A post about Port Melbourne Primary School

Just in case you've somehow missed it - its the PMPS fete this Saturday. Today, on behalf of Council, I presented a bike to the School in recognition of the efforts the whole school community is making to walk or ride to school. This is becoming a neighbourhood as well as a health imperative, as congestion around the School presents a safety issue for students and an amenity issue for neighbours as the School continues to grow. The Council commissioned its own research to understand the current pressures and future educational needs in Port Phillip. The reports says at para 4.9  "The reality is that at the beginning of 2012, information provided by Port Melbourne Primary School indicated that it has 548 enrolments and this year had a Prep intake of 130. Based on an assumption that this number moves through the school, and assuming the same intake over the next three years as a minimum given the population growth in the area, there is every indication that approximately 784 children would be enrolled in the 2015 school year. If the current enrolment of 130 in the Prep year continued to 'roll through', a reasonable assumption given birth notifications and housing developments, the numbers could then rise to 843 in 2016." [Escalier Consulting Pty Ltd in conjunction with Danny Colgan & Associates, p9, para 4.9] The full report can be accessed here.

What was going on near Lagoon Pier today?

Sorry its a poor photo - but when you see someone doing a split handstand (look for the black tights and pointed feet) on someone else's shoulders while a man wearing a wig plays a saxaphone and there's a ship in the background on a beautiful day, you've just got to take a picture.

Graham St underpass and Turville Place Reserve

Work begins this week to upgrade the area under and surrounding the Graham St overpass [east of Station St]. It will all begin with cleaning the underside of the overpass. Yay! A new mini-netball court will be created and the basektball court will be re-surfaced and the line marking re-done. Lighting will be installed under the overpass to make it safer for people making their way through the area at night. To look at the plan, and the steps that led to it, click here.

Relay for Life

Joined the Gasworks walking team for Relay for Life at Albert Park Lake. Relay for Life is a 24 hour event for anyone whose life has been touched by cancer - those who are living with cancer, caring for someone with cancer and those whose lives have been touched in some way by cancer. Is there anyone who does not fit into one of these categories? I love participating in this event each year especially for the moving ceremony held as it gets dark. Teams/groups camp overnight and the dedicated walk laps around the campsite throughout the night - the point being that the nights can be long when you are living with cancer. With the dawn comes renewed hope and possibility.  I like all the symbolic elements of the Relay for Life - the 24 hours reminding us that when you are living with cancer its a 24 hour a day thing.

27 in a row

Port Melbourne beat the Northern Blues FC 26.18.174 to 7.6.48 at North Port Oval today.

Polystyrene recycling

Did you know that we now also take polystyrene at the Resource Recovery Centre? It is estimated that about 7 million wheelie bin equivalents of polystyrene are thrown away every year and only a small porportion of that is recovered and recycled. That has been the impetus for this new scheme involving several councils, including Port Phillip. Polystyrene takes up lots of valuable space in landfill - its mostly air. It is also distressing to see the little consituent beads make their way onto the beach and thence into the Bay. Find out more about the polystyrene recycling programme here.

North Port Oval Redevelopment

I am glad to show you the plans for the new social and administration facility and other improvements at North Port Oval. These supersede earlier plans and come within the budget agreed by all the project partners: Council, the Port Melbourne Football Club, Sport and Recreation Victoria and the AFL. The project page provides an overview of the project, a site plan and more detail about the proposed facility [which will be located to the left of the scoreboard in this picture]. Details for giving feedback are also on the project page.

ANZAC Day in Port Melbourne 2012

In spite of very cold wind, intermittent squalls of rain and generally challenging conditions, there was a strong attendance at today's ANZAC commemoration service.

They shall not grow old

as we that are left grow old

age shall not weary them

nor the years condemn

at the going down of the sun

and in the morning

we will remember them

Lest we forget

[Lawrence Binyon]



Important announcement about the future of the Port at Webb Dock

The Premier today made an announcement about the future of Webb Dock. The press release specifically mentions that freight would exit directly from Webb Dock onto the M1 and that there would be no access to the Port from Williamstown Rd except for emergency vehicles. Webb Dock would become capable of handling 1 million containers per annum. Much remains to be understood about the implications for our communtiy, but in the meantime, here is the link to the project page which has much more detailed information. I will put it in the links section.

Murphy Reserve and trees



I want to make sure you know where to go for information about proposed tree removals and tree plantings at Murphy Reserve. There are signs on site as well as a page of information and  links on Council's website. A mail out has already been done. In addition, the brochure will be hand delivered to residents surrounding the Reserve. There are two main things to say about the trees: some trees are being removed along Williamstown Rd [within the Reserve] to create an avenue of trees alongside the newly created walking path, and some large trees are being removed to make way for the re-located baseball field. These actions arise from the consultation and are described in the masterplan. The most important things identified through the consultation were

• the need for water security for the playing fields - hence the wetland and water storage proposed for the corner where this photograph was taken
• identifying Murphy Reserve as primarily a sporting precinct - hence the new soccer field that will be added. The baseball field needs to be re-located to accommodate the new soccer field
• making the Reserve more attractive and useable for people who do not play sport. Early on in the consultation period, a community member of the reference group was especially passionate about providing opportunities for more trees - exotic and native - trees that would look spectacular in Autumn and large, specimen trees that can't be planted in footpaths. That is what is proposed.

Stothert & Pitt Crane reassembly and relocation

image courtesy of Port Melbourne Historical and Preservation Society, used with permission

The Port of Melbourne Corporation has applied to Heritage Victoria for a permit to place the former Stothert & Pitt cranes on the finger pier at Station Pier. All the documents relevant to the permit application are available on the Heritage Victoria website. According to the submission 'On 6 March 1996, Heritage Victoria issued Permit No 2662 for works to the deck at Station Pier and as part of those works permitted the removal of the two Stothert & Pitt Cranes which were located at the southern end of the pier. Condition 2 of the permit required that the PoMC seek funding for the repair, restoration and reinstatment of the cranes on the pier ...' There is an interesting photo of the cranes, installed around 1950, on p7 of the submission. Since the cranes cannot be put back in their original location, the alternative location on the finger pier is proposed. The documents are available for inspection at Heritage Victoria at 55 Collins St.
The Public Records Office blog shows an interesting picture of one of the cranes  under construction - interesting since they are about to be reconstructed. Click here to have a look.

26th consecutive win for Port

Port beat North Ballarat 26.10.166 to 12.10.82 at North Port Oval today. Top goal kickers were Cain 4, Dwyer 4, Grice 3 and Galea 2.

Its all happening around Williamstown Rd this weekend

Autumn Plant Sale tomorrow at Skinc - the indigenous nursery - from 10 to 4 - at 525 Williamstown Rd [opposite Derham St/Williamstown Rd] Charles Saffroy gives great plant advice. I go there to admire this incredible bonsai that he has nurtured from an indigenous tree. Port Melbourne Football Club plays North Ballarat at 2pm next door at North Port Oval. Amazing stories, pictures and objects from the Club's history will be on display on Sunday at the Open Day at North Port Oval from 10.30 to 3.30.

Where does your recycling go?

The yellow lid bin has been emptied - then what happens? The City of Port Phillip's recyclables are taken by the collection truck to SKM Recycling in Coolaro. On their website is a short movie 'A recycling journey' that tells a tale of what to put in and - more importantly - what not to put in to the recycling bin. Its informative and fun.

New heritage website

You can now access hugely more of the City of Port Phillip's heritage collection from the fantastic new heritage website. Just by way of example - previous exhibitions such as Beginnings of the Borough are now available on the website as an e-book. [I've found the e-books take a little getting used to but well worth it.] More material and resources will be added. I'll put the heritage website in the links section of Port Focus and bring you snippets from time to time. Enjoy your exploration!

ANZAC Day - a week away today

The Anzac Day Commemorative Service will be held here at the Beach St memorial at 9.45 am next Wednesday.

Happy ending!

The missing dog bowl has been returned to rightful owner Peter to once again delight the dogs of Lagoon Reserve. A local mystery. Any clues?

25th consecutive win

Port beat the Box Hill Hawks by 34 points yesterday.

What an afternoon!

26.7 degrees at 2 pm

Amazing Stories: Inventions and Innovation at Port Melbourne Football Club next Sunday

There will be amazing stories displayed in the social rooms of the PMFC for the National Trust Heritage Festival. You may be surprised to learn that numbered guernseys were an innovation of the PMFC. Club historian Terry Keenan explains: "Although it might be imagined that numbered guernseys were introduced by the club to assist spectators to identify players, in fact, they were introduced to prevent thieves stealing the guernseys of Port Melbourne players. In March 1905 ... it was announced that 'an unknown donor had presented the club with 18 new guernseys ... numbered 1 to 18 on the breast.' The innovation was described as 'distinctly novel'. It would, said the Standard, 'allow each player to have his own uniform and each Saturday 'play in a clean and presentable condition." Kicking into the Wind: A history of the formative years of the Port Melbourne Football Club 1874 - 1917, p94 Enter the PMFC on Williamstown Road [opposite Raglan St] 10.30 to 3.30 on Sunday 22nd

Very upset!

Peter Syrkiadis, appropriately called 'King of the Lagoon' by the Melbourne Weekly, is devastated. Last night, the dog drinking bowl [pictured here] that he designed and created was stolen. Every evening Peter would take the drinking bowl home, wash and disinfect it, before returning it to the Reserve in the morning. Since he has retired, he no longer has access to a workshop and materials to make a new one. It gives Peter joy to help others. Please thief - put it back! Anyone with information leading to the recovery of the bowl will be rewarded.

3207 Beach Patrol will be cleaning the beach on Saturday

will gather at Princes Pier/Pier St at 9 am on Saturday morning [14 April] to clean the beach. New people are always warmly welcomed. Recent rain has left the usual trail of plastic mixed in with seaweed. byo gloves, tongs and bag. Coffee after. I will be after plastic lids. The picture gives a status report at today's date of lids casually gathered over the last month or two. The greatest number, as you can see, are Mt Franklin bottle lids - another reason to give bottled water a miss.

Bridge St upgrade

After many long years on Council's to do list, improvements have been made to Bridge St west of the Railway Reserves. The works include a safer crossing at Ross St, a painted separator to better manage traffic speed and lane discipline on this busy road, new trees and landscaping. The trees - Angophora costata - went in today.

Bits and pieces from the papers: Princes Pier and football results

'Princes Pier in Port Melbourne will be promoted as a space for multicultural groups to hold events or festivals in a bid to create a new tourism precinct and recognise the area's contribution to Victoria. The move comes after a push from Multicultural Affairs Minister Nick Kotsiras, who said the events would start by the end of the year after minor works that would cost well under $1 million. To read more of this article by Reid Sexton, click here ...
Port Melbourne defeated Bendigo 19.10.124 to 14.12.96. 'Gold led ... at 3/4 time. Scores were locked on 93 all in the 10th minute of the final term, but the Borough then slammed on 5 unanswered goals, which included 3 by Dean Galea.' [Nathan Dole, Bendigo Advertiser]

The Easter weekend

Should your Easter weekend involve gardening, mulching, tidying, painting, or throwing away, the Port Phillip Resource Recovery Centre will be open on Saturday and Sunday between 9 and 1 [closed on Good Friday and Easter Monday] The South Melbourne Market will be closed on Good Friday and open as usual on Saturday and Sunday between 8 and 4. I'll take a break from Port Focus over the Easter weekend.

Bike path works

The renewal of the bike path through Port Melbourne is nearly complete. The surface is silky smooth and at night the white lines stand out like a runway. Only bike stencils and line marking remain to be done. Green paint highlights entry/exit points for pedestrians.

Working Port

The San Francisco has been undergoing engine repairs while berthed at Station Pier. Generally when ships carry their own cranes, it indicates that they visit ports, such as some of our South Pacific neighbours, which don't have extensive on wharf or on land based crane facilities. They can be called 'feeder' ships in the sense that they take goods from a large Port like the Port of Melbourne and 'feed' them to smaller ports. [thanks to the Port of Melbourne Corporation for this information]

Floods, the SES and you

A post on floods on such a balmy April day? A Flood Forum was held last week in Elwood, right now floods are sweeping through Fiji while parts of Victoria are still recovering from the February floods. In flood, as in fire situations, there are things that we can do - as well as other authorities. There are many a future post in this so I am just going to talk about the SES today. The SES is made up, as you know, of local people who volunteer to do this work in addition to their paid jobs and after hours. Our SES is based off Williamstown Road, just behind the Port footy ground where members meet regularly to refresh and upgrade their skills. Their first priority in an emergency is human life - and this means that sometimes we may have to wait awhile - knowing that they are prioritising their calls. The SES's main message at the Flood Forum was never to drive through flood water. Their important advice on keeping Floodsafe can be accessed here and I will put it as a link on Port Focus.

Preview

Not quite finished yet. Our first water refill station in Port Melbourne. Look forward to showing you the shower shortly.

Harvest and Digging In

While thanks were being given for soil, seeds, flowers and the fruits thereof at Port Melbourne Uniting Church this morning, all hands were on deck creating new garden beds to extend the Dig In Community Garden* in Murphy Reserve. 

On my way home I admired these front garden tomatoes in Garden City and the last of their fruit. 

[*Dig In is a programme of the Port Melbourne Neighbourhood House]