Surf Beach, Victoria

Surf Beach is a small coastal town of Phillip Island in Victoria, Australia. Situated between Sunderland Bay and Cape Woolamai, the town runs in a narrow strip between Western Port Bay and Bass Strait. It was established in 1926 as a holiday town and mostly developed after the Second World War.

Prior to Crown Land sales in the early 1870s and subsequent cultivation/clearing of the land, the area was open country with sprawling grasslands with sand hummocks and scattered Ti Tree. By 1911, a chicory plantation and kiln were operating near the corner of Sunderland Bay and Phillip Island Roads.^[3]

In February 1926 a syndicate of Melbourne businessmen announced plans to create a planned seaside neighbourhood and golf course on the south side of Philip Island Road in Phillip Island. The group had acquired over 150 hectares, and named the project the Surf Beach Estate.^[4] Conceived as a self contained holiday town, the subdivision set out 561 residential blocks, 30 shop sites and extensive recreational areas.^[5]

It was marketed to Melbourne families seeking holiday homes and promoted as the “Playground of Australia”, with publicity that included a now-lost promotional film shown at the company’s William Street offices.^[6] The scheme also attracted the public endorsement of champion swimmer Frank Beaurepaire, who reportedly selected a block for himself.^[7] The development was led by brothers Charles Columbine Jackson (1886–1951) and Basil John Jackson (1897–1958), who worked with a circle of private investors. Both men were veterans of the First World War and later accumulated wealth through ventures in gold, gas and oil, alongside their Melbourne accounting practice, Jackson and Jackson.^[8]

From the outset, many of Surf Beach’s earliest houses were built for people directly connected to the project including Charles Jackson.^[9] The estate’s first completed home was for George Seymour, a friend of the Jackson brothers, which became the focus of an impromptu celebration in July 1926, when around 40 local residents gathered to mark the occasion.^[10] A further milestone came on 17 December 1927 with the opening of an eighteen hole golf course and clubhouse on the estate. Covering 57 hectares, the course was built at a reported cost of about five thousand pounds and was designed by professional golfer Richard Isaac Banks.^[11][12] Charles Jackson, an enthusiastic golfer, served as the inaugural president of the newly formed Phillip Island Golf Club.^[13]

Land was also reserved for tennis, croquet and bowling, although these facilities were short lived.^[9] Momentum slowed during the economic downturn of the late 1920s and only recovered after the Second World War under different management.^[14] Today the former Surf Beach Estate is almost entirely residential, with the earliest surviving structure believed to be the brick and timber homestead at 12 Dunvegan Crescent, dating from about 1926 and now used for short stay accommodation.^[15][16]

The Scenic Estate is a former residential subdivision in Surf Beach that was never developed and later converted into a conservation reserve. Originally part of rural land cleared for farming in the mid-20th century, the site was subdivided in 1960 into 332 residential lots and marketed as the Holiday Isle Estate (later known as Scenic Isle Estate), with many blocks sold overseas, particularly in Hong Kong—giving rise to the local name “Chinamans”.^[17]

During a period of rapid subdivision on Phillip Island, the Victorian Government imposed an interim development order in 1961, restricting further development. Due to the estate’s low-lying, swampy conditions, the land was deemed unsuitable for housing, and building permits were refused. Despite some illegal construction attempts, the subdivision was formally declared inappropriate for development in 1983.^[18]

For several decades the unbuilt estate was subject to misuse, including illegal camping, dumping, and off-road vehicle damage. Over time, however, the former farmland underwent significant natural regeneration, with native grasslands, swamp paperbark scrub and coastal woodland re-establishing. Environmental assessments in the early 2010s identified the area as having high conservation value. Bass Coast Shire Council progressively acquired most of the lots and, in 2013, established the Scenic Estate Conservation Reserve, which officially opened to the public in 2015.^[19]

Virtually all roads remain unpaved, despite a council attempt to seal them in 2023. This attempt was defeated by a majority of rate payers, due largely to financial and character considerations.^[20]