[box] The Warrnambool City Council is getting closer to making a decision on how to improve boat launching facilities at the breakwater, with increasing political pressure to build a fully enclosed harbour. Bruce Campbell explains why this is the worst option:[/box]

By Bruce Campbell

Leader, Warrnambool Coastcare Landcare Group

Member of Safer Launching & Retrieval of Boats Community Reference Group

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] ‘C[/dropcap]r Brian Kelson’s call to construct a fully enclosed harbour flies in the face of the very thorough consultation process that he himself was involved in.

One section of the boating community is conveniently ignoring the facts and aggressively lobbying councillors in order to pursue their self-interest.

The Safer Launching and Retrieval of Boats project is about precisely that: finding a way to launch and retrieve boats more safely.

It is not about spending millions of taxpayer dollars on a pipe dream to try to steal some of Portland’s competitive advantage.  I hate to break the bad news but Portland’s deepwater harbour and proximity to fishing grounds will always outcompete Warrnambool.

The project is also not about floating restaurants (yes, this has seriously been proposed) or the floating seasickness medical centres that would then be required beside them.  The project is not about creating mayhem on Pertobe Road with queues of cars and boat trailers preventing locals and non-fishing tourists from enjoying Lake Pertobe and the foreshore.

The project is also not about choosing the most expensive and environmentally risky option – a fully enclosed harbour – rather than the cheapest but completely practical option – installing a larger, cleverly designed boat ramp that reduces wave surge and ongoing dredging.

According to the project’s technical advisory group, this simple option will successfully provide safer boat launching and retrieval for 90% of the time.  90% also happens to be the proportion of time that ocean conditions make it safe enough for boats to leave the harbour.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] ‘C[/dropcap]oastcare groups, less vocal sections of our boating community and many passive recreational users of the harbour area do not want to see a fully or partially enclosed harbour for a range of reasons.  Many fishers also do not want to see this because they understand the potential environmental impacts on fish numbers.

There are serious concerns with the unknown long term impacts of new breakwaters on beach erosion and sand movement and with the likely introduction of marine pest species to Merri Marine Sanctuary via increased numbers of boats and trailers.   There are many examples of this occurring after harbour developments, including at Apollo Bay where the nearby marine sanctuary is now threatened by an invasive pest.

Our Merri Marine Sanctuary protects a very large number of significant plants and animals and it produces a large quantity of fish that supports recreational and professional fishing.  For example, on a calm day professional lobster fishers know to set their pots just outside the sanctuary for good catches.  Putting this at risk would be a very poor and shortsighted decision.

The minimal development option will provide safer boat launching and retrieval, will allow the sailing community to continue their activities unhindered, will not destroy the wider community’s enjoyment of our wonderful Lake Pertobe and foreshore area, will cost less taxpayer’s money and will be the least environmentally risky.  

And finally, for those who love to just sit in the car at the harbour carpark and look across Lady Bay, you won’t lose your view.”

Bruce Campbell

[box] You can download the WCC’s discussion paper on the proposals here (pdf)[/box]

“YOUTH AND BUSINESS LOSE IN BY ELECTION FIT FOR DROVER’S DOG”

PETE SMITH’S MEDIA RELEASE

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] V[/dropcap]oters in the South West Coast have foregone an opportunity for change that will be manifested in the electorate’s youth and in business for at least a decade, according to failed Liberal Independent candidate Pete Smith.

“At a time when Portland in particular is looking for inspiration and leadership, people have voted for nothing more than an image on a poster and the Liberal Party’s logo,”  Mr Smith said.  

“With a campaign run out of Melbourne along traditional party lines and while constantly tethered to a Liberal minder, Mrs Britnell uttered not one visionary word.

“I don’t blame voters, I did exactly the same thing for over 40 years.”

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #A02F2F;”] M[/dropcap]r Smith said that with the electorate of no interest or benefit to the current Labor government, it was doomed to a decade of drip fed maintenance for roads and services and nothing more. “

“…and when a Liberal government returns to power, other more pressing marginal electorates will receive the lion’s share of funding.

“What our young people needed was a reason to stand tall, knowing that Portland was earmarked to lead Australia – if not the world – in renewable energy research and tourism while Warrnambool would be afforded the same status in dairying promotion and excellence,” he said.

“Businesses, particularly those in the services and hospitality sector should have opened their doors today (Monday) with a sense of relief and renewal, and with a spring in their step; instead it will be yet another dog day afternoon in what will become a decade of them.”

Notwithstanding what he termed a tragic and deeply troubling setback for the electorate, Mr Smith said he felt a sense of responsibility to strive to achieve more for the electorate as a private citizen than Ms Britnell will as the local member.

“I intend to seek Roy Reekie’s help to broker a meeting with Labor Premier Daniel Andrews to outline a plan of action in which he can demonstrate his personal commitment and concern for the electorate.

“Having been gifted a seat that a famous drover’s dog could have won for the Liberals,  Roma won’t be out to make waves or put the electorate and its people before the party politics, whereas I am and I can,” Mr Smith said.

[box]After taking an initial hit, the primary Liberal vote currently sits at 40% (down 16.6%) on the back of the thousands of pre-poll votes and postal votes now being counted. Candidate Roma Britnell will rely on the preferences of National Party candidate Michael Neoh to win. Independent Roy Reekie is sitting second with almost 17% of the primary vote, followed by Michael Neoh on 14.38%. You can find counting updates here.[/box]

By Carol Altmann

There is a small irony in the fact that one of the earliest motels built in Warrnambool to accommodate motorists will be bulldozed to make way for a car yard.

The Caravilla motel, now known as the Southern Right Motor Inn, was one of several ultra-modern motels to spring up on the eastern entrance to Warrnambool during the late 1950s and early 60s to cater for a generation of post-war holidaymakers on the move.

Now, with the imminent demise of the Caravilla, the Turn-In Motel further along Raglan Parade will be the only Warrnambool motel from the 1950s that is still standing.

The motel site has been bought by the Clinton Baulch Motor Group to expand its presence with a new car yard and showroom, with the property keys to be handed over in March next year.

While the budget motel has no doubt seen better days, its demolition has a particular poignancy for Jenni DeGrandi, the daughter of draftsman Don Hunt who designed the building.

“It’s very sad for me to see that it’s going,” Jenni told Bluestone.

“As old as it is, I think it is still cheap accommodation for people on a budget holiday (and ) it’s just another piece of Warrnambool’s history going, sadly.”

Don Hunt was part of the well-known architectural firm run by ‘Tag’ Walter and Bruce Auty whose mid-century modern designs are now gaining a new appreciation across Warrnambool and other parts of the south-west.

The Caravilla’s reception had a distinctive ‘Dutch-hat’ design with a steeply pitched roofline, while the motel’s ‘wings’ included the signature crazy paving decorative stone that typifies buildings of the era.

As Bluestone columnist Clinton Krause has written previously, it was a period heavily influenced by trends in the United States where energetic and creative designers were busting out of the stuffy confines of traditional architecture to reflect an age of space travel, relaxed home entertaining and the automobile.

This influence can be seen in the Caravilla, which has similar lines to the now defunct and demolished Aloha Motel in Miami, Florida.

English  couple Andrew and Mary McKenzie bought the Southern Right Motor Inn just on 11 years ago, three years after it had been reinstated as a motel after serving for many years as student accommodation (Ethel Mitchell House) for the Warrnambool Institute of Advanced Education and later Deakin University.

“We had been to Warrnambool a couple of times and decided we wanted to move here, so Mary started looking for budget motels and we found this on the internet,” Andrew explains.

“We’ve had 10 good years and most people in motels only last five, so we have done pretty well,” he says.

Unlike the Turn In Motel, the majority of the original fittings and features of the Caravilla are long gone, replaced during several makeovers up until the 1980s.

As a budget motel, however, it has attracted a steady clientele.

“There are a lot of people who either don’t want to or can’t afford $150-plus a night, so it has been great for them. Each year we have had it, apart from one or two years, it has got better and better,” Andrew says.

The Caravilla/Ethel Mitchell House/Southern Right Motor Inn will close in February in preparation for the March handover.

In the meantime, another of Don Hunt’s buildings – a residence at 60 Jukes St, Warrnambool that was built in 1959 – has recently been given local heritage protection.

Deep into the cellars of KM Lynch

Time stands still in Reicha’s store, Terang

W’bool losing its character, brick by brick

Turning in to the Turn In Motel

By Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] D[/dropcap]riving through Cobden on a very quiet Tuesday morning, I spotted a sign that is impossible to pass: Op Shop – OPEN.

The Uniting Church Op-shop in Cobden is part of a larger community house that actually looks like a cute, welcoming house: the sort of cottage that your grandparents might have lived in.

And inside I meet a smiling, blue-eyed woman who is just the sort of person we would all want as a grandma, if we didn’t happen to have one.

“I am Mary Elizabeth Smith,” she says by way of introduction.

“Mary Smith, I know, a very uncommon name,” she adds with a laugh.

Mary doesn’t own a computer and has no interest in ever doing so, but she likes the idea of a story about the shop in Bluestone Magazine and is more than happy to show this drop-in visitor around.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] T[/dropcap]he op-shop, Mary explains, was recently expanded to allow more space for its wares and it is surprising to discover just how many rooms it occupies.

The back section, added as part of a major upgrade in 2014, is full of neatly stacked games and books and toys and well-organised racks of clothing, shelves of linen, and an assortment of larger furniture.

By selling some of the church’s other assets, including buildings at South Purrumbete and Purrumbete, plus donations from the community, the Uniting Church has transformed the cottage into a welcoming and useful space.

The upgrade included not only more room for the secondhand treasures, but a community meeting room, full kitchen facilities and spanking new toilets.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] V[/dropcap]olunteers like Mary keep the place ticking over and I point out that, technically, she shouldn’t even be there given it is 11.30am and the sign says the op-shop opens at 1pm on Tuesdays.

“I know, but if there is somebody available, we open, so don’t worry too much about the sign,” she smiles.

“Take a look around, take your time.”

And with that, I am off, peering at old paintings, checking out the cutlery, cups and plates and slowly entering that blissful state that comes over us op-shoppers when we are immersed in a new find.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] A[/dropcap] retro metal candle holder for a trio of candles is the pick of the day at $4, followed closely by a long teak platter for $1.

Now I am not sure it is right to eavesdrop in an op-shop, but as I take my treasures to the counter, I can’t help but overhear a conversation about the imminent arrival of the person who will be handling welfare requests at the shop that day.

It is a gentle reminder that op-shops are so important in so many ways. If you are anywhere near Cobden, drop in to visit this one.

[box]The Uniting Church Op-Shop is at 50 Curdie St, Cobden (the main street). The official opening hours are Mon-Thurs 1pm-4pm; Friday 10am-4pm;
Sat 10am-12pm. Contact: 0475 699 483. You can find them on the Cobden Business Network here. [/box]

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Words and photos: Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] A [/dropcap]s an experienced paediatrician, Dr Nick Thies is already considered somewhat of a magic man in medicine, but he also – quite literally – has a number of tricks up his sleeve.

“Here you go,” he says, flipping three playing cards between his fingers, and launching into a quick trick where red cards mysteriously turn into blue cards and blue cards transform into red cards and within seconds, despite how hard you concentrate, you are completely bamboozled.

Nick then makes a coin disappear from his fist and reappear out of his shirt collar, before showing me how he can balance a drinking glass on the razor-thin edge of a card.

It is all mysterious, magical and good old-fashioned fun and will be part of of the Warrnambool Theatre Company Variety Show next Friday and Saturday (Nov 6-7) at Warrnambool’s Mozart Hall.

“I did my first real show at Fifteen Minutes of Fame at Crossley about two years ago and, because of that, Heather Goddard (WTC president) asked me if I would be part of the first revue, which I did, and so here I am again,” Nick explains.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #DC943C;”] A [/dropcap] love of magic, however, began for Nick when he was a teenage scout and his scoutmaster, a Mr Rids Van De Zee, happened to also be a magician (and with a name like that, how could he not be?)

“He would put on magic shows for us kids and I was fascinated by those and tried to learn a few tricks,” Nick says.

Then, about 10 years ago, Nick’s youngest daughter, Lucinda, introduced him to a friend from the UK who had come to Australia to surf and ended up staying and, eventually, working as a professional magician.

Nick again picked up a few fun tricks that he could use with his young patients to keep their mind off their medical issues.

“I always have a little trick in my pocket because it really helps to develop an understanding with children, and it’s a bit of fun,” he says.

The WTC Variety Review will see Nick debut a series of new tricks, based on the famous escape artist Houdini, for which he was still rehearsing.

“That could end rather awkwardly,” I joke.

“Hmmm, I am pretty confident, but we’ll see,” Nick laughs.

[box]The review on Nov 6 and 7 features a 1930s theme and includes pianist Gavin Franklin, balladeer Joseph Buller, singer Belinda Bell, Bernie Opperman on accordion, a barber-shop quartet, female singing trio and even a drag queen. MC is John McGuiness. Tickets are $25/$20 and include a complimentary drink and canapes. Available from Collins Booksellers, 159 Liebig St, W’bool.[/box]

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