Real estate agents like to accentuate the positive and when it comes to Inverloch their imaginations have run wild. The results of a century of spruiking are on display in a fascinating new exhibition.
By Catherine Watson
OVER the years Inverloch has been called many things by over-enthusiastic land agents. “The Treasure Coast” and “Victoria’s Most Beautiful Seaside Resort” were two that caught on over the years. But “Pearl of the Pacific”?
Inverloch Historical Society president John Hutchinson has curated a fascinating collection of real estate flyers and newspaper advertisements for the Inverloch Historical Society’s annual exhibition in the Inverloch Hub.
His favourite is the art deco flyer for the Inverloch Estate (“353 Perfectly Situated Sea-Side Home Sites). It was printed in 1931, the height of the Depression, which may account for the artist’s and copywriter’s desperate depiction of Inverloch. Where is the golf course? What are those cliffs? And is that Wilsons Prom just across the bay?
“If that’s Inverloch, I’m in the wrong town,” John says.
Perhaps it’s little wonder that the advertisements were so fanciful as most of the spruikers were based in Melbourne. W. J. Moran, self-styled “property salesman” of the Inverloch Estate, hailed from Chancery House, 440 Little Collins Street.
The first advertisement for the estate appeared in the late 1920s. An accompanying map shows a racecourse, a “proposed railway”, two public baths, tennis courts, cricket ground, golf links and hotels near Inverloch Estate.
For all the charms of the seaside town, and its “big future”, many of the same seaside blocks were still on sale in the 1950s and 1960s. By then W. J. Moran had moved on and the estate was being marketed by Eustace L. J. Murphy, Solicitor, although the address was still 440 Little Collins Street.
Not all the advertisements spruiked the charms of the place. Just as in the present day, many were aimed directly at speculators. “Participate in the profits to be derived from holding to resell,” writes W. J. Moran. “Secure your Allotment in the INVERLOCH ESTATE now, and participate in the profits to be derived from holding to resell.
“THINK of the big future of this district. THINK of the present low prices and then BUY WITHOUT DELAY.”
The Halekulani Estate (“HAWAIIAN FOR HEAVENLY PARADISE”, a full-page ad instructs helpfully) went on sale in the early 1950s with prices for blocks on the western side of the town starting at just £38 (“Easy Terms from 3/6 Weekly”).
“The Halekulani Estate is being progressively developed into what will be The Greatest Holiday and Beach Resort in Victoria. It is the nearest and most popular Beach Resort of the Great Gippsland towns whose future is linked with tremendous future industrial development and the electrification of the Dandenong to Morwell line.”
The ad makes much of the railway line, which it implies will be of great convenience to Inverloch residents and holiday makers. An accompanying graphic foreshortens the distances, so Dandenong is just past San Remo and Melbourne just a smidge further on.
The Nautilus Estate, on the eastern side of town between the boat ramp and the pier, went on sale in the 1970s. Blocks sold for $800 each, requiring a deposit of $60 and payment of $20 a month. “Don’t Forget – opportunity is always more apparent when it has passed. Act Now.”
Of course, the spruikers were quite right and there were fortunes to be made. Inverloch’s seaside homes now sell for many millions. But a speculator would have had to be very patient – and long lived – to cash in.
John says the society is just as interested in collecting modern memorabilia from the local real estate agents, which no doubt future generations will find equally fanciful and amusing.
The exhibition covers other fascinating aspects of Inverloch’s history – such as the Miss Inverloch contests of the 1960s, which often provoked fierce debate in the local newspapers. Not for the reason you might think but because of suggestions that one winner might have been wearing a figure-shaping device!
Inverloch Historical Society’s annual exhibition of photos and other material is on at the Inverloch Hub until August 30.
OVER the years Inverloch has been called many things by over-enthusiastic land agents. “The Treasure Coast” and “Victoria’s Most Beautiful Seaside Resort” were two that caught on over the years. But “Pearl of the Pacific”?
Inverloch Historical Society president John Hutchinson has curated a fascinating collection of real estate flyers and newspaper advertisements for the Inverloch Historical Society’s annual exhibition in the Inverloch Hub.
His favourite is the art deco flyer for the Inverloch Estate (“353 Perfectly Situated Sea-Side Home Sites). It was printed in 1931, the height of the Depression, which may account for the artist’s and copywriter’s desperate depiction of Inverloch. Where is the golf course? What are those cliffs? And is that Wilsons Prom just across the bay?
“If that’s Inverloch, I’m in the wrong town,” John says.
Perhaps it’s little wonder that the advertisements were so fanciful as most of the spruikers were based in Melbourne. W. J. Moran, self-styled “property salesman” of the Inverloch Estate, hailed from Chancery House, 440 Little Collins Street.
The first advertisement for the estate appeared in the late 1920s. An accompanying map shows a racecourse, a “proposed railway”, two public baths, tennis courts, cricket ground, golf links and hotels near Inverloch Estate.
For all the charms of the seaside town, and its “big future”, many of the same seaside blocks were still on sale in the 1950s and 1960s. By then W. J. Moran had moved on and the estate was being marketed by Eustace L. J. Murphy, Solicitor, although the address was still 440 Little Collins Street.
Not all the advertisements spruiked the charms of the place. Just as in the present day, many were aimed directly at speculators. “Participate in the profits to be derived from holding to resell,” writes W. J. Moran. “Secure your Allotment in the INVERLOCH ESTATE now, and participate in the profits to be derived from holding to resell.
“THINK of the big future of this district. THINK of the present low prices and then BUY WITHOUT DELAY.”
The Halekulani Estate (“HAWAIIAN FOR HEAVENLY PARADISE”, a full-page ad instructs helpfully) went on sale in the early 1950s with prices for blocks on the western side of the town starting at just £38 (“Easy Terms from 3/6 Weekly”).
“The Halekulani Estate is being progressively developed into what will be The Greatest Holiday and Beach Resort in Victoria. It is the nearest and most popular Beach Resort of the Great Gippsland towns whose future is linked with tremendous future industrial development and the electrification of the Dandenong to Morwell line.”
The ad makes much of the railway line, which it implies will be of great convenience to Inverloch residents and holiday makers. An accompanying graphic foreshortens the distances, so Dandenong is just past San Remo and Melbourne just a smidge further on.
The Nautilus Estate, on the eastern side of town between the boat ramp and the pier, went on sale in the 1970s. Blocks sold for $800 each, requiring a deposit of $60 and payment of $20 a month. “Don’t Forget – opportunity is always more apparent when it has passed. Act Now.”
Of course, the spruikers were quite right and there were fortunes to be made. Inverloch’s seaside homes now sell for many millions. But a speculator would have had to be very patient – and long lived – to cash in.
John says the society is just as interested in collecting modern memorabilia from the local real estate agents, which no doubt future generations will find equally fanciful and amusing.
The exhibition covers other fascinating aspects of Inverloch’s history – such as the Miss Inverloch contests of the 1960s, which often provoked fierce debate in the local newspapers. Not for the reason you might think but because of suggestions that one winner might have been wearing a figure-shaping device!
Inverloch Historical Society’s annual exhibition of photos and other material is on at the Inverloch Hub until August 30.