1.4 The Southern Cliffs and Hills

While some part of the character of the foreshore was shaped by buildings such as the pier and bathing boxes and by works around the creek, for much of the last hundred years and beyond, work has gone on to shore up the southern cliffs and hills. For years, Oliver's Hill was known as "Insurance Hill", not just for the expense of the buildings, but for the constant fear that their footings would disintegrate and the owners would need to make insurance claims once their homes had tumbled into the sea. The extensive concrete footings of White Lodge (q.v.), on the Nepean Highway, illustrate the precautions taken by private owners to ensure sound foundations.

Oliver's Hill was also a favourite vantage point since

for views over the bay, rivalled only by the peak near to Heatherhill Road where the Old Dutch Windmill once stood, the work of a local builder Stan Chapman.

This fear of erosion and collapse grew throughout the 1930s. Attempts to make the foreshore a quarry had led to the first signs of slippage. Removal of granite from Oliver's Hill raised fears of landslide from the hill.1 Erosion at Oliver's Hill spread during the 1930s and in 1933 many residents began to fear land collapse on a grand scale.2

In 1935 several Frankston houses were imperilled by land slippage. When the Foreshore Erosion Board visited Frankston in November 1935 they saw spots on Long Island where "hundreds of tons of sand had been washed away by the sea."3 Even though the council had put in a brush fence some years earlier a recent storm had washed this away.4

11 Oliver's hill c1935 showing foreshore plantation and across the Point Nepean Road, a range of bay side houses with the earliest in the foreground (still there) and the more prevalent Bungalow style houses beyond [Rose postcard P.2969, Armstrong collection].

On Oliver's Hill the Foreshore Board saw a more difficult problem with "in parts great masses of earth slipping into the sea at the base of the cliffs". Already three fine homes had subsided and for a time Pt. Nepean Road had been closed.5 The Board members reported that the "preventative measures adopted by the council showed a policy of self-help that was appreciated by the board."6

Earlier Frankston had begun to deal with the foreshore erosion through a £2000 government grant and £4500 put up by the Shire.7 At the Seaford end of the beach the Public Works Department had commenced anti-erosion works near Keast Park in the 1930s.8 Apart from the general guidelines of the Foreshore Erosion Board, the council had been engaged in a metropolitan meeting of councils at Brighton Town Hall in 1946 in which 20 councils and the PWD discussed building a sea wall around the entire bay foreshore.9

While this plan was never completely followed, sections of sea wall were speedily completed and in 1949 a sea wall was constructed at the foot of Oliver's Hill.10 The state government set aside two million pounds for erosion work in 1951, but still the problems around Oliver's Hill and to a lesser extent Davey's Bay concerned residents.

Travellers passing through Frankston to Portsea or Sorrento had to climb Oliver's Hill before passing on around a series of peaks. The first of these peaks was Mt. Eliza, a high promontory jutting into the bay and separating Frankston from Mornington. This high land was eventually prized for secluded holiday homes but from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, two small coves, Davey's Bay and Canadian Bay became important sites for pleasure and to a lesser extent for trade.

James Davey had taken up much of the land around Mt Eliza as a pastoral run in the 1840s. Born in Penzance, Cornwall in either 1811 or 1818 [there is some dispute over the exact date] Davey first settled in South Australia with his father. Davey took up a large pastoral holding extending along Port Phillip Bay from what is now Boundary Road to the Kackeraboite Creek.11 He built a jetty at the western end of Davey's Bay from where his ketch carried farm produce up to the Melbourne markets. From the jetty to the clifftop a wire rope carried goods up to the homestead. It also took out his produce, including by some accounts live animals lowered in a sling. These rough cliffs made Davey's Bay a secluded spot throughout the nineteenth century and until recently the bay remained a tranquil and hidden retreat for nearby residents.

12 Detail of Marysville Estate sale poster 186, part of Davey's pre-emptive right (635 acres) showing early buildings on the site of today's Denistoun, Denistoun Avenue, [Armstrong collection].

Cars and better roads brought larger numbers of holiday-makers in the twentieth century. Local residents lead by Mr Peck staked their claims to the bay in 1903, forming the Davey's Bay Yacht Club. Decades later, Davey's Bay Yacht Club was able to obtain a 150 lease and began work on a new clubhouse in 1959.12 The second secluded bay at Mt Eliza, Canadian Bay took its name from three Canadians who cut and shipped firewood from the beach. The three men, Hodgins, McCurley and Jones took their wattle and sheoak logs by lighter to the schooner "Liverpool" anchored offshore from where it was taken for sale to Port Melbourne [Sandridge].13

Canadian Bay also survived as a hidden cove sheltered by dangerous cliffs and local residents just as at Davey's Bay began to build a yacht club in the 1950s. The Canadian Bay Yacht Club were given access to the beach for a clubroom in 1958 and scout groups were allowed to camp above the bay in the 1950s.14

The Bay also brought Frankston to the cinema screens of the world. Scenes from On The Beach were filmed in Canadian Bay [and in the Frankston shopping centre] stimulating local interest in American style and progress.

13 Frankston House was reputedly developed from Thomas Ritchie's house built in the 1880s and later served as a popular guest house, backing onto the Kananook Creek and close to the Frankston and Pier Hotels. The site is on the corner of Playne and Bay Streets and has since been redeveloped. The road plantation has just been established in the move to beautify the town. [postcard, Kodak, Armstrong collection, c1915].

14 Kananook Creek, the major rear frontage for the guest houses and hotels along Bay Street and used by these businesses to entertain their guests; boating, tennis and walks [Rose postcard, p.2025, Armstrong collection].

The rebuilders of central Frankston never quite relinquished this fascination. Soon after winning great fame the Bay suffered rapid deterioration and there were doubts about how many activities could be sustained there. In 1963 major collapses occurred above the bay and cliffs became dangerous for visitors.15

The unstable cliffs and eroded gullies of Mt. Eliza have continued to cause problems. In contrast to the dangers of cliff collapse in the south of the municipality, the shore at Seaford in the north has regularly faced different threats with storms eroding the beach at regular intervals. In the 1950s some councillors