bcs2003a - Beaumaris Conservation Society

Beaumaris
Conservation Society Inc.

BULLETIN

A0034887B
Victoria

BCS2003A
February
2003

www.beaumarisconservation.net

BCS Inc.
Supports 2 Council Candidates

At
the first Bayside City Council elections, in 1997,
there were, of course, no sitting councillors in
any ward. At the second

elections, in 2000, there was no sitting
councillor in Moysey Ward, which covers some
two-thirds of Beaumaris, and no other suburb, as
the first Moysey Ward councillor, Vivien Kluger,
did not stand again. Cr Kluger had been strongly
supported by Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc,
as had Ken Beadle, who succeeded Cr Kluger as the
second Moysey Ward councillor.

Beaumaris Conservation Society
Inc. is very grateful that both Cr Kluger and Cr
Beadle fulfilled their promise as good
representatives of Moysey Ward. In Cr Ken Beadle’s
case it is fortunate for Beaumaris that he has
decided to seek a second three-year term, and
Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc. supports his
campaign. The Society considers that Cr Ken Beadle
has been one of the best two champions of the
conservation and environment cause on the 2000-03
Bayside City Council.

Another good candidate is a newer BCS
Inc. member, Fiona Austin, who will gain
experience in this campaign that could be of
benefit to BCS Inc. in future campaigns. BCS Inc.
recommends that members who might prefer to vote
Austin 1 make very sure that they vote Ken Beadle
2.

In the adjoining Ebden Ward, which includes over
a quarter of Beaumaris, a member
of Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc, Derek
Wilson, who is also the founding convenor of
the Bayside Alliance for Heritage, the
Environment and Appropriate Development, is
the only candidate standing against Cr
Simon Russell. Cr Russell has held the seat for
two terms, and before that he was a councillor in
the Central Ward of the former City of
Sandringham.

Derek
Wilson, Ebden Ward candidate

Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc. has very
direct and important interests in Ebden Ward
as:

Beaumaris makes up
about a third of the residential area in Ebden
Ward.

Most of the
important Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary adjoins
Ebden Ward.

A Beaumaris gem, the
area made up of the Ricketts Point landside part
of Beaumaris Beach Park together with the
adjoining treed and informal Point and Coral
Avenues, is entirely in Ebden Ward.

The Beaumaris part
of Ebden Ward, which contains the Gramatan
Avenue Heathland Sanctuary, Donald MacDonald
Reserve, Long Hollow Reserve, and Balcombe Park
Reserve, has been badly affected by
over-intensive and unduly obtrusive residential
development, and there has been no significant
resistance to that on behalf of
the Ward, within the Council.

Beaumaris
Conservation Society Inc. has, since 1970, been
a Member Organization of Port
Phillip Conservation Council Inc. PPCC
Inc. reminds us of the larger picture – that the
fate of not only Ebden Ward, but all the coastal
reserve land within Bayside is greatly
influenced by the priorities of Bayside Council.
The coastal reserve north of South Road is 5 km
from Ebden Ward’s foreshore, but Ebden’s
councillor influences it too. There is no Crown
foreshore reserve there – it is Bayside Council
freehold, so the Victorian Government has less
influence in that stretch.

More recently,
Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc. has been a
member of Save
Our Suburbs Inc., which has been a
splendid Melbourne-wide leader in the fight
against the excesses of the notorious and
fortunately now defunct Good Design Guide
publication, which was exploited by apologists
for much of the inappropriate development that
has beset Moysey and Ebden Wards. The mind-set
behind that approach is still evident in many of
the stances taken on development issues in the
name of Ebden Ward voters. BCS Inc. considers
that Derek Wilson, who is one of the Bayside
representatives of Save Our Suburbs, has
the attitudes and abilities that we need to
correct present glaring shortcomings and
complacency in much that presently passes for
democratic scrutiny of development
proposals.

Ebden Ward
Councillor noted in The Age

An early Council election report in The Age
(News 9, 13th February 2003) read as
follows:

“One election hot spot is Bayside (Brighton,
Sandringham) where allegations are flying over
alleged misuse of council-funded newsletters.

Two councillors seeking re-election, Liberals
Gary Andrews and Simon Russell, have riled
opponents by distributing their yearly ward
newsletters just weeks from the election.”

An indication of the timing of the release of
those Council-funded ward newsletters comes from
the date printed on them. Both are dated February
2003.

Another dating difficulty in Cr Russell’s 4-page
newsletter showed under a heading “Thank You
Volunteers”, which has a photograph of Val Ross, former
President of Beaumaris Conservation Society Inc.
who, by 1999, had gone to live in
Queensland.

Ordinary
General Meeting of 23rd January 2003

The Ordinary General Meeting of the Society that
was held in January 2003 filled a number of
vacancies on the Committee of Management of the
Society. The vacancies occurred when those elected
to fill those positions at the 2002 Annual General Meeting
chose to resign and stand for their positions
again, after being informed of a letter to the
Society from a BCS Inc. member that complained of
shortcomings in the procedure by which the
positions had been filled at that annual
meeting.

Keith Holmes was elected as our Senior
Vice-President, and all the vacant Zone Leader
positions were filled.

Memories of
the Founding Era of BCS Inc.

In this 50th
Anniversary year for Beaumaris Conservation
Society Inc. the Bayside Leader approached
the Society with a view to writing an article
about the Anniversary. Their photographer took a
photograph in early February of a range of family
and other members on the Concourse Green, which
was successfully defended by BCS Inc. late last
year. We were privileged to have in the photograph
Mrs Cath Carroll, who
was one of the founding members in 1953, and had
been present at the Inaugural
General Meeting of the Beaumaris Tree
Preservation Society (we changed our name in 1970)
as was demonstrated by the original
Minute Book we asked her to hold in her hand
as she was photographed. She and her colleagues
did their work well, to the great advantage of the
present and future generations of people living in
Beaumaris.

The recent terrible bushfires in south-eastern
Australia have been a reminder of the 1944
bushfire that burnt nearly all of Beaumaris before
there were many houses here. A copy of an official report of that
fire, which includes an account of the
nature of the vegetation in the area then, and
shows a map of the area burnt, now appears on our
Web site.

P.O. Box
7016 BEAUMARIS VIC 3193

President:
Adrian
Cerbasi
Secretary: Rose Allaway

Tel:
(03) 9589 5194, 0429176725