www.surfcoasttimes.com.au

Surf Coast Surf Coast TiTimesmesTuesday 18 September 2012 VOL 10. No 38

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TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION

TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION

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4-PAGE SOUVENIR

Celebrating ten years of reporting

what’s good about living on the Surf Coast

EARLIER this month, the Surf Coast Times turned ten.

The little baby born under founding editor and publisher, John Stoward, has grown up.

And what a full life it has led so far.Starting off as a black and white tabloid with a few

sheets and a lot of rough edges, it has always stood out for one thing – character.

Its central characteristic has always been that it is the people’s paper.

From the very beginning, John Stoward’s mantra to community organisations, local businesses, sports clubs, people with a gripe, anyone who wanted to shoot the breeze, was simple – “Just send me something!”

In the early days, many pieces would go in with minimal editing, presenting a raw but diverse range of community input.

That led to a strong community following and readership that carries over to today.

Many causes were championed including the campaign to get on with the Geelong Ring Road, the long-running crusade for new primary and high

school facilities in Torquay and better funding for our foreshore.

There was Spring Creek’s Red Shirts and the cause for better sport and recreation facilities in the shire.

Local sports clubs, in particular, have got tremendous exposure over the years from the Surf Coast Times.

And herein lay a scandal or two.Who could forget the cricket chronicles from the

scribes at the Jan Juc Cricket Club? Don Bradman was mentioned, as were the people

of LethbridgeJohn Stoward, who came from a background of

suburban newspapers, said the idea for the paper came when he saw a niche for a paper in a growing community.

“I have had a lifelong interest in papers and had a vision the area could sustain a paper on the Surf Coast,” he said.

“I was a one man band when it started. I flogged advertising. I wrote. I edited, I took the copy to typesetters, then I physically went to Camperdown to get the printing done.

“The opposition said it wouldn’t last four weeks. “But it is now recognised as the most successful

local paper in the country.“There is no-one in the News Limited and Fairfax

stables anywhere in Australia who are consistently putting out local papers with 100 pages.

“Somehow the people of the Surf Coast think they have a voice that they never had before.

Today, the Surf Coast Times has certainly matured and diversified (see images below).

It is a very professionally presented publication that has spawned sister mastheads in the Bellarine Times and the Armstrong Creek Times, following the purchase of the paper by local businessman, Mark Casey.

Mr Casey said he was happy to be involved with the paper at a time when it has been able to grow with the area.

“We saw it as a great opportunity to expand the scope of the paper and the variety of products we could publish,” he said.

“I’m really proud to be part of a paper that has grown to be so popular with local businesses and

people in the community because of its strong local content.

“With 60,000 new people to be living in the area in the coming years we’ve been able to add the Armstrong Creek Times masthead to our range of products, so it will be great for that community to have a voice through our publications.”

Surf Coast mayor Brian McIiterick describes the Surf Coast Times as “...a really good connection between the paper and the community.”

“Some local papers can be a bit cheesy,” Mr McKiterick said.

“The Times has taken on more of a professional journalistic view but maintains a very strong connection to the local community, and the smaller stories still get a go.

“It has been very valuable to be able to have a mayor’s column on page 2, to get messages and information across to the community. On behalf of the whole community I’d like to say we really do appreciate it. When you speak to people, they talk about the Surf Coast Times. I know a lot of people in Melbourne get it sent to them by relatives or friends.”

THE birth of a new newspaper is a fairly rare occurrence.For Torquay and Jan Juc, a weekly free distribution

newspaper is nothing new…they have been well served by the Echo and The Independent for many years.

Anglesea on the other hand has had their very own Newsangle bimonthly community newsletter.

It was first produced in August 1989 and has served the Anglesea/Aireys Inlet community continuously since then.

The Torquay-based Springboard Community Newsletter commenced in 1996 with Kate Remenyi at the helm. The newsletter has a bi-monthly circulation of around 4000.

The weekly Coastal Independent was produced in 1959 until June 1965.

The weekly coastal Telegraph newspaper was printed at 44 Noble Street; Anglesea from the late 1970’s and was edited by Ian Hunter. It is not known by the Torquay Times when publication ceased.

The quarto-sized Torquay Independent commenced in November 1956 and probably finished in 1959 or 1960.

Publishers were D Wood and P Lewis.Next came the tabloid Torquay News in October 1972 and

survived to the late 1970’s.It was printed by Ken Jenkin at Geelong and the editor

was Steve Barrand.The Surf Coast Review was published in the early 1990’s

and only lasted several months.This paper was followed by an earlier Torquay Times in

the mid 1990’s. Details of this paper have been very hard to uncover.In July 1994, under the guidance of Jon Breedveld the

Shire Council’s Surfcoast News was established.It was an A4 magazine style and was later published by

Andrew Hunt and was produced three times a year.This paper was followed (back under council’s guidance)

with Groundswell in August 1997. Published in full colour four times a year it has continued

to the present day under Jon Breedveld and boasts an impressive 15,500 circulation.

Surrounding the Torquay/Anglesea area is the Ocean Grove Whistler and Queenscliffe Herald published by Greg Wane, Talking Heads (by Trish Clayton), The Lorne

Independent, the Lorne Local News, the Winchelsea Star, the Colac News and one of Australia’s leading regional dailies, the 140 year old Geelong Advertiser.

Nick Soames at Anglesea Online and Mark Ferrari with Torquay Online are the new generation newspaper dynamos of the future.

The Torquay Times tabloid newspaper approaching 7000 and is distributed to every house in Torquay, Jan Juc and Anglesea. Additional copies are distributed throughout the district.

The paper is printed at the office of western district newspapers in Camperdown.

Editor/publisher of the Torquay Times would very much appreciate hearing from anyone who has information about the circulation in the district in years gone by.

The editor/publisher of the Torquay Times is John Stoward.

John comes from a newspaper background beginning his working life as a linotype operator with the Essendon Gazette, the Broadmeadows Observer and the Keilor Messenger.

That group purchased the Sunbury News, the Lancefield Mercury, the Gisborne Gazette, the Romsey Examiner and the Woodend Star. The century-old papers were combined to become the Regional News Gazette with eventually John Stoward as editor.

That small newspaper group was eventually acquired by Leader Newspapers who in turn were acquired by Rupert Murdoch.

After a stint with running a Toyworld franchise John returned to printing opening up a Kwik Kopy franchise at Tullamarine and later the first Kwik Kopy in Tasmania in Hobart.

He was the national president of the Kwik Kopy Owners Association of Australia and New Zealand and then president of the Quick Printers Association.

John is the author of several books, the most successful being the History of Australian Rules Football in Tasmania.

He is a keen Geelong Football Club supporter and has been a member of Rotary for the past 25 years.

John lives in Anglesea.

WINTER 2012

> PAGE 18winter

AT HOME WITH THE CAT’SCELEB TOP 5

> PAGE 4

FLAMELESS

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> PAGE 31

Rugs are a perfect way to bring warmth and comfort to your home

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Tuesday 27 March 2012 VOL 5. No 13 www.bellarinetimes.com.au

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Bellarine Times

BY JOANNA CARSON

AN ENVIRONMENTAL disaster around Port Philip Heads is unlikely, despite a fishing trawler hitting rocks and sinking just off Point Nepean last weekend.

The Lady Cheryl, a 27 metre fishing charter vessel, got into strife just after 1am on Saturday morning, with 30,000 litres of diesel in the tank, plus hydraulic fuel and commercial lubricant on board.

The six crew members, from Warnambool and Lakes Entrance, were rescued in six metre swells by a Port Philip Sea Pilots vessel, and the skipper is facing drink driving charges after allegedly returning a blood alcohol

reading of over the .05 limit.On Saturday a 500 metre oil slick

was being reported, but by yesterday the heavy swells over the weekend had largely broken this up.

Light debris from the vessel had been recovered from Portsea on the Mornington Peninsula.

South Bay Eco Adventures owner Mike Randall said despite the vessel lying just 15 metres from the edge of a marine park, no oil appeared to be threatening the beach or colonies at present.

“While I am keeping a wide berth of the area, the trawler is on our tour route and we went passed it on Sunday,” he said.

A pale area of discharge was noticeable around the vessel, but this was likely to be sand mixing with the diesel – a fuel which usually broke up quite quickly, he said.

A spokesman for the Department of Transport – which is overseeing the pollution control and salvage operation on behalf of the Department of Sustainability and Environment and Parks Victoria – said an attempt to plug leaks in the Lady Cheryl had failed on Sunday due to weather conditions.

Further attempts were to have been made yesterday.

The vessel was well anchored and unlikely to move, but would need to be salvaged as soon as possible.

It was still being decided how to do that, he said.

As the wreck is in Port of Melbourne Waters, the Port of Melbourne Corporation is in charge of pollution control and salvage, but did not reply to questions from the Bellarine Times yesterday.

However, Sergeant Andrew Lilley from the water police said the wreck was well clear of shipping lanes.

“They talked about shutting down the port for a little while, but operations will continue as normal,” he said.

The water police had been involved in patrolling the area soon after the incident.

That service had been taken over by

Port of Melbourne survey vessel the John Norgate, which was due to be participating in Queenscliff’s annual Maritime Weekend.

Sergeant Lilley said the skipper would be prosecuted under the Marine Act for drinking at the wheel.

While the Heads was a notoriously dangerous stretch of water and the weather had been bad, the skipper had a Master Class 2 ticket.

“That’s only one level away from being able to captain large ocean-going ships. That makes him very experienced,” he said.

Sergeant Lilley urged boaters to keep away from the area so as not hamper pollution and recovery efforts.

Rough seas break up diesel slick after trawler sinksDRUNKEN SAILOR

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BY LUKE GRIFFITHS

ALL THAT stands there at the moment is a flock of sheep and a few trees, but by the beginning of the 2014 school year the northern gateway to Torquay will have a fully operational standalone secondary school.

In one of the most highly anticipated announcements on the Surf Coast in years,

Victoria’s Minister for Education Martin Dixon stood alongside South Barwon MP Andrew Katos on Friday morning to announce, finally, that land for Surf Coast Secondary College had been secured.

An unexpected bonus occurred when Mr Dixon told the crowd that land had also been acquired for a second, state-run Torquay primary school.

The secondary school will be located

on a parcel of land adjacent to the Surf Coast Shire’s Community and Civic Precinct, while the primary school will be situated further to the east, near the corner of Horseshoe Bend Road and South Beach Road.

It was the secondary school announcement that everyone was waiting for and Mr Dixon was quick to highlight that the government had acquired the “best possible site”.

“Our top priority has always been making sure we secured the best possible site for Torquay families at a fair price and we have been able to achieve that,” he said.

“It’s been worth waiting for.”On behalf of the landowners, Stuart

Harding said finalising the deal was “very fulfilling”.

“The landowners have a long history in the area and are extremely happy that the land will be used for educational purposes,” he said.

“They’re happy that the deal has come to fruition, having always taken the position that, for a fair and reasonable price, the land could be well used for a community facility, particularly for educational facilities.”

Mr Dixon failed to confirm that the price for the secondary school land had

come in under the $8.4 million that the Baillieu Government allocated for its purchase, saying instead that savings had been made by purchasing land for the two schools at the same time.

The Surf Coast Times understands that the government paid in the vicinity of $2.1 million per hectare for the 5.5 hectare secondary school site.

The average size of a secondary school’s grounds is approximately eight hectares.

“We’re really pleased with the price... everybody’s happy,” Mr Dixon said.

Government makes Torquay school sites official

CONTINUED PAGE 3

LAND LOCKED64-PAGE REAL ESTATE GUIDEWWEDDDDINNG BLISS FROM P19

Minister for Education Martin Dixon and South Barwon MP Andrew Katos celebrate the acquisition of land for

Surf Coast Secondary College alongside principal Scott Diamond (centre).Finally:

A NEWSPAPER IS BORN This article, by then editor John Stoward, appeared in the first edition of the Torquay Times, published Tuesday, September 3, 2002.

A NEWSPAPER TURNS 10TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION

A DECADE OF NEWS August 21 2012

Dear Editor,It’s time to blow up the balloons, set off the party poppers, and cut the cake!

The Surf Coast Times and Bellarine Times will soon reach the 10th anniversary of its origins with the first edition of the then Torquay Times coming out on September 3, 2002, under the guidance of John Stoward, who was editor and owner.

Its tag-line was “Remembering the past …. Reporting the present”. The pages of the newspapers have now covered a decade of local news in our region and in one way or another I have associated with the paper for the whole of its existence.

After some general reporting and promoting of events in the early issues, I became a columnist early in 2003 with Anglescene running for five years. By then Stan and I were also delivering the paper and are now in our sixth year of distribution.

Lately, managing editor Hamish Brooks has been printing some of my ramblings and renewed my contact with readers. I enjoy communicating with people and some of my readers have become penpals over the years.

I was approached by someone recently who said “I’ve never met you, but I feel as if I know you”. That made my day!

So congratulations to those who have nurtured the papers and to the readers who have provided favourable feedback.

Let us now look forward to the next decade in the life of a country newspaper.

Melva StottAnglesea

MUSCHAMP CONTINUES TO A-MUSEMay 15 2012

Dear Editor,We have much to be proud of on the Great Ocean Road.

And the odd bit of wonderment.Which manumitted mooncalf decided to erect no less than

four signs telling folks “We drive on the left in Australia”. If those of our visitors who drive on the right in their homeland, you’d think they would have realised this long before the stretch between Anglesea and Aireys Inlet.

If they hadn’t they must have been extraordinarily lucky to have survived the 140-odd kilometres from Tulla. Or even the 60-odd from Avalon.

Another odd sign between Blackgate Road and Torquay there’s a sign pleading motorists to “Report Litterers”. I’d much rather see ones saying “Report non-disabled parking in disabled parking bays”. Even more – “Report drivers using mobiles while under way”.

From my own observations far and away the largest group are young/ish women, generally with small children in their cars. Not difficult to start this system.

Jot down the rego number, time and place and tell the people in blue. They can check without a great deal of trouble and the fines resulting would more than cover the cost of investigation. And the fines for both these infringements greatly exceed those for littering.

Most of you who have computers connected to the internet will have, over the past six months or so, had a quadrillion of inbox emails offering any number of (apparently) great opportunities. They drive me out of my tiny little mind.

There is even one mob to whom I have sent no less than six “unsubscribe” messages. I’m still getting offers of banquets for six in Melbourne at a 50% discount, face cream for 10% off retail (yes, I know I need that), cheap offers to increase the size of my major member (at 80?) and send us $50 and we will guarantee you’ll earn $1000 a week. Etcetera, etcetera ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

Michael MuschampTorquay

Past contributors maintain a relationship with the Surf Coast Times as these recent letters show

A look at the past...

TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION

MAINTAINING CONNECTIONS

cafe | bar | restaurant

cafe / bar / restaurant

Over 10 years the Surf Coast Times has built astrong relationship with many businesses,

organisations and institutions within the community.The following express their thanks and well wishes for the future...

Surf Coast Surf Coast TiTimesmes

TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY EDITION