The Largest Antenna in Altona

A researcher from Deakin University was at the Time Beacon in Truganina Park, sampling tagged ravens to determine their flying distances. This is the highest land point between Melbourne and the You Yangs mountain ranges.


The "Largest and Highest Antenna" in Altona

Altona Seaweed Control

The washing ashore and buildup of seaweed on Altona Beach has been a recurrent problem, due to factors such as a rim of seagrass meadows along its shoreline, seasonal algae growth, mass water movement, rain leaching excess nutrients into the bay, weather and light conditions.

It costs Hobsons Bay Council about $300,000 annually or $61.33 a tonne (as at 2010) to remove the seaweed. The seaweeds are left on the beach to dry, during which it emits an unpleasant odour, before being collected by trucks and taken to Wyndham tip about 3 times a week. Over the last 5 years, an average 4,500 tonnes of seaweed has been collected annually. With tipping fees scheduled to rise sharply, the council needs to find another more sustainable alternative.

The consultancy firm GHD, commissioned by the Council and funded by the Department of Sustainability and Environment in 2009, proposed 4 options to remove the seaweed. These 4 options are shown according to the order of preference in the following table.

Option	Cost	Method
1	$1.19m over 10 years + No dumping fees	Pump seaweed from the water and transport it offshore via a barge to a vessel where it can be converted into liquid fertiliser.
2	$750,000 + Dumping fees	Pump seaweed into an industrial waste bin, which would filter the weed and send water back into the bay.
3	$1.6m over 10 years + Dumping fees	Uses the Hurricane Cargo Hovercraft, which can travel on sand and water, to rake washed-up seaweed back into the shallows, vacuum it through a filter and empty the seaweed on the beach for removal to a tip or organic recycling plant.
4	$4.9m + Dumping fees	Employs workers to manually collect the seaweed.

The Council eventually decided to trial the first option for 12 months. After putting out a tender, the Council awarded the contract to a Laverton North biotechnology company Cassa Bio-Tec, at a cost of $44 per tonne of seaweed or about $176,000 for the 12 month period. Cassa Bio-Tec had previous success of using enzymes to catch and digest Northern Pacific Seastar into liquid fertilizer. This is a starfish that feeds on mussels, scallops and other marine animals and plants, resulting in a 40% decline in fish stocks in Port Phillip Bay.

Cassa Bio-Tec will carry out the following:

• Collect the seaweed using a vacuum pump mounted on a shallow draft barge.
• Separate it from seagrass,  which goes into stock feed.
• Wash it with recycled water to remove sand, which is then returned to the sea.
• Convert the seaweed into nutrient-rich liquid fertiliser (containing magnesium, selenium and boron)  using its own formula of natural biodegradable enzyme. One tonne of seaweed produces roughly two tonnes of liquid fertiliser.

All sound good and promising. But the results did not turn out as intended after a few months of trial. The high content of sand in the material being collected greatly reduces the efficiency of recycling the seaweed. This has resulted in many tonnes of seaweed being sent to landfill, costing the Council about $74 per tonne.

Cassa Bio-Tec suggested the Council look at getting a Trommel, a machine that helps to separate the sand from the seaweed during the collection process and make the seaweed easier to recycle. The State Government had decided to contribute $43,780 to the purchase of the machine, which is made by a Queensland company. The council will pay the remaining half of the cost. Trommel is expected to save about $83,000 a year that the Council now spends on seaweed disposal.

The Council collected 1286 tonnes of seaweed in 2009-2010, 3389 tonnes less than the previous financial year. Melbourne University marine biologist Dr Gerald Kraft said the massive reduction in seaweed along Altona Beach as well as in other parts of Victoria could be due to a huge population explosion of sea urchins, which feed on seaweeds, thereby reducing their presence dramatically. I think the use of biological control could be another complementary option worth investigating, if this does not adversely affect the marine ecosystem.


Reference

• Seaweed to be wiped from beaches
• Funding help for seaweed machine
• Uses for weed waste
• Weed of woe
• Hovercraft plan to vacuum stinking seaweed from Altona beach
• Altona finds seaweed solution
• From pest to fertiliser
• Separating seaweed from sand
• Seaweed on the decline

Filming in Altona

Following up on the Filming in Hobsons Bay post, I am collating in this post the movies, TV programs and commercials that were filmed in Altona.

My Year Without Sex (2009)
Trailer
Photo of the film family's weatherboard house in Altona

This Australian film, written and directed by Sarah Watt, opened in the 2009 Adelaide Film Festival and was officially released on 28 May 2009. Set in Altona, it is about a 30+ couple Natalie and Ross (played by Sacha Horler and Matt Day) with their pre-teen kids Ruby and Louis. After Natalie suffers a brain injury, she is advised to abstain from sex for 12 months.

Watt said she wanted to make a film without a sex scene, after her 2005 film Look Both Ways which won her recognition. "I didn't want to be coy and just avoid it, but once we started playing with that title, the whole thing became about sex. My ideas were so broad, about anxiety and non-sustainable consumerism and how a non-ruling-class family were coping with how to save for the future and the uncertainty in the work force."

This film received strongly favourable reviews, touted by The Sydney Morning Herald as possibly the best 2009 Australian film and by The Age as the most accomplished 2009 local film.

As with Look Both Ways, My Year Without Sex deals with the impact that serious illness has on individuals and relationships. The two films are reportedly part of a "proposed trilogy". Unfortunately, we will not see this happening as Watt had passed away on 4 Nov 2011, after a long battle with cancer (Ref 1).


Bogan Pride (2008)
Article 1, 2, 3, 4

This 6-part musical comedy TV series, first screened on SBS in 2008, is written and starred by Rebel Wilson, one of Australia's most talented and popular comedy actors. The series is based on her experiences growing up in Sydney's western suburbs. The comedy was filmed predominantly in Altona and Laverton, with the school scenes being filmed at Sunshine Secondary College.

Set in the fictional suburb of Boonelg, the show revolves around an obese girl Jennie Cragg (played by Wilson) living with her extremely overweight mother Berenice, who is confined to her living-room chair. What does a bogan girl do? She will enter a local dance competition hoping to win $10,000 for her mum's stomach stapling operation. She hopes to impress her good-looking neighbour Nick whom she has a crush on and get revenge on the school skanks. She will also deal with the antics of her Aunt Cassandra, who has become increasingly annoying since her gay husband left her, learn to become closer to God with the help of a few lesbians, sell bonsai cats and try to win a Maths Olympiad.

The closing scene of the show sees the cast dancing along streets in Altona, which attracted a lot of attention from locals (Ref 2). Click here to view the Dance Battle Video. Note Harrington Square in the upper left photo below.




Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries (2012)
Article 1, 2, 3

Produced by Fiona Eagger and Deborh Cox, the 13 one-hour episodes of this detective drama series will screen on ABC1 in 2012. Miss Phryne Fisher is a 28 years old "female James Bond" in the bestselling series of Australian author Kerry Greenwood, whose 18 novels have sold more than 250,000 copies worldwide and have a very loyal following. Fisher is played by Essie Davis and this series also stars Nathan Page (Underbelly, All Saints), Miriam Margoyles (Babe, Harry Potter) and Hugo Johnstone-Burt (Cloudstreet).

Phryne was born into a poor family in Richmond. After finishing school, she ran away to France to joine a French women's ambulance unit during WWI, receiving a reward for bravery and a French war pension. The deaths of several young men in the same war enabled her father to inherit an English title as well as its associated wealth. This made her an Honourable with an enormous fortune, when her father died. She then worked as an artist's model in Montparnasse after the war. After several years, Phryne moved from England to Melbourne temporarily in 1928 to investigate a possible poisoning for a family friend. She enjoyed the lifestyle so much she stayed on in St Kilda permanently.

Through the course of the books, Phryne adopts a personal maid Dot, two daughters Ruth and Jane whom she rescued from slavery, a cat Ember, a dog Molly and two loyal servants, the Butlers. With Dot and her assistants Bert and Cec, Phryne solves all manner of crimes. Phryne is no ordinary aristocrat, as she can fly a plane, drives a Hispano-Suiza sportscar, wears stylish Art Deco clothing and sashays through the backlanes and jazz clubs of late 1920s Melbourne, fighting injustice with her pearl-handled pistol and her dagger-sharp wit. But behind the façade of elegance and charm are the scars of the past which drive Phryne to find justice for those who can't help themselves and to pursue the truth of her own dark history.

She also has relationships with a string of lovers, most notably Lin Chung, a wealthy Chinese man whom she rescues in the city one evening. Lin is the only lover with whom she maintains a relationship for more than a few books and even goes so far as to make a deal with his grandmother that when he is married, she be allowed to continue a relationship with him. Li Pen, the bodyguard of Lin Chung, is the only Shaolin monk in Australia with a taste for vegemite.

The TV series had started filming on 10 July 2011 and the 6th novel "Blood and Circuses" was filmed in Doug Grant Reserve, Altona in Oct 2011. In this novel, unusual things are happening at the Farrell's Circus and Phryne was asked by her friends to investigate. She throws off all her wealth and social status to go undercover as a trick horse-rider, wearing hand-me-down clothes and a new name. Someone seems determined to see the circus fail and Phryne must find out who that might be and why they want it badly enough to resort to poison, assault and murder. Diving into the dangerous underworld of 1920s Melbourne, Phryne proves her courage and ingenuity yet again, aided only by her quick intelligence, an oddly attractive clown and a stout, helpful bear. Click here to view a photo of the Circus Scene.


Metal Skin (1994)
Trailer / Review

This is a 1994 Australian film written and directed by Geoffrey Wright, starring Aden Young, Tara Morice, Nadine Garner and Ben Mendelsohn. It premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on 14 Sep 1994 and was officially released on 4 May 1995 through Village Roadshow.

The film follows the lives of 4 adolescents in and around Altona. Joe, a bogan from Altona, secures employment at a local supermarket where he meets and befriends Dazey, both sharing a common interest in old hot cars. Joe also forms a relationship with a Satanic colleague. The nihilism of these adolescents, coupled with parental disputes, leads to various tragedies (Ref 3).


Eugénie Sandler P.I. (2000)
Review

This is a 13-part Australian children's adventure series that first aired on ABC1 in 2000. Created and written by David McRobbie, the series was shot over 13 weeks in Altona, Footscray and Oakleigh, using disused railway carriages, abandoned warehouses, oppressive concrete walkways and back alleys.

Raised as the daughter of private investigator Ray Sandler, 15-year old Eugenie (played by Xaris Miller) has grown up in Australia without knowing the truth about her past. She has lived a nomadic lifestyle as a result of his father's occupation, joking that she collects postcodes the way other girls collect CDs.

Her mysterious history is rooted in the fictional and mist-shrouded Eastern European country of Versovia whose people soon make their presence felt. Among those pursuing her are furtive-looking detective Matt Gurney, the former governess to the royal family of Versovia, Angela Duvier and cops Davorin and Slavomir. The latter pair are strangers in a strange land and their efforts to accomplish their mission in the alien terrain of urban Australia promises some comic relief.

All Eugenie knows is that she is suddenly and inexplicably in danger. After escaping an explosive device planted in her home, she is forced to flee and sets off to piece together the mystery of her family history and to find her father, with the aid of her intrigued classmate, Warwick.


Winners & Losers (2011)
Trailer

This TV drama series was first broadcasted on the 7 Network on 22 Mar 2011. It revolves around the lives of 4 women: Jenny Gross (Melissa Bergland), beauty therapist Bec Gilbert (Zoe Tuckwell-Smith), Frances James (Virginia Gay) and Sophie Wong (Melanie Vallejo). The lives of these 4 best friends were bound together by their shared experience of being "the losers" in high school. Ten years later at the school reunion, they realize they are really winners and afterwards, win a large amount of money in the Oz Lotto.

Bec's Beauty Salon is filmed at 19 Harrington Square, Altona - now a vacant shop but was also formerly a beauty salon. I happened to see the filming taking place there on 19 Oct 2011 when I passed by. You are still able to see the shop board "Bec's Beauty Salon" being displayed.

It appears that this series had used Hobsons Bay as filming locations over a rather long period from Sep 2010 to Oct 2011. However, I do not know where are the other filming locations.




Blessed (2009)
Trailer / Article

This 2009 drama film, directed by Ana Kokkinos, was released in Australia on 10 Sep 2009. It is based on an award-winning stage play Who's Afraid of the Working Class? Kokkinos engaged the play's original writers, Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves, Patricia Cornelius and Christos Tsiolkas,  to adapt it for the big screen.

The story is told in 2 parts: first tracking 7 lost youths over the course of a day and a night as they roam the suburbs and backstreets of Melbourne; then revisiting the same 24 hours from the mothers' perspective.

Four celebrated Australian actors lead a large ensemble cast in a film where multiple narratives intersect tenuously but to powerful effect. Miranda Otto plays a lonely single mother frightened by her responsibilities and addicted to the pokies. Deborra-lee Furness plays a hard-working mother with an unemployed, emotionally dehydrated husband. Victoria Haralabidou plays a Greek widow who sews private school uniforms to make ends meet. Frances O'Connor plays a welfare-dependent mum whose neglected kids have taken to the streets.

A scene was filmed at Altona Pier.




Animal Kingdom (2010)
Trailer

This is a 2010 Australian crime film written and directed by David Michôd, and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, Luke Ford, Sullivan Stapleton, Jacki Weaver and James Frecheville. The film is loosely inspired by the Pettingill family and the Walsh Street police shootings that occurred in Melbourne in 1988.

The film received 18 nominations for the 2010 Australian Film Institute Awards, of which it won a record 10 awards. Jacki Weaver was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress for the 68th Golden Globe Awards and the 83rd Academy Awards. It was named one of the Top Independent Films of 2010 at the National Board of Review Awards.

The movie was filmed in many Melbourne locations, including Altona, as Michôd was passionate about wanting to encompass the whole city, from its quiet, leafy suburbs and cityscapes, to its stark, industrial side (Ref 4).


The Wedge (2006-2007)
Trailer

This Australian sketch show, created by Ian McFadyen and produced by Network Ten, debuted on 30 May 2006 and ran for 2 seasons, ending on 29 Dec 2007.


The Elephant Princess (2008)
Trailer / Article

This Australian children's TV series, created by Jonathan M. Shiff Productions, debuted on Network Ten on 13 Nov 2008. A second season began screening in 2011.

The protagonist Alex Wilson (played by Emily Robins) thinks she is an average suburban girl living in Melbourne, until her 16th birthday. An exotic visitor Kuru shows up in her backyard with a magical elephant Anala and informs her she is in fact the heir to the throne of a magical kingdom, Manjipoor. With his help, the reluctant princess must master her magic powers and defend her royal inheritance against her devious cousin, Vashan whilst balancing the pull of both worlds to find her true destiny. In the second season, Alex and her family have moved to the Gold Coast. Her friend Amanda has followed her there, where they plan to find a new drummer for their band.

Filming of the 26-episode Season 1 took place in Altona North from December 2007 to April 2008. The Yarraville-based Jonathan M. Shiff Productions brought the 50-year old Indian Elephant Siam down from her home state of Queensland twice to Altona North for filming. Click here to view the photo of Siam with its handler, Brenton Bullen.


Lover Boy (1989)

This 1989 film, directed by Geoffrey Wright and starring Noah Taylor and Gillian Jones, was released on 17 Aug 1989. It was filmed in Altona North.


Advertisements

At least two advertisements were shot in Altona (I believe there are many more):

• Bike Force Ad (filmed along the Esplanade)
• "We fight for fair" advertisement from Maurice Blackburn Lawyers (filmed outside Altona Mobil Refinery)

Filming in Hobsons Bay

Hobsons Bay is a hot destination for film making, with about 50 film permits being issued a year, injecting a considerable amount of money into the council’s coffers as well as the local economy.

Channel 10 series “Rush” location manager Peter Muston said Hobsons Bay’s mix of lavish homes and industrial areas made it a popular choice for Melbourne-based TV shows. “It offers a great variety of looks from sleek, modern houses with fantastic city views across the bay on The Strand, gritty industrial landscapes around Spotswood, Newport and Altona North and bustling urban centres in Newport and Williamstown. Because the area has developed over so many years, it also offers quite specific pockets of residential development periods from the 1950s through to the current McMansion housing estates.” (Ref 1) Hobsons Bay Council planning and environment officer, Peter Hunt said, “A broad array of heritage streetscapes, coastal landscapes and wide parklands all within close proximity of the city has caught the eye of many film makers." (Ref 2)

This post attempts to cover the movies, TV programs and commercials being filmed in Hobsons Bay, based on what I could research from the internet. As such, it will not be a comprehensive coverage. I will cover filming in Altona in a separate post. I have provided video links and links to official websites as well as articles on the filming. You may be able to identify familiar areas and neighbourhoods in these videos. For many of these films, other than knowing that they were filmed in Hobsons Bay, I do not know the specific filming locations and dates. You are welcomed to share via comments if you have such knowledge.


Filming in Williamstown

Williamstown accounts for the bulk of the filming in Hobsons Bay, featuring box-office movies and TV series such as Charlotte's Web, Where the Wild Things Are, Knowing, Mad Max, Rush, Underbelly, City Homicide, Blue Heelers and Stingers. I will elaborate on the specific filming locations after this table.

Title (Video/Story)	Genre	Network/ Distributor	Release Date (Filming Date in HB)	Creator/ Director	Actors
Golden Girl (v/s)	Short Film	Happening Films	13/11/2011 (Jan 11)	Grant Scicluna	Marny Kennedy, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence,
Charlie Bean's Great War (v/s)	Documentary	Foxtel History Channel	11/10/2010 (Jul 10)	Wain Fimeri	Nick Farnell, Margot Knight
Matching Jack (v/s)	Drama Film	20th Century Fox	19/08/2010 (May-Jun 09)	Nadia Tass	Jacinda Barrett, James Nesbitt
I Love You Too (v/s)	Romantic Comedy	Roadshow Films	6/05/2010 (May 09)	Daina Reid	Brendan Cowell, Peter Dinklage
Where the Wild Things Are (v)	Movie	Warner Bros	16/10/2009	Spike Jonze	Max Records
Gardening Australia (s)	Documentary	ABC	5/06/2009 (May 09)		Stephen Ryan
Knowing (v)	Scifi Movie	Summit Entertainment	20/03/2009	Alex Proyas	Nicholas Cage
Rush (v)	Police Drama	10	2/09/2008 (2008-2011)	John Edwards, Christopher Lee	Rodger Corser
City Homicide (v/s)	Police Drama	7	27/08/2008 (2008-2010)	John Hugginson, John Banas	Various
Underbelly (v/s)	TV Drama	9	13/02/2008	Greg Haddrick, Peter Gawler, Felicity Packard	Caroline Craig, Paul Tassone, Daniel Roberts
Newstopia (v/s)	Satirical Comedy	SBS	10/10/2007 (Nov 2007, Oct 2008)	Shaun Micallef	Shaun Micallef
Wilfred (v)	Comedy Series	SBS1	19/03/2007 (Jul 09)	Tony Rogers	Jason Gann, Adam Zwar, Cindy Waddingham
Charlotte's Web (v/s)	Movie	Paramount Picture, Warner Bros	7/12/2006	Gary Winick	Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey
Irresistible (v)	Movie	Palace Films	16/04/2006	Ann Turner	Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill,  Emily Blunt
My Brother Jack (v/s)	TV Mini-Series	10	3/06/2001	Ken Cameron	Matt Day, Simon Lyndon
Blonde (v)	TV Mini-Series	CBS	13/05/2001	Joyce Chopra	Poppy Montgomery
Stingers (v/s)	Police Drama	9	29/08/1998	Various	Peter Phelps, Kate Kendall, Anita Hegh
SeaChange (v/s)	Comedy Drama	ABC	8/05/1998 (1998-2001)	Andrew Knight, Deborah Cox	Sigrid Thornton, John Howard, Cassandra Magrath
Blue Heelers (v/s)	Police Drama	7	18/01/1994	Tony Morphett, Hal McElroy	John Wood, Julie Nihill
Round the Twist (v)	Children Comedy	7, ABC, Aust Network	4/08/1989	Paul Jennings	Various
The Henderson Kids II (v)	TV Series	10	(1987)	Paul Moloney	Paul Smith, Nadine Garner, Bradley Kilpatrick
My First Wife (s)	Drama Film	Roadshow Entertainment	13/09/1984	Paul Cox	John Hargreaves, Wendy Hughes, Lucy Angwin
Mad Max (v)	Action Film	Village Roadshow	12/04/1979	George Miller	Mel Gibson
Dance for Doritos (Sadler Reserve)	Competition Entry	Mark Deere	(Jul 10)	Mark Deere
APIA 2010 Ad	TV Commercial		(Jul 10)

Where the Wild Things Are

This is a 2009 box-office American fantasy movie directed by Spike Jonze. It is adapted from Maurice Sendak's 1963 children's classic, about a mischievous boy named Max, who creates his own magical world inhabited by enchanting creatures who crown him as their ruler. After scouring the world for 18 months, Spike Jonze chose 11 Victorian filming locations, including Discovery Bay, Gembrook, Williamstown and Newport. A two storeys high, American style house at 16 Tobruk Crescent, Williamstown, matching the description in the book, was selected to be the home of Max. Two other key conditions were also met. The resident family had to be relocated for 6-8 weeks and the neighbours had agreed to have 100 tonnes of snow dumped in their street for 3 days because the film is set in winter. Scenes where Max runs away from home and crosses the ocean were filmed at Newport Lakes. The film's production generated $57 million for Victoria's economy and created more than 670 local jobs (Ref 3, 4).




Blue Heelers

This police drama series on Network 7 depicted the lives of police officers in the fictional Victorian town of Mount Thomas. It was Australia's most popular TV drama, drawing more than 2.5 million viewers weekly at its peak and has the most episodes produced of a weekly prime time drama.

To contain production costs, coastal Williamstown with its notable Victorian and Federation architecture was chosen for the location scenes as it is near to the South Melbourne studios of Network 7. The scenes in the police station and pub were filmed inside Stags Head Hotel in Williamstown. The outside scenes of the first Mount Thomas Police Station (10 Thompson St) were filmed at the old, disused Williamstown Police Station, which was then a private residence. Scenes at Mount Thomas High School were filmed at Williamstown High School. Mount Thomas' fictional Commercial Hotel was filmed at the Willy Tavern (55 Nelson Place) in Williamstown. The second Mount Thomas Police Station, adopted during the programme's reform of 2004, as well as the site of Maggie Doyle's iconic death in the railyards, is located at Newport Railway Workshops. The Mount Thomas Hospital is actually Werribee Mercy Hospital and the basalt plains around Werribee were used to represent farming and bush country (Ref 5).

Other Williamstown Filming Locations

• Williamstown Livesaving Club as the Pearl Bay Courthouse in ABC’s comedy SeaChange, (Ref 6) and in the short film Golden Girl.
• Williamstown Sailing Club in movie I Love You Too for shooting a senior citizen’s dance (Ref 7).
• Gem Pier in the TV mini-series My Brother Jack. A World War II minesweeper was redressed as a WW I troop ship for a 1919 homecoming scene. 170 extras, dressed as soldiers and nurses, made up the greeting crowd. There was a brass band, police on horseback and a couple of military advisors to ensure authenticity (Ref 8).
• Williamstown Botanical Garden in ABC’s documentary Gardening Australia
• Electra Street in science fiction movie Knowing
• The Strand in Channel 10’s police drama Rush

Filming in Newport

Besides Where the Wild Things Are, Knowing, City Homicide and Rush which were also filmed in Williamstown, Newport was featured in at least 3 other films: Ghost Rider, Stiff and Romper Stomper. The Newport Workshops were used for filming Ghost Rider and Knowing. Channel 7 filmed the explosion of an ATM at a vacant shop on the corner of Elphin and Hall Street in August 2009 for the third series of its police drama City Homicide (Ref 9).

Title (Video/Story)	Genre	Network/ Distributor	Release Date	Creator/ Director	Actors
Ghost Rider (s)	Superhero Film	Columbia Pictures	16/02/2007	Mark Steven Johnson	Nicolas Cage, Eva Mendes
Stiff (v/s)	Telemovie	7	20/06/2004	John Clarke	David Wenham
Romper Stomper (v/s)	Action Drama	Village Roadshow	14/11/1992	Geoffrey Wright	Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock

Filming in Spotswood

The Spotswood Pumping Station opened in 1897 as a key component of Melbourne's first centralised sewerage system. It was decommissioned in 1965 after the opening of the new station at nearby Brooklyn. The buildings were left largely vacant for the next 25 years but found a new use as a versatile filming location for numerous productions. These included becoming the Main Force Patrol (MFP) "Halls of Justice" headquarters in the Mad Max film, the Blackmoor Prison in the TV series Prisoner and the Balls Moccasin Factory in the film Spotswood. Soon after, the buildings were handed over to Museum Victoria, to become part of Scienceworks (Ref 10). The Spotswood Pumping Station was also filmed in ICQ and Video Underground in 2001.

Title (Video/Story)	Genre	Network/ Distributor	Release Date	Creator/ Director	Actors
Spotswood (v/s)	Comedy Film	Beyond Films	23/01/1992	Mark Joffe	Anthony Hopkins, Ben Mendelsohn, Alwyn Kurts
Mad Max (v)	Action Film	Village Roadshow	12/04/1979	George Miller	Mel Gibson
Prisoner (v/s)	Soap Opera	10	27/02/1979	Reg Watson	Val Lehman
ICQ	Short Film		2001	Greg Mclean	Samuel Johnson, Kate Denborough, Craig Eagle
Video Underground	TV Series	Channel 31	2001	Bill Tomaras	Walter Bird, Rose Capp, Tosia Hodgins
Charlotte's Web (v/s)	Movie	Paramount Picture, Warner Bros	7/12/2006	Gary Winick	Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, Oprah Winfrey
Harvie Krumpet (v/s)	Clay Animation	Melodrama Pictures	Jun 2003	Adam Elliot	Geoffrey Rush, Kamahl, John Flaus

Spotswood is a 1992 Australian comedy film which told the story of the decline of manufacturing in Australia by focusing on the declining fortunes of a footwear factory in the western suburbs of Melbourne. It was released in the US as "The Efficiency Expert". Prisoner (1979-1986) is an Australian TV soap opera set in the Wentworth Detention Centre, a fictional women's prison and was shown on Channel 10. It achieved worldwide cult status after 692 episodes. Mad Max is a 1979 action film which starred the then unknown Mel Gibson. It became a top-grossing Australian film and has been credited for further opening up the global market to Australian New Wave films.

Harvie Krumpet is an Australian clay animation made in Melbourne written, directed and animated by Adam Elliot, which won several awards. The story revolves around the life of Harvek Milos Krumpetzki, born in Poland in 1922. At the outbreak of WWII, he comes to Spotswood in Australia as a refugee, and changes his name to Harvie Krumpet. Despite a life filled with bad luck (such as having Tourette's Syndrome, being struck by lightning and losing a testicle), Harvie remains ever optimistic, living out his own eccentric way of life, marrying a nurse he meets in hospital and raising an adoptive daughter, who is a Thalidomide baby. Throughout his disaster-ridden life, people around him come and go, but Harvie delights in the simple pleasure of life right to the end.


Unknown Filming Locations

The following were filmed in Hobsons Bay but I do not know in what suburbs the filming took place.

Title (Video/Story)	Genre	Network/ Distributor	Release Date (Filming Date in HB)	Creator/ Director	Actors
The Slap (v)	TV Drama	ABC1	6/10/2011  (Apr 11)	Christos Tsiolkas	Various
Woodley (v/s)	Comedy Series	ABC1	(Jan 11)	Frank Woodley	Frank Woodley
Small Time Gangster (v)	TV Drama	Movie Extra	19/04/2011 (Oct-Nov 10)		Steve Le Marquand , Sacha Horler , Gia Carides
Prank Patrol (v)	Comedy-Kids	ABC3	4/12/2009 (Jul, Aug, Nov 10)	Active TV	Scotty Twedie and the Ninjas
Tangle (v)	TV Drama	Showcase Channel	1/10/2009 (Sep 08)	Various	Various
The Loved Ones (v)	Horror Film	Madman Entertainment	13/09/2009 (Nov 08)	Sean Byrne	Xavier Samuel, Robin McLeavy, John Brumpton
Whatever Happened to That Guy (v)	Comedy Series	Comedy Channel	25/05/2009 (Sep 08)	Ted Emery	Peter Moon
Dirt Game (v)	TV Drama	ABC	19/04/2009 (Aug 08)	Brendan Maher, Grant Brown	Shane Connor, Gerald Lepkowski, Freya Stafford
Triple Zero Heroes (v)	Observational Documentary	7	8/02/2009 (Jan 09)
My Father Is a Wonderful Man	Short Film		(May 09)	Annabelle Johnson	Kristy Barnes-Cullen
Bed of Roses (v)	Comedy Series	ABC1	10/05/2008 (Jan 2009, Jul 2010)	Jutta Goetze, Elizabeth Coleman	Kerry Armstrong, Julia Blake
Satisfaction (v)	TV Drama	Showcase Channel	5/12/2007 (Jul 08)	Roger Simpson	Kestie Morassi, Madeleine West, Alison Whyte
Can We Help?	Lifestyle TV Series	ABC1,2	9/06/2006 (Sep 10)	Peter Rowsthorn	Kate Burridge, Christian Horgan

Altona Beach Nourishment

25 beaches around Port Phillip Bay were nourished during the 1970s and 1980s to replace sand lost through erosion. In 2001, the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) commissioned a study to assess the condition of these 25 beaches as well as another 18 beaches, producing a priority list for beach nourishment in the Beaches at Risk report. The 13 assessment criteria include technical criteria (beach length, beach width, erosion rate, public risk, public facilities, foreshore land, environmental value), social criteria (social value, community use, supporting infrastructure, community management) and economic criteria (contribution to local economy, scope for economic development).

Beach	Municipality	Technical	Social	Total	Ranking
Altona	Hobsons Bay	30	24	54	1
Elwood	Port Phillip	27	24	51	2
Mt Martha North	Mornington Peninsula	29	17	46	3
Portarlington	Greater Geelong	28	17	45	4
Portsea	Mornington Peninsula	21	22	43	5
North Aspendale	Kingston	25	18	43	5
Half Moon Bay	Bayside	22	21	43	5
Eastern Beach Geelong	Greater Geelong	22	21	43	5
Brighton New St	Bayside	21	21	42	9
Werribee South	Wyndham	23	18	41	10
St Helens	Greater Geelong	25	16	41	10
McCrae Beach	Mornington Peninsula	23	18	41	10
Blairgowrie	Mornington Peninsula	21	19	40	13
Rippleside	Greater Geelong	24	16	40	13
St Leonards	Greater Geelong	22	18	40	13
Western Beach Geelong	Greater Geelong	20	20	40	13
Point Lonsdale	Borough of Queenscliff	19	21	40	13
Moorpanyal	Greater Geelong	21	15	36	18
Shelleys Beach	Mornington Peninsula	25	11	36	18
Fishermans Beach	Mornington Peninsula	19	16	35	20
Queenscliff	Borough of Queenscliff	14	20	34	21
Marina Cove	Mornington Peninsula	20	7	27	22
Sorrento	Mornington Peninsula	17	0	17	23
Parkdale	Kingston	17	0	17	23
Williamstown	Hobsons Bay	16	0	16	25
Rye	Mornington Peninsula	16	0	16	25
Altona Coastal Park	Hobsons Bay	16	0	16	25
Mt Martha South	Mornington Peninsula	16	0	16	25
West Rosebud	Mornington Peninsula	14	0	14	29
Rosebud	Mornington Peninsula	10	0	10	30

Table 1: Rankings of Beaches in Port Phillip Bay

Altona Beach tops the list in terms of both technical and social criteria. Altona and Elwood Beaches are both large and extremely popular beaches that are well managed, have significant supporting infrastructure and provide economic benefits for the community.

In November 2006, the Victorian Government announced the Enhancing Our Beaches Program, which allocated $8 million over 4 years to add 166,400 tonnes of quarried sand around Port Phillip Bay, with Elwood Beach receiving 64,000 tonnes of sand and Altona Beach receiving 73,600 tonnes of sand.

Altona had been previously nourished 3 times, in 1982 (with 11,400 m³ of sand), 1989 (16,000 m³) and 1990 (4,500 m³). Hence, it has been 20 years since the last nourishment. The 2010 nourishment project deposited 45,408 m³ of 1mm median diameter coarse sand from land-based quarry to 923 m stretch of beach between Bayview Street (east of Altona Pier) and Romawi Street (west), widening the beach from its present 15-25 m to a new 45 m. This $2.5 million transformation project, headed by DSE and Hobsons Bay Council, would see the beach last for another 20-25 years and also involve the expansion or diversion of several stormwater drainage outfalls to accommodate the expanded beach. The project probably started in September 2010 and was nearly completed in May this year. I am not quite certain about the completion status as this is still listed as a current project under Hobsons Bay City Council's website.

Altona residents had lobbied for extension of the beach restoration program to the western end of the beach, with the Environment Minister Ryan Smith being brought twice to visit this area. Bruce Ewen, who has lived on the Esplanade since 1973, said “Crowds of people come here in the summer from all over the western suburbs and they all want to stay on the nice part of the beach. There’s all sorts of trouble with traffic and overcrowding. We need to spread it out and get more equitable usage of our wonderful facility.” The high expectation brought about by the Minister's double visits was followed by disappointment after the state budget failed to allocate any fund for the extension.

In contrast, the community response differed greatly on the other side of the Bay. At the beginning of this month, the DSE commenced a $500,000 renourishment program of the beach at Half Moon Bay, laying it with 13,500 tonnes of coarse red sand, sourced from a quarry in Gippsland. By widening the beach by up to 10 m, the program aims to prevent erosion and attract more people.

This project has sparked widespread community opposition. Black Rock resident Michael Schuh said,  "They're ruining a golden beach with red dirt." He pointed out that the beach has remained unchanged since 1940, as seen in a painting by Arthur Boyd. "They're nourishing a beach that doesn't need nourishing. If erosion was occurring and the beach was going to be gone and we had to live with it, we would live with it. But we don't have that situation. What we've got is a perfectly good beach that replenishes itself." The locals are also worried that the expanded beach would attract more visitors.

Environment Minister Ryan Smith scrapped the project a few days later in response to community concern. He ordered an investigation which found the beach in ''reasonably stable'' condition and had not eroded at the rate predicted three years ago.

A DSE spokesman said the project and the removal of 1800 tonnes of sand already dumped would cost $90,000, with the remaining $400,000 committed to the project to be delivered to beaches where there is a real need.

I hope that the authority would consider using the remaining $400,000 to fund the nourishment of the western end of Altona Beach, where it is fully justified in terms of technical, economic and social criteria.

9 Nov 2011 Update:

A last minute bid by Hobsons Bay Council to get 13,500 tonnes of unwanted sand from Half Moon Bay for Altona Beach has been rejected, with the sand destined for Elwood Beach in the east.

Resident Bruce Ewen said it was a great opportunity for Altona to get the rejected sand and the sand colour and quality did not matter. “If it was sufficient to finish the project, that would be fantastic. If it means we have to put up with something that looks like a neapolitan ice-cream for a while, that’s not the worst thing.” Let's hope that Elwood residents are not too particular about the colour and appearance of the unwanted sand!

DSE spokeswoman said that Altona might not be the ideal place for the sand because the beach was just refurbished. But there was some good new for Altona Beach. The State Government would help the Council buy a new recycling machine for seaweed control, by chipping in $43,780, about half the cost of the machine.

Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Bernie Finn said that the Environment Minister Ryan Smith had a very keen personal interest in Altona Beach and was “keen to see this beach go from strength to strength”. Hopefully, we will see the western end of Altona Beach being renourished soon as the sand there was “almost non-existent” as described by Hobsons Bay Deputy Mayor Tony Briffa.


References

• Sand injection for ailing bay beaches
• Altona upgrade a shore thing
• Altona beach facelift
• Sandy end comes to Altona beach
• Altona residents call on State Government to help their beach
• Beach bungle erodes community confidence
• Angry locals draw line in the sand over beach extension
• Guard on new sand added to beach
• Sand disappointment in Altona
• Hobsons Bay: We'll take second-hand sand
• Altona residents call for more sand on their beach
• Funding help for seaweed machine