Beach Flowers

An Autumn flower now blooming on the coastal walk by Dromana beach

Flowers by the sands
Whispering lilac magic
Like a strange star burst


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Autumn Morning Mist

Where the cool mists swirl
Where day breaks into colours
My Autumn dream smiles


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When it was summer...

Summer has passed, but this mural of signs lingers on at Dromana Hub shopping centre.

Signs of summer days
Dramatic glimpses of heat
Colours of warm worlds


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Frankston Channel

Part of the Frankston beach boating channel system leading out to Port Phillip Bay, Mornington Peninsula.
At the time of this photo, it was January 2012, and the sandcastle display - in the background ~ was the happening foreshore event.

Winding waterways
Calm entree to the main bay
Adventure playground


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Cassandra

This is the headstone of Cassandra Adela Gantner at Sorrento Cemetery on the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula.
She was born June 10 1972 and died July 2 1990.
She was just 18.
Difficult to find any details of her life, but her family connections make fascinating, tangled reading.


Right next to her grave is this creative piece of writing by Vallejo Gantner.

Vallejo Gantner has been Artistic Director of Performance Space 122 since 2005. P.S. 122 is New York’s leading multi-disciplinary presenter of innovative performing arts. Prior he was Director of the Dublin Fringe Festival 2002 – 2004, and Artistic Associate of the Melbourne Festival 2000/01. Originally from Melbourne, Gantner worked in a range of capacities throughout the arts in the US, Asia and Australia - director, writer, performer, agent, producer and programmer. He was also the co-producer of Spiegelworld from 2006-2008, a commercial producer of contemporary circus, cabaret, music and entertainment across the US. He is a partner in a brewery - Mountain Goat Beer and in Melbourne bars Double Happiness, New Gold Mountain, Bosisto’s Liquor Bar and Lily Blacks.
He is on the board of the National Performance Network

He is the son of Carrillo Gantner b.1944 - actor, director and theatre founder + 2007 Victorian of the year -
(from Carrillo's first marriage to Melbourne actor and theatre director Nancy Black).

In July 2007, The Age gave details of Carrillo Gantner's life. Carrillo Gantner is the eldest grandchild of Sidney Myer (1878-1934) - renowned philanthropist and merchant in Melbourne who initiated the Myers Department Store.
The Sidney Myer Music Bowl, the Shrine of Remembrance, Moomba, the Howard Florey Institute, the Malthouse Theatre and the free outdoor concerts by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra are just a few examples of Sidney Myer's heritage. Ref: HERE
Carrillo's second wife, ZiYin Wang Gantner, is a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy.
Carrillo says: his proudest achievement is his children (he has four boys from two marriages and one daughter who died in 1990).
The daughter must be Cassandra.
The only details of her life I have finally found focus on cerebral palsy - she had to be permanently hospitalised - see The Age September 11 1984
(More here too on Carrillo's weekly life in Melbourne and weekends on his cattle property.)
This may explain the unusual comment on the headstone beneath the dates of her life:
A great force for joy.

Strangely, Neilma, one of Sidney's 4 children, married another Vallejo Gantner (14.1.1911 - 8.1.1996)
Carillo was her son as was Vallejo jnr.
This Vallejo was born in 1943 and was killed accidently in 1962 when hunting farm rabbits.
He was just 19.
So both Carillo's brother and his daughter died in their late teens.


As Melbourne Festival 2011 President, Carrillo Gantner talks about the annual cultural celebration and how the diverse projects from around the world come together under one banner. The Melbourne Festival was on from 6-22 October.

GREAT REFERENCE: Meet the Myers

She drifts in wonder
Once a troubled, young spirit
Now living new life



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A Little Yellow on Water

Boat moored at Frankston in the channel leading out to Port Phillip Bay

Quiet curved channel
Leading to the open seas
Beyond the bay's arms



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Scattered Shadow Markings

Shadow patterns on a door in my home

Like crazy etchings
Like fractured bits of branches
Like a troubled mind


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Boat Line

Boats and mooring posts lined up at Hastings on Westernport Bay

Where boats are silent
Locked in a waiting time space
Dreaming of journeys


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Music of White Beauty

I have no idea what these flowers are. They are low growing and seem a little like freesias.

Like mini trumpets
Tiny music of beauty
Floral serenade


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Andy Irons

This Billabong sign on a shop at Sorrento, on the southern end of the peninsula pays tribute to the life of the great surfer Andy Irons (1978-2010).
Out of respect and acknowledgement of Andy’s legacy we will continue to dedicate the Billabong Pipe Masters in his memory. As part of this year’s clothing collection for the 2011 Pipe Masters event, Billabong will be re-releasing the hugely popular Andy Irons model Rising Sun board short. For more details, see the Billabong website HERE!

Champion of seas
Lived on the edge of a wave
Surfing memory


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Rippling Waters

Clear Port Phillip Bay waters rippling round Dromana beach

Where the waters sigh
Gently drifting in to shore
Like clear rippling dreams


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Still Messing With Boats

A most unusual grave shaped as a pier.
This grave is at Sorrento Cemetery on the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.
I was not only attracted to the unique style of the grave, but also the less common surname of Sturzaker.
I was sure that I would find some information about this man.
All I found was that the Sturzakers have strong English ancestry.
The surname has Anglo-Saxon connections - not German as the name sounds.
Many also lived in the north of Tasmania - especially Launceston - some lived in northern Victoria - Bright, famous for its parade of Autumn colours - and a couple lived in Darwin in the Northern Territory.
For more details see HERE and HERE!



Where the salt winds blow
Where the seas heave with promise
Let my boat sail on


Believe me my young friend
there is nothing, absolutely nothing
half so much worth doing as simply
messing about in boats
Ian Sturzaker
10.5.1934-22.11.1989
NOTE: This is a quote from Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows

Some interesting extra notes:
Currently, Geoff Sturzaker is a fisherman in the Portland area of coastal south west Victoria.
He is mentioned in Rex Hunt's 2008 fishing report HERE and the Fishing Monthly HERE
There is a photo of bearded Geoff with a large tuna HERE!
He looks of an age that could make him Ian's younger brother or even Ian's son!



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Yellow Line Up

Line up of various yellow boat sheds at Dromana beach

A yellow parade
Like odd mixed beach fantasies
Boat sheds with flourish


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Shadow Mime

Shadows playing on the wall and door of a boatshed at Dromana beach

Eerie shadow mime
So many shapes are players
Like a last tableau


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Whirling

A lasiandra in my garden in the Dromana Hills, Mornington Peninsula

Swirling lilac folds
Petals silently dancing
Like whirling dervish


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Autumn Wings

An Autumn sunset sky over Port Phillip Bay at Dromana

Wings in Autumn light
A soft kind of sunset
A sense of sighing


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Barefoot Bowling

Sign at a Mornington Bowling Club.
The fact that the sign appears to be temporary - an attached banner - implies that this could be a seasonal event.
The photo was taken in early January 2012 - our Australian summer time.

Odd experience
Barefoot bowling sounds risque
May bities be gone


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Exploring

Young ones exploring the waters round Dromana pier, Port Phillip Bay.

Exploring new worlds
Thrill of curiosity
Secret excitement


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"Drayton Grange" Shame

23,000 Australians served in the Boer War of 1899-1902 out of a then population of 3.5 million - a large proportion of young souls.
Yet this is the only substantial memorial for them on the peninsula (or anywhere?) - apart from a sign in Memorial Park, Mornington.
It is at Sorrento cemetery on the southern end of the Mornington Peninsula.
And this is really a memorial symbolising shame and drama - after the Boer War.
The SS Drayton Grange was The Last Boer War Troopship Home.
(The Drayton Grange was originally launched as a frozen meat freighter in 1901!)
42 officers and 1918 troopers rushed on board without medical checks.
It was a vermin-infested, crowded ship with no disinfection available.
Lieutenant Colonel Lyster had no control of the troops.
The weather was continually wet and cold; ventilators were kept closed for warmth.
In short, the ship was a sea of chaos.
The ship was refused landing in Albany Western Australia - could not deal with the range of sicknesses - and so finally landed at Fort Franklin, Portsea.
By the time the ship landed finally in Sydney, 15 troopers had died.

(All belonged to the Commonwealth Horse Units - from various states - and were in the Transvaal and Natal regions of Africa. No one from these units died from war injuries in Africa.
Ref: Australian Contingents to the Boer War.)
The situation sparked a Royal Commission, but senior officers were not compelled to give evidence.
No one was blamed.


Sign near the memorial

Of the names mentioned on this memorial:
Edward Percy Barton was a drover from Charleville, Queensland.
Archibald Humphries and Henry Sherringham were both labourers from Comnock via Molong, New South Wales. Ref: Remember Them: A Guide to Victoria's Wartime Heritage
Yet on the sign above, it states that 4 were troopers in the Victorian battalions, and only McFarlane came from a N.S.W. battalion.

On March 2, 2012, The Sydney Morning Herald reported that a Boer War national memorial has finally been designed.
It will be built in Canberra.
The $4million cost has still to be met.

NOTE: Fort Franklin is now Portsea Camp or Lord Mayor's Children's Camp.
Original barrack buildings have been retained.
It is spread over 3 hectares.

Discarded spirits
Disorientated souls
Wait for some respect



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Yellow Tent

A yellow tent just after being set up at the Kite Festival on the Rosebud foreshore.
The Kite Festival is now in its 8th year.

Some yellow cover
Away from gusty sea winds
Window views of kites


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