The Barwon Heads Park is a well-treed camping reserve, with mainly tea and gum trees, together with a couple of surviving Norfolk pine and Cypress trees. The park is bound to the east by the Barwon River mouth, where picturesque views of the ocean, river, beaches and the bridge (to the north-east) can be enjoyed. The southern end of the park is denoted by the Bluff, where the Earl of Charlemont Cairn is situated.
On 8 May, 1889, the first meeting of the Trustees appointed by the Government as a Committee of Management of the Barwon Heads Reserve was held at the top of Mt. Colite (the Bluff). The Committee, consisting of William Humble (chairman), H.F. Richardson (Secretary), and Messrs. Fuller, Higgins and Strong, had been appointed on 11 March, 1889, and gazetted on 15 March, 1889.
In the first week of July, 1890, one of the first major projects of the Trust was carried out - the planting of 375 trees sent by the Manager of the Macedon State Forest. On 6 August, 1892, there were moves to name the reserve "Clarence Park".
About the turn of the century, application was made to set out a golf links in the reserve, with a further application several years later in 1930 to remove soil from the Park Lands situated in the south east corner of theGolf Club boundary.
The year 1924 was an important one for the Park. A number of young Pinus Insignus trees were obtained and planted, while permission was granted to the Barwon Heads Football Club and the Barwon Heads Tennis Club to carry out the levelling, grading, fencing and removing of box thorn for the proposed oval and tennis courts respectively.
The development of the oval was actually
an extension of an earlier oval on the site. The Trust were also largely responsible for the construction of the bridge in 1925, with the approach to the bridge penetrating the Park.
The Frank Ellis Reserve to the north-east of the park was originally incorporated with the parklands.
In 1926 the Tennis Club had erected a shelter on the west side of the courts, and in 1927 a tea room was constructed to the design by Laird and Buchan. This tea room was built from the old material from the earlier tea room building.
On 23 November, 1929, tenders were received from Mr F. Ellis to operate the kiosk [tea room?]. Yet, there appears to have been some structural problems with the kiosk, for in 1933 the building was raised and relocated and its outbuildings were rebuilt with fresh timbers.
In 1936, the Park Trust applied to the Lands Department for control of the reserve north of the Park (between Bridge Road and Ozone Road, Fiinders Parade and the foreshore) that had been separated from Trust control with the construction of the bridge.
The onset of the Second World War in 1939 witnessed the occupation of troops on the oval in the Park, and the Park was under military occupation until 1942.
In 1954 a committee of management was elected for the Barwon Heads Company Reserve, replacing the former Barwon Heads Park Trust. In more recent years, the Park has been under the control of the Barwon Coast Committee of Management Inc.
