THE mayor’s chains of office, worth up to $100,000, are officially missing, likely stolen.
For the first time since the Borough of Wonthaggi’s most important piece of cultural heritage was last seen, around the time of the Wonthaggi Centenary Celebrations in 2010, the Bass Coast Shire Council has finally admitted they have been lost.
But it did so in what present-day councillor Rochelle Halstead described as “incredibly disrespectful” circumstances.
Prior to last Wednesday’s council meeting, four-time mayor, and the second-last person to wear the chains, John Duscher OAM JP, asked to address the council to shed some light on the mystery of the missing mayoral chains.
But despite having the power to allow members of the public to address the council, under Section 67 of their Governance Rules (2022), Mr Duscher was denied the opportunity to speak.
Instead, the man who may know most, apart from the person who stole the valuable piece of ceremonial jewellery, was reduced to asking a short question at Public Question Time and not allowed to read out or submit an informative preamble to the question.
Mr Duscher’s question was as follows: “What plans does the Bass Coast Shire Council have to replace the Mayoral Chains of the former Borough of Wonthaggi Council that have gone “missing” or have been “stolen”?
Response (read by new CEO Greg Box on behalf of the council): “There is currently no budget allocation for the replacement of the Mayoral Chains. Councillors will receive a briefing on the matter.”
Following the response, Cr Halstead registered her disappointment at the way the council had treated Mr Duscher.
“I'd like to say that I'm of the understanding that Mr Duscher requested to address this council directly with this question and given that he was a former councillor of Bass Coast for 26 years, four of which were as a mayor of this shire, I find, you know, beyond belief actually and incredibly disrespectful that he was not allowed to address Council. However, it's a decision that's been made,” said Cr Halstead.
Mr Duscher was sitting in the public gallery at the time.
“However, I do think that things need to be raised. The chains of office are an important part of the city's history and as custodians of this historically and financially significant property, Council should be taking action,” continued Cr Halstead.
“Mr Duscher has advised he has for several years made inquiries with no progress. A letter from Mr Duscher was addressed to the mayor and councillors in March 2022, a letter that I personally, as a councillor never saw.
“And I'd like to know why and how often letters are addressed to both the mayor and councillors, and not provided to councillors for their information or input?”
The criticism was a thinly-veiled swipe at the former mayor Cr Michael Whelan who was in the chair at the time, and also the former CEO Ali Wastie, known for running a tight ship where public correspondence was concerned.
But successive council regimes, since 2010, through four groups of elected councillors and three former CEOs; Alan Bawden, Paul Buckley and Ali Wastie have failed to keep the heritage of the council safe, to properly investigate the matter of the missing chain, and to keep the public informed.
Cr Halstead said she had personally made inquiries into the whereabouts of the mayor’s chain, and also the ceremonial robes, which according to Mr Duscher were thrown out during a chaotic clean-up at the Borough of Wonthaggi in December 1994, following the forced amalgamation of the shires of Bass and Phillip Island with the Borough of Wonthaggi into the Bass Coast Shire.
In an interview with the Sentinel-Times this week, Mr Duscher, who was awarded an OAM in the Australia Day Honours List of 2019 for an incredible record of service to the community of Wonthaggi, said he was angry at the way he had been fobbed off by successive councils, since being made aware the mayoral chains were missing in February 2017, and disgusted at the lack of respect council had shown for keeping safe the heritage of the shire.
“There is no doubt that the council is embarrassed about this and so it should be. To allow an item of such important cultural heritage to go missing or to be stolen is unbelievable and unacceptable.
“It might not seem much to the council, but the community is owed an apology for the way this has been handled.”
He has also insisted that if the chains can’t be found, and he doubts they will be at this late stage, they should be replaced, although he believes the council has missed a chance to make an insurance claim because of the secrecy and the delay.
“I’m sick of being fobbed off and I won’t be fobbed off again,” he said, threatening to take all he knows to the Victorian Ombudsman unless council takes the matter seriously.
As well as providing a copy of the preamble council would not allow him to read, Mr Duscher has also provided the Sentinel-Times with copies of the emails he sent council and the replies he has received, such as they are.
Having written to Cr Clare Le Serve in February 2017, and received a verbal report that the chains could not be found, he wrote again on September 3, 2018, to the mayor Cr Pam Rothfield and subsequently received a reply from a council officer on September 20.
“The Executive Office did undertake an_investigation of their location and found that they were missing and advised Cr Le Serve,” said the officer.
“Upon receipt of your most recent request I have undertaken a further investigation which has included a complete clean out of Council's strong room, contact with past councillors including Neville Goodwin, Mary O'Connor and Veronica Dowman but none of whom know the whereabouts of the Mayoral Chains.
“Our records show that the last public acknowledgement of the chains was an article in the South Gippsland Sentinel-Times dated November 10, 2009.
“I also contacted Danny Luna who advised that he had undertaken an investigation before he retired from Bass Coast Shire Council and could not ascertain their whereabouts with the possibility they had been stolen. It is very disappointing that both the robes and chains are missing from the Borough of Wonthaggi and given the uncertainty surrounding them, we will be referring this matter to the local police.”
It isn’t known whether the matter was ever referred to police. There certainly hasn’t been a formal response on the public record.
A long-serving staff member at the shire, recently retired, said that at no stage were there any rumours circulating about chains whereabouts, in fact, he said, few if any would have been aware of their existence.
Mr Duscher isn’t sure whether his latest plea will be acted upon, but he has urged the council to replace the chains, which carried individually engraved, gold medallions of all past mayors and dates of service.
Former Borough of Wonthaggi mayor (1974-77), Alan Brown said the chains were manufactured by Blashki and Sons in Rowville, still in business today, so it’s feasible that they could be replaced but not cheaply.
What he meant to say about the lost chains
IF A former councillor with 26 years’ service, including four terms as mayor, can’t be allowed an exemption under Section 67 of the Bass Coast Shire Council’s governance rules (2022) to address the council, then who can?
That was the situation John Duscher OAM found himself in at last Wednesday’s council meeting when his request to address council on the subject of the lost or stolen mayoral regalia, chains and robes, was denied.
He was reduced to a 29-word question as follows: “What plans does the Bass Coast Shire Council have to replace the Mayoral Chains of the former Borough of Wonthaggi that have gone missing or have been stolen?”
A report will be presented to the council at a later date.
But here is the preamble that Mr Duscher wasn't allowed to read:
“I was alerted to the possible missing Mayoral Chains around February 2017 and requested through Cr Clare Le Serve an investigation into the matter which she instigated in February 2017, now seven years ago.
“There was no response as far as I am concerned. I further contacted the Council by letter September 3, 2018 and pointed out that I had received no official response and that in my recollection, the missing item was last seen at a the end of a Bass Coast Council meeting prior to the celebration of Wonthaggi's Centenary, brought out to show the then Councillors what the Mayoral Chains looked like.
“I was made aware that the Mayoral Robes had been lost at the time of the big clean out following the amalgamation of the Councils, somehow thrown out. Investigation at that time was not able to locate them. I personally worked with the staff to try to locate the missing robes but no avail.
“The response to my letter of September 3, 2018 indicated that the matter would be referred to the police for investigation. No further response was received from Council.
“I wrote to Cr Tessari on December 2, 2019. Enquired about the matter again.
“Wrote to Mayor and Councillors again in March 2022 and had a response from Manager Governance & Property, not from Mayor or any Councillor. Again, no allocation in budget for replacement, although recognition of the historical value and importance of the item was mentioned. No mention however of whether the Councillors even knew about the issue or had a briefing on the matter prior to budget discussions.
"Recently I spoke to two current Councillors on Australia Day 2024 who indicated that the only knowledge they had on the matter was a rumour they had heard which indicated just how uninterested the administration of the Council was in addressing the matter.
“If the Councillors were not briefed then how would they consider an allocation at budget time.to replace the missing Mayoral Chains?
“The matter has now dragged on into its 7th year without any indication that it is any nearer to being rectified and finalised. It is not unreasonable to suggest that the Council do something now about the issue as it has dragged on without resolution for some seven years or does the matter have to be referred to the Ombudsman?
“It is a long, sorry story and there is no evidence really that the Council has taken any action to resolve the issue, that they are remotely interested in addressing the issue or that the Councillors have been informed or consulted.
“It is a disgrace that I have been fobbed off so many times. It may interest you to know that the Council did not even know of the existence of the second safe covered in when extensions were done, until I reminded them of it.
“It was subsequently found and opened but the chains were not located. The Council has shown no respect for the importance of the item to the town's history, which is a disgrace, disrespectful and shameful. I am angry and disgusted. It is certainly time for action.
“I served some 26 years as a Councillor with the Borough of Wonthaggi and Bass Coast Shire, with four terms as Mayor and cannot believe the matter has not been attended to properly. It has been allowed to drag on, placed in the too-hard basket, when it should have been claimed on the Council's insurance immediately.
“There is no doubt the Council is embarrassed and so it should be. To allow the item to go missing or be "stolen" is unbelievable and unacceptable. The Council are the custodians, responsible for the safe keeping of important historical items such as this and they have let the community down badly. The Chains must be replaced."
Regards, John Duscher OAM, former mayor and councillor.
Mr Duscher has also included copies of the correspondence he has had with council.
