Beginnings
It was not always the beach it is today. In the early years of Geelong the area 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 one mile (1.6 kilometre) long sea wall from Yarra Street to Limeburners Point, land reclamation, and 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. This stage of the works was opened on December 20, 1929 by then mayor Cr Sol Jacobs.
The shark proof swimming enclosure and children's pool were opened by Mayor of Geelong Cr Sol Jacobs on March 28, 1939. The enclosure covered 8.5 acres (3.5 hectares) and could accommodate 10,000 bathers. The precinct development cost 40,000 pounds ($80,000) at the time of construction, but was seen by the council of the time as being an investment in the city.
A tramway extension opened in October 1940 to Bellarine Street to cater to beach goers. The line was lifted in 1956 along with the rest of Geelong's tramways.
Read more about this topic: Eastern Beach (Victoria)
Famous quotes containing the word beginnings:
“These beginnings of commerce on a lake in the wilderness are very interesting,—these larger white birds that come to keep company with the gulls.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Let us, then, take our compass; we are something, and we are not everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge of first beginnings which are born of the nothing; and the littleness of our being conceals from us the sight of the infinite. Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“Those newspapers of the nation which most loudly cried dictatorship against me would have been the first to justify the beginnings of dictatorship by somebody else.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)