🥖 Ultimate guide to baked goods

Plus: Sandy Point caravan park debate.

Author

Jacob Wallace
April 29, 2026

⏱️ This Wednesday edition of our newsletter is a six-minute read.

👋 Hello Gippslanders, it’s Jacob here.

🙌 I just want to say a quick welcome to the 133 new subscribers who signed up to our newsletter in the last week, and to add that we just cracked 13,000 subscribers.

Thanks to everyone who’s signed up!

Clarification: I just want to clarify that the event I attended at Foster Secondary College last week was organised by Prom Coast News.

👀 Looking ahead. In this week’s newsletter we’re talking about:

  • 🏘️ A new development at Sandy Point Holiday Park;

  • 🥧 The best bakeries in Gippsland;

  • 🪖 What it was like returning to Australia after the Vietnam War, and;

  • 👷‍♂️ How Gippsland’s offshore wind zone could help coastal towns grow.

🎊 WHAT’S ON THIS WEEK 🎟️

🧺 FARMERS MARKETS 🥧

🚀 Alright, let’s jump into the Monitor’s latest yarns!

🔍 HEARD THIS WEEK👂

The picturesque holiday town of Sandy Point was the focus of a heated South Gippsland council debate over whether new homes should be approved in areas that could be impacted by flooding.

What happened: Sandy Point Holiday Park, which has provided affordable accommodation for families for 60 years, is set to become 11 permanent townhouses, after South Gippsland Shire Mayor Nathan Hersey used his casting vote to back the proposal.

The planning application faced stiff opposition from councillors, a Sandy Point community group and caravan park users. A public consultation period attracted 30 submissions, 29 of which were objections.

Sandy Point Holiday Park.

The development comes as Victorian local councils update coastal hazard mapping, which is preparing for a sea level rise of no less than 80 centimetres over the next 74 years.

Speaking against the development, councillor Sarah Gilligan told the April 15 council meeting: "We do not know what extra risks are going to come back with [the new coastal hazard maps]. So, how can we make decisions about whether this is okay to subdivide now?"

Hersey, speaking in favour, said council's role as a planning authority was to assess applications against the current planning scheme, not unpublished future mapping.

But Gilligan warned approving the plans would lock the council “into yet another legacy planning issue, which we come across all the time”. 

Due to the hostility felt by many Australians towards the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War, Australian troops didn’t receive an official Welcome Home parade until 1987 - 16 years after Australia withdrew most of its soldiers from the region.

When Mirboo North resident and Vietnam War veteran Max Speedy returned to Sydney in 1969, there was no fanfare.

Take a look at a clip of Speedy talking about how he felt returning to Australia after the war below.

🥧 Gippsland is home to some phenomenal bakeries that pump out crispy, mouthwatering and delectable pastries day after day.

🍰 To help you find the crème de la crème of regional bakeries in Gippsland, the Monitor has compiled this list based on our own pie review series and from reading your suggestions. 

If you’d like to suggest a bakery, you can email us at [email protected] or leave a comment on one of our pie review videos.

🎥 Watch: Gippsland towns prepare for offshore wind development

Last week, I made a short video on a story I wrote about an Alberton resident who is hopeful Gippsland’s offshore wind development will see a return to the town’s glory days.

Take a look at the video below.

Thanks for catching up with us this week at the Monitor. I hope you enjoyed this issue of our newsletter and, as ever, we’d love to hear from you.

If you have any suggestions for local stories, you can shoot us an email at [email protected].

I’ll be back in your inbox on Friday with more local yarns and chats with Gippslanders.

Cheers,
Jacob & the Gippsland Monitor team

🤳 If you’re not already subscribed, you can keep up to date with everything we’re reporting on at the Gippsland Monitor on these platforms:
Facebook
Instagram
YouTube
TikTok
or our website