Thursday, 9 April, 2026
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‘Eggcellent’ adventure Pakenham residents enjoyed a fun-filled Easter celebration at Circuit Park on Sunday, April 5, hosted by the Lakeside Residents Group. Families flocked to the park
for a day packed with activities, including Easter egg hunts, golden eggs for the Golden Hamper, and prizes for egg and spoon races.
The first Easter egg hunt gets underway. (544768)
Vandals cut power Vandals have once again cut power to Toomuc Recreation Reserve, doing enough damage this time to force the closure of Cardinia Life, as authorities and user groups responded to the disruption on Easter Monday. An act of vandalism at Toomuc Recreation Reserve resulted in a power outage to all facilities, including Cardinia Life, with police saying copper wiring was stolen sometime between 7am on Saturday, 4 April, and 1pm on Monday, 6 April. Both the sporting pavilions and Cardinia Life remained closed on Tuesday, 7 April. As of writing on Wednesday, 8 April, Star News was told that power had been partially restored, with works and inspections ongoing.
An AusNet spokesperson clarified that vandals “significantly damaged” both AusNet’s and Cardinia Life’s electrical infrastructure, requiring prolonged repair work. “AusNet is working with Cardinia Shire Council to prioritise the reconnection of power once Cardinia Life completes its repairs,” the spokesperson said. All facilities for Pakenham football, junior football, netball and baseball clubs were affected. The football and netball clubs are gearing up for their first round of the season this weekend, and the senior sides faced Tuesday night’s training without lights due to the vandalism. Though the council sought a new location for the night, training under lights could not be secured before 8pm on such short notice.
Football seniors coach Justin Stanton instead had the players train from 5pm until they lost light, before finishing the session at a local gym. The netball club had a few players train until sundown and has refocused efforts towards Thursday night’s season launch. Club presidents Margaret Jones and Salv Mileto thanked the swift response of authorities and the community from Easter Monday onward, in particular Cardinia Shire’s Sport and Active Recreation Development team leader Jo Kennedy, Victoria Police, AusNet, and the many locals who helped. “It shows, when things like this happen, that we band together,” Ms Jones said. The council installed a generator on Tuesday to maintain critical sewer services while the ex-
tent of the damage was assessed. Security has also been deployed at the site. This incident comes just over a year after the reserve was hit by vandalism in February 2025, when 400 metres of copper cables were damaged, resulting in an outage to the southern pavilions. Victoria Police are investigating the incident. The council noted that such vandalism is occurring across the shire’s reserves, with damage also reported at Holm Park Recreation Reserve, Gembrook Recreation Reserve, Cardinia Recreation Reserve, and Lang Lang Recreation Reserve in recent months. Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or anonymously at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au.
12854694-JO13-26
Low Dose CT, Digital X-ray, Comprehensive Ultrasound Dental X-ray, Dexa or Bone Densitometry, Echocardiogram
LOCATIONS PAKENHAM, WARRAGUL, LEONGATHA, MOE
(03) 5922 2072 U2, 1 Stephenson Street PAKENHAM 12831900-JV02-26
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By Afraa Kori and Corey Everitt