Linda Cutttriss guides us on a walk back through time along the Cowes beach.
By Linda Cuttriss
A WALK along Cowes Beach from Erewhon Point to Mussel Rocks is full of reminders of Phillip Island’s early European history. While many changes have occurred over the years, a sense of the island’s natural history can still be seen in the bluestone rock walls, red tuff outcrops, sandy beaches and stately moonah trees.
Cowes Beach is distinguished by three outcrops of red rock, one at each end and one in the middle from which the jetty extends. From these rocky bookends, sandy beaches continue westward to Red Rocks and east to Observation Point. Across the water to the north is the Mornington Peninsula and the long sandy beach that stretches from Somers to Sandy Point. To the north-east is Tortoise Head on French Island.
J. D. Mc Haffie originally named this location Mussel Rocks for the mussels that grew on the rocky outcrops that protrude from the beach. McHaffie and his brother had a pastoral lease on the whole of Phillip Island from 1842 until the land ballot of 1868 so presumably he knew the place pretty well.
In 1865, when Commander Henry Cox charted Western Port he noticed that Phillip Island was reminiscent of the shape of the Isle of Wight off the coast of England and so named Cowes on his chart in a similar position to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Phillip Island was opened for selection on November 3 1868 when about 7300 hectares (18,000 acres) of land were sold by ballot. A short time later, on January 26, 1869 blocks of land were auctioned in Cowes.
I begin my walk at Erehwon Point where a jetty was built in 1868-70 for the new settlers to bring their goods ashore. On the beach to the east was the Tide Gauge, a stock-loading facility consisting of a four-railed yard on the beach with a crush pen and a narrow race that ran out into deep water where a punt would tie up.
At Erehwon Point there is now a picnic area with barbecue shelters and a playground. There would have been no such amenities when the settlers arrived after a gruelling four-day journey from Melbourne. Today a woman holds her baby, standing in the shade of two large moonah trees and I imagine a weary mother dressed in her long heavy dress and bonnet standing there 150 years ago, holding her baby close to her breast wondering what the future held.
A path leads down to a wide promenade above the bluestone seawall that runs behind the beach to the jetty. Down on the sand is the jumble of red rocks that marks the end of the beach. The bluestone wall and these red rocks are a direct link to the Island’s volcanic past when, around 50 million years ago, lava flowed from vents in the earth and ash exploded into the sky. The lava cooled into basalt (bluestone) and the ash hardened into the red rock known as tuff (pronounced toof) which together cover most of Phillip Island’s land surface.
I stroll along the promenade and past the art deco-style toilet block that sits above the middle of Cowes Beach East. The roof of the building doubles as a stage for the amphitheatre where Carols by Candlelight are held. The steep grassy slope overlooking the bay provides a fine seating area for the audience.
On the beach below, several children are huddled over shallow rockpools investigating the inhabitants. Nearby, another group is building a village of sandcastles with walled dams and trenches leading to the sea.
In a small grassy nook beside the path stands a magnificent moonah tree more than 20 metres high. A smaller one is further along and another giant sprawls across the grassy slope with a branch that stretches so far it has been given metal props for support. Melaleuca lanceolata is described as a small tree so the size of these beauties suggests they could have been here when the early settlers arrived. In the first 100 years of European settlement most of the Island’s bush was cleared for sheep, cattle and chicory farming and residential development, so these moonahs are precious remnants, priceless living relics.
Well over a century ago, long before there was a seawall, a fisherman’s shack was tucked into the base of the slope at the end of the beach near the jetty. George Cox gave his occupation as “fisherman” when he applied for a parcel of land in the 1868 ballot. His was one of 132 names drawn from the ballot box and he selected land in Cowes.
George operated the first official mail run to Cowes, sailing his little boat Bella (and later the 20-foot Alert) across the bay from Sandy Point, where he lived with his wife Lucy. The couple later moved to Cowes but, sadly, in 1888 Lucy passed away at the age of 58.
George held a fishing licence which entitled him to build on the foreshore. He constructed a simple cabin behind the beach and was often seen sitting outside smoking his pipe, splicing rope or telling tales of his seafaring days, of escapades in Hamburg, Madras, Rangoon and Gibraltar, before he arrived in Australia.
One morning in June 1920, George disappeared, never to be seen again. The townsfolk rallied to search for him but his body was never found. George’s life was rich with yarns so it seems fitting that his final act ended in drama and mystery.
Lying on the sand and strewn among the red rocks near where old George’s shack once stood are chunks of concrete, bluestone pillars, timber beams and dozens of basalt blocks, signs of the many phases of construction, repair and renewal over Cowes’ history as a popular holiday spot.
A new concrete ramp with shiny metal railings leads from the beach to the Jetty Triangle, the latest area to have a facelift. Formerly a car park and viewing area and years ago a summer fairground with a merry-go-round, it is now public open space landscaped with indigenous plants. Cowes Rotunda, originally the Band Rotunda, is still here but the open area on the upper level where the Phillip Island Band once played is now enclosed and the building is a ticket office for whale-watching and wildlife cruises.
The Cenotaph, also known as Cowes War Memorial, commands the highest point above the Jetty Triangle in honour of Phillip Island soldiers who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars. Early in World War I, after news arrived that local lads had fallen, a committee was formed to raise funds to build a monument in their memory. One farmer donated a ton of chicory, another donated a horse, dances were held and substantial sums of cash were given. Built in 1920 by Chambers and Clutten, who had operated the granite quarry at Cape Woolamai in 1891, The Cenotaph is the gathering place for Anzac Day commemorations.
I turn and walk towards the jetty, originally known as Cowes Pier. The jetty was built in 1870, lengthened in 1884-85 and again in 1909. It would have been a busy hub in the early years as locals and visitors arrived, friends and relatives waved good-bye and all kinds of goods were unloaded.
For many years a trolley on iron rails was used to carry goods from the jetty. There was a time when the trolley was pushed by hand but for fifteen years Sal, the faithful Pier Pony hauled it along with no need for bridle, reins or whip.
The jetty trolley raises another story of George Cox and how he saved an Island girl from drowning. One afternoon in 1880, four local teenage girls were having some fun pushing each other along in the trolley when a sudden bump catapulted one of them into the water. Luckily George heard her screams and came running to the rescue.
Today is busy at the end of the jetty as a rowdy group of youngsters rushes toward the railings to watch The Naturaliste pull alongside. The ferry carries passengers across the bay from Stony Point to Cowes and back via French Island. Several people disembark and a few get on board, much smaller numbers than in the years when ferries were the crucial link to and from Phillip Island before the first bridge opened in 1940.
In 1873, the first ferry service to Cowes began aboard the steamship Sarah. The Vixen, Genista, Alvina, Reliance and Narrabeen were among the many to follow but the Killara, a 146 foot (45m) long vehicular ferry able to carry 38 cars was one of the most famous. Killara plied the waters of Western Port from 1933 to 1943 but her busiest day was in 1937 when 7000 return day passengers came for the car races around a circuit on Phillip Island’s roads.
I walk back along the jetty where the Jetty Shed looks much the same as it did a century ago but the Isle of Wight Hotel that stood on the hill for 140 years is gone. It could be said that Phillip Island tourism began in 1870 when the Isle of Wight Hotel (originally called Bauer’s Hotel) opened its doors to the “well-to-do” ladies and gentlemen of the day who travelled across the bay from Melbourne.
The Isle of Wight Hotel twice succumbed to fire, first on the night of the April 23, 1925 when the sprawling wooden building burnt to the ground in less than an hour. The hotel was rebuilt, reopened in 1927, and later modified but by the 1980s had become run-down. Over the following years various redevelopment plans were proposed, opposed and eventually approved but on May 22, 2010 the Isle of Wight Hotel was again destroyed by fire. The hotel has not been rebuilt and the iconic site remains vacant.
I walk behind the Jetty Shed onto Cowes Beach West where silvery coast saltbush spills onto the sand and thickets of young coast tea-tree, boobialla, white correa and moonah are contained behind a rickety fence. A grassy slope topped with tall cypress, radiata pine and Norfolk Island pines rises steeply from the beach. Young people relax on the grass reading or checking social media posts while families watch their children play.
At first glance this beach appears the same as it always has but a closer look shows the low dunes that once backed the beach are now gone and in places the base of the slope drops a metre straight down to the sand. It is likely the dunes may never return, a victim of sea level rise and wilder storms caused by climate change.
In 1893, a timber enclosure was built at the end of this beach to protect bathers from sharks and later a building with change rooms was added. In those days it was unthinkable for men and women to bathe together so separate times were allocated. A red flag was displayed when the baths were open for women and a blue flag indicated the men were allowed in. Some tall timber poles and a number of short wooden stumps rising from the sand are all that remains of the old sea baths.
From the top of the bluff at Mussel Rocks it is plain to see why this pleasant seaside setting with its sheltered, safe, north-facing beach has become a much-loved place. It is not by accident that although a century and a half has passed since the early settlers and tourists arrived, Cowes Beach retains its casual, coastal charm. Community members have fought long and hard to retain the character of Cowes. It is a testament to all of them that no high-rise buildings tower behind the beach and we can still enjoy a stroll along the timber jetty.
Acknowledgements
Sources: Joshua Gliddon’s (1968) ‘Phillip Island in Picture and Story’, Linda Cuttriss and Eric Bird’s (1995) ‘500 Million Years on Phillip Island’, Christine Grayden’s (2008) ‘An Island Worth Conserving’, Pamela Rothfield’s (2018) ‘At Home on the Hill” as well as Christine Grayden’s (2015) essay ‘Phillip Island’s early settlers – their way of life’ and John Jansson’s (2014) talk ‘Western Port Ferries’ both published on the PIDHS website and the ABC News website article (22 May 2010) reporting the Isle of Wight Hotel fire.
Historical photos: Courtesy of Phillip Island and District Historical Society (PIDHS).
A WALK along Cowes Beach from Erewhon Point to Mussel Rocks is full of reminders of Phillip Island’s early European history. While many changes have occurred over the years, a sense of the island’s natural history can still be seen in the bluestone rock walls, red tuff outcrops, sandy beaches and stately moonah trees.
Cowes Beach is distinguished by three outcrops of red rock, one at each end and one in the middle from which the jetty extends. From these rocky bookends, sandy beaches continue westward to Red Rocks and east to Observation Point. Across the water to the north is the Mornington Peninsula and the long sandy beach that stretches from Somers to Sandy Point. To the north-east is Tortoise Head on French Island.
J. D. Mc Haffie originally named this location Mussel Rocks for the mussels that grew on the rocky outcrops that protrude from the beach. McHaffie and his brother had a pastoral lease on the whole of Phillip Island from 1842 until the land ballot of 1868 so presumably he knew the place pretty well.
In 1865, when Commander Henry Cox charted Western Port he noticed that Phillip Island was reminiscent of the shape of the Isle of Wight off the coast of England and so named Cowes on his chart in a similar position to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Phillip Island was opened for selection on November 3 1868 when about 7300 hectares (18,000 acres) of land were sold by ballot. A short time later, on January 26, 1869 blocks of land were auctioned in Cowes.
I begin my walk at Erehwon Point where a jetty was built in 1868-70 for the new settlers to bring their goods ashore. On the beach to the east was the Tide Gauge, a stock-loading facility consisting of a four-railed yard on the beach with a crush pen and a narrow race that ran out into deep water where a punt would tie up.
At Erehwon Point there is now a picnic area with barbecue shelters and a playground. There would have been no such amenities when the settlers arrived after a gruelling four-day journey from Melbourne. Today a woman holds her baby, standing in the shade of two large moonah trees and I imagine a weary mother dressed in her long heavy dress and bonnet standing there 150 years ago, holding her baby close to her breast wondering what the future held.
A path leads down to a wide promenade above the bluestone seawall that runs behind the beach to the jetty. Down on the sand is the jumble of red rocks that marks the end of the beach. The bluestone wall and these red rocks are a direct link to the Island’s volcanic past when, around 50 million years ago, lava flowed from vents in the earth and ash exploded into the sky. The lava cooled into basalt (bluestone) and the ash hardened into the red rock known as tuff (pronounced toof) which together cover most of Phillip Island’s land surface.
I stroll along the promenade and past the art deco-style toilet block that sits above the middle of Cowes Beach East. The roof of the building doubles as a stage for the amphitheatre where Carols by Candlelight are held. The steep grassy slope overlooking the bay provides a fine seating area for the audience.
On the beach below, several children are huddled over shallow rockpools investigating the inhabitants. Nearby, another group is building a village of sandcastles with walled dams and trenches leading to the sea.
In a small grassy nook beside the path stands a magnificent moonah tree more than 20 metres high. A smaller one is further along and another giant sprawls across the grassy slope with a branch that stretches so far it has been given metal props for support. Melaleuca lanceolata is described as a small tree so the size of these beauties suggests they could have been here when the early settlers arrived. In the first 100 years of European settlement most of the Island’s bush was cleared for sheep, cattle and chicory farming and residential development, so these moonahs are precious remnants, priceless living relics.
Well over a century ago, long before there was a seawall, a fisherman’s shack was tucked into the base of the slope at the end of the beach near the jetty. George Cox gave his occupation as “fisherman” when he applied for a parcel of land in the 1868 ballot. His was one of 132 names drawn from the ballot box and he selected land in Cowes.
George operated the first official mail run to Cowes, sailing his little boat Bella (and later the 20-foot Alert) across the bay from Sandy Point, where he lived with his wife Lucy. The couple later moved to Cowes but, sadly, in 1888 Lucy passed away at the age of 58.
George held a fishing licence which entitled him to build on the foreshore. He constructed a simple cabin behind the beach and was often seen sitting outside smoking his pipe, splicing rope or telling tales of his seafaring days, of escapades in Hamburg, Madras, Rangoon and Gibraltar, before he arrived in Australia.
One morning in June 1920, George disappeared, never to be seen again. The townsfolk rallied to search for him but his body was never found. George’s life was rich with yarns so it seems fitting that his final act ended in drama and mystery.
Lying on the sand and strewn among the red rocks near where old George’s shack once stood are chunks of concrete, bluestone pillars, timber beams and dozens of basalt blocks, signs of the many phases of construction, repair and renewal over Cowes’ history as a popular holiday spot.
A new concrete ramp with shiny metal railings leads from the beach to the Jetty Triangle, the latest area to have a facelift. Formerly a car park and viewing area and years ago a summer fairground with a merry-go-round, it is now public open space landscaped with indigenous plants. Cowes Rotunda, originally the Band Rotunda, is still here but the open area on the upper level where the Phillip Island Band once played is now enclosed and the building is a ticket office for whale-watching and wildlife cruises.
The Cenotaph, also known as Cowes War Memorial, commands the highest point above the Jetty Triangle in honour of Phillip Island soldiers who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars. Early in World War I, after news arrived that local lads had fallen, a committee was formed to raise funds to build a monument in their memory. One farmer donated a ton of chicory, another donated a horse, dances were held and substantial sums of cash were given. Built in 1920 by Chambers and Clutten, who had operated the granite quarry at Cape Woolamai in 1891, The Cenotaph is the gathering place for Anzac Day commemorations.
I turn and walk towards the jetty, originally known as Cowes Pier. The jetty was built in 1870, lengthened in 1884-85 and again in 1909. It would have been a busy hub in the early years as locals and visitors arrived, friends and relatives waved good-bye and all kinds of goods were unloaded.
For many years a trolley on iron rails was used to carry goods from the jetty. There was a time when the trolley was pushed by hand but for fifteen years Sal, the faithful Pier Pony hauled it along with no need for bridle, reins or whip.
The jetty trolley raises another story of George Cox and how he saved an Island girl from drowning. One afternoon in 1880, four local teenage girls were having some fun pushing each other along in the trolley when a sudden bump catapulted one of them into the water. Luckily George heard her screams and came running to the rescue.
Today is busy at the end of the jetty as a rowdy group of youngsters rushes toward the railings to watch The Naturaliste pull alongside. The ferry carries passengers across the bay from Stony Point to Cowes and back via French Island. Several people disembark and a few get on board, much smaller numbers than in the years when ferries were the crucial link to and from Phillip Island before the first bridge opened in 1940.
In 1873, the first ferry service to Cowes began aboard the steamship Sarah. The Vixen, Genista, Alvina, Reliance and Narrabeen were among the many to follow but the Killara, a 146 foot (45m) long vehicular ferry able to carry 38 cars was one of the most famous. Killara plied the waters of Western Port from 1933 to 1943 but her busiest day was in 1937 when 7000 return day passengers came for the car races around a circuit on Phillip Island’s roads.
I walk back along the jetty where the Jetty Shed looks much the same as it did a century ago but the Isle of Wight Hotel that stood on the hill for 140 years is gone. It could be said that Phillip Island tourism began in 1870 when the Isle of Wight Hotel (originally called Bauer’s Hotel) opened its doors to the “well-to-do” ladies and gentlemen of the day who travelled across the bay from Melbourne.
The Isle of Wight Hotel twice succumbed to fire, first on the night of the April 23, 1925 when the sprawling wooden building burnt to the ground in less than an hour. The hotel was rebuilt, reopened in 1927, and later modified but by the 1980s had become run-down. Over the following years various redevelopment plans were proposed, opposed and eventually approved but on May 22, 2010 the Isle of Wight Hotel was again destroyed by fire. The hotel has not been rebuilt and the iconic site remains vacant.
I walk behind the Jetty Shed onto Cowes Beach West where silvery coast saltbush spills onto the sand and thickets of young coast tea-tree, boobialla, white correa and moonah are contained behind a rickety fence. A grassy slope topped with tall cypress, radiata pine and Norfolk Island pines rises steeply from the beach. Young people relax on the grass reading or checking social media posts while families watch their children play.
At first glance this beach appears the same as it always has but a closer look shows the low dunes that once backed the beach are now gone and in places the base of the slope drops a metre straight down to the sand. It is likely the dunes may never return, a victim of sea level rise and wilder storms caused by climate change.
In 1893, a timber enclosure was built at the end of this beach to protect bathers from sharks and later a building with change rooms was added. In those days it was unthinkable for men and women to bathe together so separate times were allocated. A red flag was displayed when the baths were open for women and a blue flag indicated the men were allowed in. Some tall timber poles and a number of short wooden stumps rising from the sand are all that remains of the old sea baths.
From the top of the bluff at Mussel Rocks it is plain to see why this pleasant seaside setting with its sheltered, safe, north-facing beach has become a much-loved place. It is not by accident that although a century and a half has passed since the early settlers and tourists arrived, Cowes Beach retains its casual, coastal charm. Community members have fought long and hard to retain the character of Cowes. It is a testament to all of them that no high-rise buildings tower behind the beach and we can still enjoy a stroll along the timber jetty.
Acknowledgements
Sources: Joshua Gliddon’s (1968) ‘Phillip Island in Picture and Story’, Linda Cuttriss and Eric Bird’s (1995) ‘500 Million Years on Phillip Island’, Christine Grayden’s (2008) ‘An Island Worth Conserving’, Pamela Rothfield’s (2018) ‘At Home on the Hill” as well as Christine Grayden’s (2015) essay ‘Phillip Island’s early settlers – their way of life’ and John Jansson’s (2014) talk ‘Western Port Ferries’ both published on the PIDHS website and the ABC News website article (22 May 2010) reporting the Isle of Wight Hotel fire.
Historical photos: Courtesy of Phillip Island and District Historical Society (PIDHS).