In defence of Frankstonites: people who make the suburb proud
THE people of Frankston often get a bad rap. But the Nepean Highway isn’t the best thing to come out of Frankston — here are 10 people who have made the area proud.
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FRANKSTONITES. Whether you love them or loathe them, the people of the south-eastern Victorian suburb often get a bad rap because of a few bad eggs.
The politicians are leading the charge with MP Geoff Shaw and former ALP candidate Helen Constas finding themselves in the media for all the wrong reasons.
But the beachside town is home to many who have made impressive and honourable contributions.
Here are 10 people who have made Frankston proud:
TOP of the list for many is the late Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, philanthropist wife of newspaper publisher Sir Keith Murdoch. A beloved patron, she contributed greatly to the arts, and prior to her marriage devoted time as a volunteer to the RSPCA. She was greatly supportive of gardening and public development, and many residents are reminded of her contributions by the presence of the Dame Elisabeth Murdoch Arboretum in Frankston. There was a genuine outpouring of grief from thousands of people when she died in 2012.
A first-rate footballer, Robert Harvey began his career with St Kilda Football Club in 1988, coming from the Seaford Tigers. Over 21 seasons Harvey racked up one of the most impressive collections of accolades of any AFL player: two consecutive Brownlow Medals (1997 and 1998), four Trevor Barker Awards, inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 2012, and considered by the Herald Sun to be one of the top 50 players the game has ever seen. He stands alongside Jack ‘Captain Blood’ Dyer as another fine football player, brought to you by Frankston.
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ALTHOUGH not technically a Frankstonite, the suburb has claimed singer/songwriter James Reyne as its own. The musician lived in neighbouring Mt Eliza and attended The Peninsula School. He moved to the area in the early 1960s from Nigeria and went on to study at the Victorian College of Arts. Reyne played with a band called Spiff Rouch with local musicians, and later formed Clutch Cargo, renamed Australian Crawl in 1978. Reyne went on to become a solo artist and has performed in Frankston several times.
A longstanding TV news presenter, first on Channel 7, then on Channel 10’s Ten News at Five, Mal Walden has come a long way from Frankston Primary School and Frankston High School, before going on to attend Mentone Grammar. Walden celebrated 40 years in the media in 2010, and retired in 2013 with — by his estimate — more than 12,000 bulletins under his belt. One of those was the famous first bulletin from the site of Cyclone Tracy in Darwin, 1974.
NOT as well known as some others on the list, but the celebrated multi-medium artist is just as worthy. Most famous for his paintings and sketches, Rick Amor is also a noted sculptor. His first exhibition came at the age of 26 at the Joseph Brown Gallery, and he has entered the Archibald Prize at least 11 times. Amor was one of the first Australian artists to be appointed as the first Official War Artist since the end of the Vietnam War, named by the Australian War Memorial during the United Nations actions in East Timor in 1999.
JACKIE Woodburne is an internationally-recognised actress most famous for portraying Susan Kennedy in the television series Neighbours. Although born in Northern Ireland, Jackie is the adopted daughter of Frankston and spent her childhood there, attending Monterey Secondary College and Karingal High School. Prior to her role on Neighbours — one she has held for two decades — she appeared alongside future fictional husband Alan Fletcher in Cop Shop in 1982.
ANYONE who was a kid or had one during the 1990s has probably seen Round the Twist, based on books of short stories written by Paul Jennings. Born in England, Jennings migrated to Australia with his family at the age of six, making him Frankston-at-heart like Woodburne. He received his degree in Education Studies from the former Frankston Teacher’s College (now a part of the Monash Peninsula Campus) and taught at Frankston State School, among others. In his 29 years as a writer, Jennings has written almost 80 books.
A renowned scientist, Ruth Bishop (pictured, right) grew up in Frankston and discovered the human Rotavirus — one of the primary causes of gastroenteritis, which kills as many as 1.4 million people a year, especially children. Her roots to Frankston go deep — her father was the principal of Frankston High School. Thanks to Bishop, as many as 50 million children in the developing world have been saved from death. The vaccine developed from her research is rolled out through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.
Frankston-born distance runner Craig Mottram has represented Australia at three Olympic Games. Notably, he is the only runner from outside of Africa to win a major medal in the 5000m since 1987, when he claimed bronze in the world champs in 2005 and silver in the Commonwealth Games in 2006. When he was 20, Mottram competed in his first Olympic Games — Sydney 2000 — in the 5000m.
Although born in England in 1895, Charles Eaton lived in Frankston for nearly 30 years. He was a senior officer and aviator in the Royal Australian Air Force, who later served as a diplomat. He fought in the British Army in World War I before transferring to the Royal Flying Corps and moving to Australia in 1923. Most fondly remembered for search-and-rescue missions flown across Central Australia, Eaton was known as the ‘Knight Errant of the desert skies’ by the interwar media. He died in Frankston in 1979, aged 83.
ARE THERE OTHER PEOPLE FROM FRANKSTON THAT YOU ARE PROUD OF? TELL US IN THE COMMENT SECTION BELOW.
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