:'' Eastern Beach is a specific beach in Geelong, not to be confused with

Waterfront Geelong The Geelong Waterfront is a tourist and recreation area on the north facing shores of Corio Bay in Geelong, Victoria, Geelong, Australia. The area was once part of the Port of Geelong, falling into disuse before being redeveloped during the ...

.'' Eastern Beach is a popular

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, such as saltwater or freshwater environments, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Swimmers achieve locomotion by coordinating limb and body movements to achieve hydrody ...

and

recreation Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for happiness, enjoyment, amusement, ...

area in

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung language, Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River (Victo ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

on the shores of

Corio Bay Corio Bay is one of numerous internal bays in the southwest corner of Australia's Port Phillip, and is the bay on which abuts the City of Geelong. The nearby suburb of Corio takes its name from Corio Bay. Etymology When Hamilton Hume and Will ...

. Built during the 1930s in the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style, a shark proof

sea bath A sea is a large body of water, body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. List of seas on Earth, Particular seas are either L ...

is provided, as well as a children's

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming and associated activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built abo ...

kiosk Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Iran, Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist ...

, and dressing room pavilion. A number of Art Deco buildings in the area are listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. ...

Beginnings

It was not always the beach it is today. In the early years that area of Geelong was considered an eyesore, with steep cliffs running from the northern town boundary to the shores of Corio Bay. Redevelopment plans were first proposed in 1914 by the City of Geelong. Work was to include a sea wall from Yarra Street to Limeburners Point,

land reclamation Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new Terrestrial ecoregion, land from oceans, list of seas, seas, Stream bed, riverbeds or lake ...

, and the flattening of the cliffs along the beach. Further plans were drawn up for a chalet at the beach, which later appeared in the form of the kiosk building. Work began in September 1927 when contracts were let for construction of the concrete stairway, terraces and dressing sheds. J.C. Taylor and Sons were the successful contractor. That stage of the works was opened on 20 December 1929, by the

Mayor of Geelong This is a list of the mayors of the City of Greater Geelong, a local government area, and the second largest city in Victoria, Australia. Before amalgamation in 1993 the central area of Geelong was covered by the City of Geelong, with the surrou ...

, Cr Solomon Jacobs. The semi-circular shark-proof swimming enclosure and children's pool were opened by Cr Jacobs on 28 March 1939. The enclosure covered and could accommodate 10,000 bathers. The precinct development cost £40,000 ($80,000), but was seen by the council of the time as being an investment in the city. To cater to beach goers, a

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

way extension along Corio Terrace (later Brougham Street) as far as Bellerine Street opened in October 1940. The line was closed in 1956 along with the rest of Geelong's tramways.

Later years

The area began a slow decline from the 1960s, with its popularity diminishing as a result of increased

motor car A car, or an automobile, is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of cars state that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people rather than cargo. There are around one bil ...

ownership, which gave Geelong residents easier access to ocean beaches. Later decades of neglect saw the area fall into disrepair. The decline was arrested in 1993, when the

City of Greater Geelong The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and, had a population of 271,057 as of the 2021 Australian census. I ...

announced plans for the restoration of the area. Partial funding of the works came from people being given the opportunity to purchase a plank on the boardwalk around he swimming enclosure. The boardwalk and enclosure were rebuilt, and the children's swimming pool, kiosk and change rooms were renovated. The

Beach House Beach House is an American indie music, indie band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, Baltimore in 2004 by current members Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals, drum programming). Their work is char ...

restaurant was also opened on the upper level of the kiosk building. The late 1990s saw the original

diving tower A diving platform or diving tower is a type of structure used for competitive diving. It consists of a vertical rigid "tower" with one or more horizontal platforms extending out over a deep pool of water. In platform diving, the diver jumps from ...

reinstated at the bay side of the swimming enclosure, after an absence of many years. However, the rebuilt structure was altered from the original design, with access to the topmost level being barred due to injury concerns. The improvements were the first stage of the

developments along the Corio Bay foreshore. Eastern Beach is the venue of festivals and concerts, as well as the annual Geelong Carols by the Bay concert hosted by

Denis Walter Denis Clive Walter OAM, (born 3 January 1955) is an Australian radio presenter, baritone singer, recording artist and media personality who also presented television news for 16 years. Career Walter's music career has lasted over forty years ...

References

Citations

Sources

* Begg, Peter (1990). ''Geelong – The First 150 Years''. Globe Press. . {{Coord, 38.1475, S, 144.3735, E, type:landmark_region:AU, display=title Eastern Beach Parks in Geelong Eastern Beach Beaches of Victoria (state)

Beginnings

Later years

See also

References

Citations

Sources