Our Journalists

Lucy CallanderUrban affairs reporter

Lucy Callander is an urban affairs reporter for Leader Community News and the Herald Sun.

@LucyKCallander

Lucy Callander

Latest

South East

Mornington Peninsula beach clean: Volunteers help clean up Blairgowrie beach. Picture: supplied

Monash Uni bins claim it oversaw beach cleaning review

Australia’s biggest university has revealed the only link it had to a review that resulted in Mornington Peninsula beaches being hand cleaned was a student interning with the local council.

South East

Stonnington mayor Melina Sehr with one of the gingerbead houses made by her business Wonder Ever After. Picture: Facebook

CEO takes heat for ‘Gingerbread Queen’

Stonnington’s top dog is taking “full responsibility” for the mayor claiming her main source of income is a baking business after it was revealed she had a $510k taxpayer funded gig.

South East

Justin Carthy charged with arson over Cahuna fire bombing in July, 2024

Bail ‘too risky’ for alleged arsonist say cops

A Hoppers Crossing man accused of helping fire bomb a cigarette shop in Victoria’s north was allegedly recruited by a man police believe is linked to Melbourne’s tobacco wars.

ExclusiveInner South

Mayor ‘double dipping’ with $510k VCAT contract

An inner city mayor quietly earning big bucks in a taxpayer funded gig is claiming her main source of income comes from a role as Prahran’s ‘gingerbread queen’.

UpdatedSouth East

Langwarrin Park Primary School principal Richard Barren has been charged with possessing child abuse material. Picture: Supplied.

Child abuse material charges for primary school principal

Parents have been left “in tears” after they were told their principal was charged with possessing child abuse material.

UpdatedSouth East

Cheltenham factory fire involving lithuim- ion batteries can be seen from the CBD, January 30, 2025. Picture: Facebook

‘Quite poisonous’ fire sends smoke over Melbourne’s southeast

It took 70 firefighters six hours to bring a massive lithium-ion battery blaze under control at a Cheltenham factory.

Property

More homes evacuated as fears grow over McCrae landslide

More Mornington Peninsula properties have been evacuated as the exclusion zone grows around the site of a McCrae landslide that destroyed a luxury home and damaged two others.

Bendigo

Nathan Taylor, of Echuca, is being remembered for his “infectious positivity, boundless energy, and unwavering dedication” to his community following his shock death as a result of a river accident earlier in the week (believed to be January 14, 2025). Picture: Facebook

Tributes for young man killed in river tragedy

Hearts are breaking across Echuca and beyond following the death of a young man after a tragic accident on the river.

UpdatedSouth East

Traffic is being detoured through back streets around McCrae as part of Point Nepean Rd is expected to be shut for at last a week. Picture: Lucy Callander

Long wait to go home for McCrae landslide victims

McCrae residents evacuated after a landslide destroyed a luxury house, have been told the local council’s “best people” are investigating the disaster.

South East

Mornington dolphin Starfall with her first calfm arking fioyrth generation born in Port Phillip Bay since common dolphins first came to the waters in 2005. Picture: Ella Hutchison

‘Astonishing’ arrival of dolphin calf on Mornington Peninsula

Dolphins have been breeding in waters off the Mornington Peninsula for almost 20 years but the latest birth has researchers particularly excited.

Original URL: https://www.heraldsun.com.au/journalists/lucy-callander