ROB Lippiat is reviving the days when paddle steamers regularly circumnavigated Port Phillip. But he’s not about to embark on a voyage of the bay, it’s more about looking at the past in scale, about 100 to one. Lippiat is building model replicas of the boats and admits to doing things by halves. His wooden boats and split down the middle and mounted on mirrors. “I used to make them complete, but this way they can fit in with any decor,” Lippiat says while sitting at his workbench in Mt Martha. “That was more than 14 years ago when I…
Author: Keith Platt
WHALE sightings are being reported in Western Port and Port Phillip bays in what researchers say has become an annual event coinciding with the Queen’s Birthday long weekend. The Dolphin Research Institute and the Two Bays Whale Project have been receiving reports of humpback and southern right whales in both bays. “Humpback whales regularly visit Port Phillip and Western Port from June through to mid-August and again from late September to November,” DRI research officer Sue Mason said. “The first reported sighting of a humpback whale usually comes into the institute around the Queen’s Birthday weekend, prompting DRI’s research staff…
THE sister-in-law of former Victorian Liberal Premier Ted Baillieu is standing for Dunkley in Saturday’s federal election. Sally Baillieu admits to not previously having political aspirations but decided to stand after seeing “what is happening in the arts sector … a direct attack upon the human rights of all of us”. “The prospect of entering politics is terrifying, but sometimes you need to put your hand up about something you think is important, and I felt that this was one of those times.” Ms Baillieu is one of The Arts Party’s 20 candidates seeking election and the only Victorian aiming…
NEWS that a frigate bird has been spotted at Frankston quickly spread among the birdwatching community. An online post led to a crowd on Olivers Hill, many clutching binoculars or cameras in the hope of catching a glimpse or a photographic record of a bird not recorded as being seen in Port Phillip for at least 100 years. Wildlife photographer Steve Kuiter heard that the bird with a distinctive “red balloon” throat had been seen about 9am Friday 10 June but was unable to get down there until 3pm. Undeterred he walked to the base of the cliff and hid…
THE first major publication by Infrastructure Victoria all but confirms that a new container port at Hastings is most likely decades away. An options paper released last week sees the state’s need for a new port as “a concept requiring further development”. “Currently the location and timing of a new port has not been assessed in detail and it will take time to do this evaluation,” the All things considered paper states. “The 30-year infrastructure strategy, which must be developed by the end of 2016, is being developed taking into account the uncertainty regarding the timing of when we will…