Phillip Island was part of the traditional homelands of the Yallok Bulluk people of the Bunurong (Boonwurrung) Nation for many thousands of years.[2] Prior to Crown Land sales in the early 1870s and subsequent cultivation/clearing of the land, the Surf Beach area was open country with sprawling grasslands, sand hummocks and scattered Ti Tree. A map from 1911 indicates a chicory plantation and kiln were located near the corner of Sunderland Bay and Phillip Island Roads. Dairy farms and fisherman's huts dotted the adjoining land.[3][4]
Surf Beach estate
Establishment
In early 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 the porject became known as the Surf Beach Estate.[5] Conceived as a self-contained holiday town, the subdivision set out 561 residential blocks, 30 shop sites and extensive recreational areas.[6][7]
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.[8] The scheme attracted the public endorsement of champion swimmer Frank Beaurepaire, who selected a block for himself.[9][10]
The Surf Beach development was led by relatives Charles Columbine Jackson (1886–1951) and Basil John Jackson (1897–1958), who worked with a circle of private investors. Both men accumulated most of their wealth through ventures in gold, gas and oil, alongside their Melbourne accounting practice, Jackson and Jackson.[11]
Early development
From the outset, many of Surf Beach’s earliest houses were built for people directly connected to the project including developer Charles Jackson.[12] 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. Many blocks were also sold to speculative buyers, who did not necessarily intend to build.[13]
A further milestone came on 17 December 1927 with the opening of an 18 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 Dick Banks.[14][15]Charles Jackson, an enthusiastic golfer, served as the inaugural president of the newly formed Phillip Island Golf Club.[16] Land had also been reserved for tennis, croquet and bowling, although these facilities were short lived.[12][17] The original Surf Beach Estate company was liquidated following the commencement of World War II.
Post-war development
Surf Beach's former golf course, which had been in a neglected state since at-least the 1940s, was acquired in the 1950s for the town of Sunderland Bay.[18] One of the largest private investments into Surf Beach in recent times was the Surf Side Beach Houses project in 2009.[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. The town is serviced by several wastewater pumping stations, some of which were designed to look like chicory kilns.[20]
Architecture
Although few of the homes built during the estate’s first population boom in the late 1920s and early 1930s survived into the next century, a 1926-built house remains at Dunvegan Crescent and is now used for short stay accommodation.[21][22] Although many modernist homes from Phillip Island’s post–World War II boom, largely in the form of modest fibro beach shacks, remain dotted throughout the estate, the area has been dominated by contemporary Postmodern coastal architecture since the 1960s. One notable example is a house designed by Peter Maddison at the southern end of Surf Crescent, which won the RAIA Victorian Chapter’s New Residential Award in 1995 and remains a local landmark.[23][24] Like most of Phillip Island, Surf Beach has many homes designed to look like chicory kilns with steep square roofs, reflecting the area's agricultural heritage. Some newer homes also reference Federation or Interwar styles, incorporating wide verandahs and decorative timber.[25]
As of 2025, the town is serviced by a BWS drive-in bottle shop and an independent pizza kiosk.
Scenic Estate Conservation Reserve
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 as Scenic Isle Estate), with many blocks sold overseas, particularly in Hong Kong—giving rise to the local name “Chinamans”.[26] 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.[27]
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.[28]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
!["[Advertisement] Come and play on Phillip Island – Health, pleasure and rest are yours at the Surf Beach Estate"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Newspaper_advertisement_for_the_Surf_Beach_Estate_in_Philip_Island,_1926.png){kind=link}