by infant paralysis (polio), Frankston Children's Hospital, Jackson's Road, Mt. Eliza, 1936.
Up to 40,000 Australians, mostly children, developed paralytic polio.
Photo: State Library of Victoria.

Esteemed local elder Eulalie Brewster looks back on some of the turning points of history she has experienced in her 93 years.

By Eulalie Brewster

The polio epidemic

In 1937, when I was in grade five, the polio epidemic meant that for eight weeks we couldn’t go to school and school lessons came through the post. It must have been spring – October and November – and it felt like a holiday. We spent the time building huts, climbing large tea trees in back garden, reading, helping with chores. We had a big garden for play. A friend sometimes came to play. Her older sister had a crippled leg from a polio infection some 10 years earlier.

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Holden's last hurrah

18/3/2020

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The Holden proving ground is the perfect
parting gift to Australia for GM.

By Tim O’Brien

THE Lang Lang Holden Proving Ground is 877 hectares, slightly more than 2000 acres, most of it preserved bush. In a region which, once densely forested, has now just remnant pockets, the site is a unique parcel of West Gippsland coastal forest.

It is ideal for preservation for the environment and as habitat for endangered flora and the wildlife which once ranged this region. With the right government support, it might also be purposed for wildlife tourism, for indigenous culture and education, for complementary leisure activities, and as a research centre and breeding ground for wildlife affected by bushfire. This region is a centre for nature research and internationally famous for its wildlife tourism.

Given the loss of habitat in the West Gippsland region generally, and the recent vast losses of wildlife and habitat along the length (and inland) of the east coast, the 2000 acres of coastal forest covering this site makes it too valuable an asset to lose “to the property market” – too valuable to the local and broader environment and too important to the threatened species of the Westernport region.

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Poles apart

6/3/2020

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An open letter from John Parsons

Hi Geoff,

I have just read your article Salutations from the high ground in the Bass Coast Post.

Firstly, pardon my language but I am only using words that have been used by certain others in your article.

I know that you and I are poles apart on many issues including this one, but we still manage to have an amicable discussion about just about everything. So with some trepidation (because I still want to remain friends) I make the following points to you.

I think we both agree that climate change is occurring. It has for millions of years. We have had ice ages and we have had ages where it has got so hot that flora and fauna have died and ice has melted as proven in our own waterline area where the sand is mined after the seas had risen so many millions of years back. So what can we do about it?

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No place like home

20/2/2020

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The impending closure of the Miners Rest Caravan Park in Wonthaggi removes one of the few housing options for people living on low incomes, according to Geoff Ellis and Jessica Harrison

By Jessica Harrison

A TENT here or there, a car parked for a long time in the street, or a young woman washing in the basins at the shopping centre toilets may be subtle signs that not everyone in our coastal community has a roof over their heads.

Until now, The Miners Rest Caravan Park and the adjoining Capital Motel in Wonthaggi were the place of last resort for a place to stay.

Now they are due for demolition and the residents must find alternative housing by July 2020. As caravans are removed, the site is becoming more desolate for the remaining people. Salvocare, the Salvation Army housing agency, is doing what it can to help people relocate, but there are very few housing options for people living on low incomes.

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Why I love Cape

20/2/2020

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After watching so many quiet seaside villages succumb to suburbia, Pete Muskens has found a haven in Cape Paterson … but for how long?

By Pete Muskens

MY ASSOCIATION with Cape Paterson is not a long one, I was first acquainted with it in 2012 and within a year had bought a house from people who were drawn to the similar quiet of Tasmania.

As a Darwin friend described it, “Cape Paterson is one of the few quintessential beach places that have not succumbed to suburban sprawl”.

For most of my life, I’ve been a “west coaster” who’s become increasingly disillusioned about what’s happened to places that had a wonderful mix of rural land abutting quiet villages. Alas, places such as Torquay, Jan Juc, Ocean Grove and Queenscliff have been engulfed by unseemly sprawl in the rush to get “sea views” at the expense of the quiet that made these places attractive in the first place.

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Fix those potholes!

12/12/2019

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Potholed roads, cracked footpaths, open drains … let’s get on with the job, urges Frank W Schooneveldt

By Frank W Schooneveldt

BASS Coast Shire Council keeps telling us there is a $600 million backlog in infrastructure issues. We know. Every day we all experience bad roads and footpaths, erosion and poor drainage – all in need of urgent attention.

We want to see our Shire shine with the very best it can offer – community facilities such as swimming pools, recreational grounds and arts centres that bring us together as a community and give our kids the best start in life.

Infrastructure spending means local jobs.

So how do we fix this backlog? It’s simple. We make rates fair for all.

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Dreams take root in home-grown college

11/12/2019

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Loran McKean: A BCAL course opened doors.

By Loran McKean

LET me tell you my story. I’m a single mum with a five-year-old daughter. I moved from Queensland to Victoria with nothing but a suitcase, a car seat and a child on my hips. I came to Inverloch, where my mum lived, and then to Wonthaggi. This was a very welcoming community, there were services to help and I was able to rebuild my life.

At that point I realised that all my experience and 10 years of farming didn’t mean much unless I had a certificate. I needed to further my education to target some of the jobs I was looking at for next year. So I went through my job search provider and they got me on to Bass Coast Adult Learning (BCAL). I loved the idea of getting my Certificate II in horticulture because it opens a lot of doors in landscaping, gardening and nursery work.

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The great divide

20/11/2019

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A 192-bed resort hotel proposed for Coronet Bay. Illustration: Bruce Henderson Architects

By Craig Little

IN THE beginning, ten years ago, we were attracted to the Waterline area for its rural, coastal character. As we explored we loved it more, for its natural beauty and towns and villages, of which Coronet Bay was just one.

More recently we have enjoyed the experience of progress and development, the growth of innovative local hospitality businesses, and new services based on care and quality. Residential and retail developments are expanding, and towns such as Wonthaggi and San Remo are forging ahead.

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A fine line

8/11/2019

1 Comment

Cate Anderson joins a line dancing class and discovers there’s not
a cowboy to be seen these days.

By Cate Anderson

LINE dancing?...You're kidding, right? That's pretty much the standard response I receive when I mention my twice weekly dance classes in Wonthaggi.

There's no doubt about it, line dancing gets a bad rap. All those images of tough cowboys and their gals in hard core boots and jeans, hands in pockets, tapping away to godawful country music.

I'll be honest, I thought it was going to be just that kind of bootscooting when I first poked my nose in at the local line dancing class in Wonthaggi.

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Vive la difference

8/11/2019

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Ali Wastie

By Catherine Watson

RECENTLY some 40 senior council staff gathered to watch a series of short films about LGBTQI people living in Bass Coast. Co-hosted by council CEO Ali Wastie and Cr Geoff Ellis, the films were the centrepiece of a workshop for staff to discuss how they could make their workplace more welcoming for people of diverse sexualities and genders.

Ms Wastie told staff she wanted the council to celebrate and welcome LGBTQI members of the community, and to send a positive signal to employees who identify as LGBTQI that they could “bring their full selves to work”.

The Post asked her to elaborate.

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Dodgy bosses leave bad taste

24/10/2019

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A Melbourne café is picketed by former staff. Photo: ABC News

By James Archibald

THE problem of wage theft is rife within hospitality and has been for at least the past 30 years that I've been part of the industry.

As a local café owner who operates according to the award, I’m frustrated that many businesses continue to pay cash and that wage theft continues.

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All in a day’s work

11/10/2019

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“Latte Art” by Kenny Louie.

By Catherine Watson

ANOTHER week, another report of a high-end city restaurant underpaying staff. It’s business as usual, with many of the underpaid staff on migrant visas or in other vulnerable positions.

But it would be a mistake to believe that country workers are in a better position than their city counterparts with wage theft common in the hospitality industry here as well.

A friend of mine worked at a local café. She started on $18 an hour, cash in hand. She worked five days a week, including Saturdays. After three months her pay went up to $20.

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Plaza rally ban irks refugee group

10/10/2019

49 Comments

Shopping centres might be privately owned enterprises but they should also be civic spaces where people gather to discuss the issues of the day, argues Felicia Di Stefano

Refugee advocates outside the Wonthaggi Plaza in happier times.
Photo: Geoff Ellis

By Felicia Di Stefano

WE WERE kicked out of the Wonthaggi Plaza last month. For over two years a local refugee support group, South Gippsland Rural Australians for Refugees, had been meeting outside the plaza for an hour on the first Saturday of each month.

We distribute information about refugees, explaining why they need to flee their birthland, to inform people about the current treatment of refugees, films we are screening, and to have various petitions and letters signed.

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This working life

28/9/2019

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Illustration Ralph Ammer

Low pay, irregular hours, no job security … welcome to the precarious world of work for an increasing number of Australians.

By Kaz

I HAVE been in the workforce for 32 years, longer if you include the babysitting and cleaning jobs I did as a high school student. Despite two university degrees in education and the arts, most of my professional working life has been shaped by short term contracts, casual employment and small gigs such as running workshops as a sole trader.

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Here, for the long run

27/9/2019

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September 15, 2019. More than a thousand trail runners came together in races from 2km to 50km in the inaugural Phillip Island Festival of running. Photos Roland Pick, Phillip Island Nature Parks

From the relief of finishing to the joy of winning, three local runners describe their experience of the inaugural Phillip Island Festival of Running.

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It’s our future

14/9/2019

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Not happy: students and supporters at Wonthaggi's climate strike

Wonthaggi student Jessie Harrison explains why she’ll be joining next week’s global climate strike.

Post: How much do you worry about climate change?

Jessie: I worry quite often. Every day there are more reports on the news: the hottest day on record. The other day I heard a report that we have only 18 months to act to reverse climate change and become carbon neutral or else there’s no return.
Our generation will be hit the worst with climate change, with hotter summers and colder winters, bigger floods and melting ice signifying just the beginning. I want to be able to live to an old age without experiencing the worst impacts of climate change.

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Hard times

12/9/2019

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Ian Simmons describes the shock of trying to survive on
the Newstart allowance.

By Ian Simmons

WE ARRIVED in Melbourne from the UK in 1988. Within three days I was in a full-time management role and I continued in various management roles until 2016.

In 2011, with the children having finished school, we were ready for a lifestyle change. My wife left her job to supervise the completion of our new house in South Gippsland. I was working as Gippsland territory manager and my salary could support our lifestyle.

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Reflections on the nature of a climate emergency

31/8/2019

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Uncle Rob Bundle and Tucker Hayes on the Cowes jetty. Photo: Nicki Johnson

If we’re not to be overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenge, we must come together as a community, to listen to the environment and to one another.

Dr Laura Brearley

ACCORDING to the Climate Emergency website, 800 local councils around the globe have declared climate emergencies, 43 of them in Australia. Last week, Bass Coast Shire Council became one of them.

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On catastrophe

17/8/2019

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Photo: CSIRO

By Ed Thexton

A FEW weeks ago, at the Inverloch library I picked up Black Saturday – Not the End of the Story by Peg Fraser, a cultural history of a small place, Strathewen, with an extraordinary story.

In this Museum Victoria publication about the afternoon of Saturday February 9, 2009, I could hear the voices of Barry, Barbara and Bronwyn as they spoke of a day, or more precisely a few hours of a day, that changed them. Like the expanding ripples from a pebble thrown into water, it also changed me.

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Think big

20/7/2019

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Bicycle path over highway overpass, Fujian province, China

What do we want Phillip Island to be like in 50 years? Phil Wright reckons the Distinctive Areas and Landscapes project enables us to think big.

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The banana files

20/7/2019

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“Who owns the banana?”

Wonthaggi's Maddy Harford and Harry Freeman found themselves on the wrong side of the law when they crossed the border.

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A breath of fresh air

20/7/2019

3 Comments

By Joan Woods

OUR mayor Brett Tessari has called for community input into plans for Wonthaggi’s activity centre, including the water-logged Apex Park. I wonder if all that is required is a few more drains?

Apparently this is all about preparing for the influx of new people to our town and to bring more people into the town centre.

However, if Apex Park is “tidied up” too much with concrete and tar (the preferred improvements for townships), the Australian character of Wonthaggi will disappear. Do we want to be a proxy suburb of a big city?

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