Junior cricketers hd a chance to meet a genuine  cricketing hero when Merv Hughes dropped into Queenscliff this week (Sunday February 28). 

The former Australian pace bowler and 'I'm a celebrity get me out of here' contestant was guest speaker at a Queenscliff Cricket Club luncheon. 

​He didn't disappoint the audience of around 80, speaking for more than an hour about life in the national team and of the characters that make up the sport. 

The last of the major banks is closing its Queenscliff doors. 

The ANZ has confirmed dwindling customer numbers over recent years has forced a decision to close the Hesse Street branch in coming weeks.

And to add salt into the wounds of locals, the Bendigo Bank - the soon to be last remaining dedicated bank in the community - will shortly be closing its doors on Saturdays.
 
“After conducting a detailed review of the Queenscliff branch we found a significant drop in the number of customers using [it] in recent years. At the same time we have also seen an increase in customers using digital banking,” an ANZ spokeperson told The Rip. 

“It was a difficult decision and we would like to apologise to our customers for any inconvenience it may cause.

“We are writing to our customers to let them know about this closure and to let them know they can visit us at our Ocean Grove branch which is 14 kilometres away.”

The nearby Queenscliff Post Office offers basic ANZ banking services, including deposits, withdrawals and payments. 

“We are consulting the branch staff members who currently work at Queenscliff. We are fully supporting them through this transition period and making every effort to find redeployment opportunities for them,” the spokesperson said.

The National Australia and Commonwealth banks closed their Queenscliff branches in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s respectively. 

 

Get ready for some boundary aerobics people! Merv "The Swerve" Hughes is coming to town. 

The legendary Australian fast bowler will be guest speaker at a Queenscliff Cricket Club lunch on Sunday February 28.

During his international career Merv played in 53 Test matches, taking 212 wickets. He played 33 One Day Internationals, taking 38 wickets. He took a hat trick in a Test against the West Indies at the WACA in 1988–89, and went on to take 8-87. In 1993, 

Merv saved his greatest series performance for the 1993 Ashes tour, when bowling partner Craig McDermott was ruled out through illness. Over the six Tests, Merv took 31 wickets from almost 300 overs, helping Australia to a 4-1 victory over England. 

He was also a useful lower-order batsman, scoring two half-centuries in tests, and over 1000 runs in all. 
Aside of his sporting prowess Merv is is fondly remembered for engagaing spectators in "Merv aerobics" and for his trademark handlebar moustache. 

​Tickets for the luncheon are $70 and include a 3-course lunch plus a drink on arrival. 
For purchase details phone Julian Melican on 0408 568175 or email the club at: queenscliffcricketclub@gmail.com

More than 50 years of working to protect Queenscliffe’s environment and preserve its heritage have earned Point Lonsdale’s Joan Kenwood the borough’s Citizen of the Year award. 

No one at the Australia Day celebration will have been surprised to witness Mrs Kenwood untie an apron from around her waist and step from behind  the tea stand she was volunteering at to receive the honour.
The former President of the Queenscliff Community Association (QCA) said the prize was a team effort – and thanked all of those who have shared her causes.  

“I am very humbled and appreciative of this recognition but any of the things I have achieved couldn’t be done without the people around me. These are the people who share my ideals of preserving the borough’s environment, heritage and community spirit,” she said at the Australia Day award ceremony. 

“I would like to thank my colleagues at the Community Association for supporting me during the years of my presidency at the QCA. Nothing could be achieved without their support.” 

Mayor Helene Cameron described as a worthy recipient of the award and a “prized and valued citizen of this community.

“Her contributions have been outstanding, with a strong commitment to community issues, charitable concerns, heritage values, environmental issues, social justice, humanitarian causes and refugee issues.” 

"For the past 18 years Joan has been president of the Queenscliff Community Association, she has made numerous cups of tea to help with asylum seeker and refugee support events, being a strong supporter of heritage values and a member of many political and environmental communities in the Borough. Joan is a true community leader, her passion for causes and a better world continues to this day, she provides an inspirational beacon for others in the community," the Mayor said. 

Point Lonsdale Surf Life Saving Club Vice President Liam Petrie-Albutt has been named Young Queenscliffe Citizen of the Year, continuing a strong family tradition of volunteerism. 

Liam has been instrumental in a number of initiatives including the development and implementation of the Nippers in School program. He also helped coordinate the annual Rip View Swim Classic, and is a key adviser to the Rotary Club ‘s Lighting of the Christmas Tree committee. 

​■ The Community Service of the Year Award was presented to Queenscliffe Rotary 
The organisation, which last year celebrated 10 years, ws instrumental in a number of events over the past 12 months including the Queenscliffe Bricks Lego exhibition, Vanuatu Cyclone Appeal, a drug awareness forum and the lighting of the Christmas tree. 

■ Community Environment Project of the Year: Bellarine Catchment Network – Point Lonsdale Primary School Coast Care Caring for our Bays day
The inaugural Point Lonsdale Primary School Coast Care Day was organised by Grade 3 and 4 students. It featured games and activities that focused on the impact of litter on our waterways and bays, protection of Hooded Plovers and the importance of our Moonah Woodlands. 

■ The Community Event of the Year: Queenscliffe Historical Museum 1915 WW1 ANZAC 100th Commemoration ‘Weaving the Threads of Remembrance’
The Queenscliffe Historical Museum Research Group initiated a WW1 project to commemorate the life of WW1 Nurse Violet Duddy.

A very special piece of Queenscliff maritime heritage is set to turn heads when it takes to the water as part of next month’s Wooden Boat Festival of Geelong.

The stylish Reveur is possibly the last of upwards of 200 vessels of all shapes and sizes designed by renowned local boat builder Gil Albutt.

What makes its entry into the event extra special is the fact that the unique timber speedboat was designed for and built by Gil’s son Darren under the highly regarded Gilcraft name. 

“It’s been a very emotional journey, conceded Darren. “Reveur is French for dream. My wife named it, and that’s what it has been. 

“I was really young when dad closed the business and I never thought I’d get a chance to build a boat with him.”
The pair poured over numerous plans before arriving at the perfect design for the vessel.  

“Once Darren decided he would like me to design him a boat he would come in after work of a night and we would look at the computer and there was all these sorts of boats from all over the world so I had a notebook and I jotted down things and finally we got one we liked the aspect of it,” said Gil.

“After that we went into looking at all of the different propulsion exercises. It was a real design exercise for me but then Darren settled in to build it and he did a marvellous job.

“He built it in his garage in his backyard, on a trolley that he would roll out to work on it and roll back in again.”
The sleek vessel was launched in 2012 and according to Darren has barely been out of use since. Looking for all the world like a gentleman’s speedboat (Riviera), more at home in Italy than the heavy swells of the rip, it features furniture grade timbers – mahogany, Fijian kauri and English marine ply.  

“I designed it with Darren and for Darren and it was certainly a bit of an adventure,” said Gil. “We built it to look like a Riviera if you like, but the bottom of it is designed like the fishing boats I used to build, so it’s a very good sea boat. It’s a particular shape because we had in mind that he would be around the rip area and up and down the coast.

“In my last years of boat building the last two boats were the 50 foot Mitani, a schooner built to sail around the world. That was something that I had never built before, and Darren’s boat was a completely different exercise again.”

The Mitani incidentally was awarded a Concourse d’Elegance trophy in the prestigious Antigua Grand Schooner Regatta. The Reveur is similarly eye-catching. 

“We’ve been approached a couple of times by people asking where it was made and how much it would cost to make another one,” said Darren. 
​
Gil, now well into his eighties, is among a small band of revered original Queenscliff boat builders. He commenced his trade under Peter Locke in 1948 and almost a decade later launched Gilcraft boats, in a garage behind the Vue Grand Hotel. Several of his original designs are still in use today.

Plans for a stingray feeding attraction at Queenscliff’s Fisherman’s Wharf have been delayed, after it was revealed the application skipped a mandatory stage of the planning approval process.

Environment Minister Lisa Neville has intervened to halt Queenscliffe Council deliberations of the project after being informed by her department it had not been granted Coastal Management Consent. 

The applicant, Queenscliff Harbour Pty Ltd (QHPL), has been told it must first undertake extensive community consultation and provide a detailed environmental assessment of the proposal and a three-year stingray feeding license issued to QHPL by Fisheries Victoria will remain inactive until Coastal Management consent is given, Ms Neville said. 

“There’s a massive gap here and Council shouldn’t have been considering this and the fisheries license is in a sense irrelevant. We’ve sent them (QHPL) back to the drawing board if you like, to go back to the community. 

“We have told them we are not issuing Coastal Management Consent unless and until there is significant community consultation and engagement and I want to see some way forward that people can feel confident about as in, is there a compromise or is there a different proposal.

“The key priority is we have to fix this wharf. If they want the stingrays as part of it they need to go through a proper process and it may or may not get through the process of coastal management,” Ms Neville said.

Harbour Manager Sean Blackwood said community consultations would commence this month (February). 

“Queenscliff Harbour is committed to listening to the community and will stage a consultation process that will allow a number of opportunities for the community to provide comment about the project.

“The Fishermans Wharf rejuvenation project will be an exciting development for Queenscliff. It will see the redevelopment of the unsafe and dilapidated wharf and involve the transformation of the tired old slipway into a modern eco-tourism facility,” he said. 

“The consultation will involve experts on a range of topics including planning, cultural heritage, traffic management, coastal management and animal welfare.”

The previous state government committed $1.8m for the project, which includes repairing Fisherman’s Wharf, filling in the Cayzer slipway and building a stingray feeding auditorium and outdoor cinema. 
​
MEANWHILE upwards of 1500 people have opposed the development via two separate petitions. More than 1,000 have signed a petition circulated in local outlets over summer. A further 455 people have voiced their opposition via the website Change.org.