Author Archives: Peter McCullough

Frances Bruce – Hastings’ latest centenarian

December 6, 2016
FRANCES Josephine Wattis was born in Ballarat on 30 November, 1916 to Charles and Patricia. Those were the days prior to the SEC and each town generated its own electricity. Charles Wattis was an ele...

Remembering the forgotten heroes

April 18, 2016
They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them or the years condemn At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. On every Anzac Day it is cu...

Getting conditioned for the front

April 18, 2016
BEFORE moving to Mornington the Bates family lived in Frankston and Robert played for that team. The Mornington Standard of 7 September, 1912 carried a lengthy report of proceedings before the Franks...

Alfred Edward Bates

April 18, 2016
THE father of Robert Bates, Alfred Edward Bates was the son of Robert Jackson Bates, a leading English cotton manufacturer. Born in Manchester in 1850, Alfred Bates came to Australia in 1875 and work...

Hastings’ link with the silent Anzac

April 18, 2016
IN a quiet corner of the Tyabb cemetery in Hastings can be found the grave of Leading Signalman Albert Norman Charles Thomson. For decades the grave had no means of identification but about eight yea...

HMAS Goorangai – lost with all hands

April 18, 2016
HMAS Goorangai was the first Royal Australian Navy ship lost in World War II, the first RAN surface ship lost in wartime,  and the first RAN surface ship lost with all hands. What makes this tragedy ...

The forgotten victims of war

April 18, 2016
  IN his book “Those We Forget”, published in 2014, David Noonan comments on the “casualties” which occurred after the cessation of hostilities in 1918 amongst the AIF men who were wounded or ga...

Vale: Ben Mayne

March 8, 2016
AFTER a twelve month battle with cancer Ben Mayne, a highly-respected citizen of Hastings, passed away on 18 February, 2016. Holy Trinity church was packed to overflowing for the funeral service on 2...

Prout To Be A Rotarian

January 27, 2016
DON Prout moved to Tyabb when he completed his electrical apprenticeship at the age of 21. For the past 66 years he has conducted his business as an electrician in the district, although these days h...