Bunny painting found after 20 years

A painting by Australian artist Rupert Bunny has been recovered almost 20 years after it was reported stolen from a private collection in Victoria.

Police say the artwork titled Girl in Sunlight is valued at $200,000 and went missing from a collection in Blairgowrie on the Mornington Peninsula in April 1991.

They say a tip-off from the public led detectives to a house in East Malvern, in Melbourne’s south-east, where the painting was found today.

Police are questioning a 61-year-old man.

The artwork will be held as evidence until police finish their investigation.

Footy competitions ban byo alcohol

The days of taking a slab of beer to the local football game may well be over.

Three football competitions in the Mornington Peninsula district in Victoria have banned byo alcohol in the hope it will encourage responsible drinking.

Danny Morgan, of the Dromana Football Club, says specatators can still have a beer and pie, but you cannot bring your own.

“Before this policy was implemented you would have people coming in to the ground with slabs of beer in their car and you had no control over the sale of that alcohol,” he said.

“It’s just about responsible selling of alcohol.”

The league covers three competitions, including more than 30 clubs.

The league supports the ban because alcohol can still be sold from their clubrooms.

But Mr Morgan says it is not about making money.

“The cost of security outweighs the extra revenue we make with the alcohol sales,” he said.

The ban was introduced at a pre-season game last Saturday.

Security guards confiscated just one carton of beer and one young spectator turned away.

Michael Sholly of the Victorian Amateur Football Association believes its no-alcohol policy during game time encourages a more family friendly atmosphere.

“It’s assisted a lot of people including the umpires, respect for players, respect for the opposition,” he said.

“It means that the game’s played in a good even spirit, where temperaments are a little bit more under control.”

Three Victorians honoured for bravery

Three Victorians are among a 19 Australians who will receive bravery medals from the Governor-General today.

Adrian Rigby from Red Hill South on the Mornington Peninsula is being honoured for helping to rescue passengers trapped inside a sinking helicopter that crashed off the coast of Western Australia.

Mr Rigby was on a boat nearby when the accident happened.

He says one of the passengers he rescued was an 87-year-old woman.

“There was a failure somewhere within the engine and it started sort of nose-diving towards the water and towards, our boat,” he said.

“As soon as the chopper went in, we ran up in front of the boat and jumped in the water. And funny enough, the first thing my hand went to was her seatbelt.”

Ian Antonoff of Horsham, in western Victoria will be honoured for rescuing his neighbour from a burning house.

“Most people would do the same thing, you know, they wouldn’t think twice about it,” he said.

“I knew the house was well and truly alight, but when you hear someone call for help, you can’t not go back.”

Traralgon woman, Dee-Anne Mohi will also be honoured for rescuing her two sons from a burning house.

Warne sells holiday pad

Melbourne, Mar. 5 (ANI): Shane and Simone Warne have put their holiday house up for sale and are hoping to pocket about two million dollars.

The couple bought the house at Arthurs Seat on the Mornington Peninsula for about 1.3 million dollars two years ago and spent a year renovating and adding a pool, the Daily Telegraph reports.

“We pretty much gutted the whole house after we bought it. It”s brand new inside and has great gardens and a new pool,” it quoted Simone Warne, as saying.

But with so many projects competing for their attention, the Warnes said they were not spending enough time at the four-bedroom house to justify keeping it.

Set on just over an acre, the house looks over Port Phillip Bay, has a 15m-long vanishing edge pool, a tennis court and a granny flat.

Despite pouring thousands of dollars into the property, it seems the Warnes weren”t planning to do much cooking during their getaways.

An oven, looking barely used, is tucked into the corner of what is otherwise a chic modern kitchen.

Simone said that up until the past few months they had used the house extensively.

“I love the house. The privacy, the views, the quietness of it. It”s an hour from Melbourne. You could go down there and you could be anywhere in the world when you are up there looking over the mountain down to Dromana and back to the city and over the bay.”

The pair has no immediate plans to buy a new holiday house.

“But never say never,” Simone said.

Estate agent Jonathan Dixon, of JP Dixon Real Estate, said the house is in one of Arthurs Seat”s most sought after areas and there had already been interest from residents living in the Arthurs Seat area. (ANI)