Barwon Heads Jetty
(Barwon Heads Park), Ewing Blyth Drive
The first jetty at Barwon Heads was constructed before 1889 at the present site. On
8 February 1889 the Barwon Heads Park Trust Committee wrote to the Harbour Department
drawing their attention to the dangerous state of the jetty. A few days earlier, the
Public Works Department had called tenders for the extension of the jetty.
On 26 April, 1889 the Park Trust Committee allocated £50 to be spent on
repairs to the structure. Additional and considerable repairs and alterations also
occurred in 1907, for the Geelong Harbour Trust Commissioners instructed A.S. Mackayn? to
prepare drawings to the jetty at that time.
Little maintenance was carried out on the jetty during the next 30 years. By 9 July,
1939, having been exposed to the elements, it and the shed [boot room?] were in a
poor state and so the Barwon Heads Park Committee of Management made representation
to the Lands Department for its repair. However the Second World War halted any further
work to the structure. It was not until 1948-49 that alterations occurred to the
jetty (increasing its height), together with the construction of the southern jetty
and Fishermens' Co-operative Sheds.
The Sheds were constructed by Jock Napier of Ocean Grove, with assistance from the
members of the Co-operative which had formed after the War. Apart from some minor
changes, the jetties and sheds had remained largely intact until 1999 when works
commenced to develop the site into a new restaurant and cafe complex.