Description of the attraction
East Beach is the most popular holiday destination for residents and visitors of Geelong, located on the shores of Corio Bay. The beach was equipped back in the 1930s in the Art Deco style, and today there is a special pool for children, a gazebo, and a pavilion with changing rooms. The waters of the bay are protected from sharks. A number of buildings along the Art Deco beach are listed as Victorian National Heritage Sites.
However, this place has not always attracted crowds of tourists. At the very beginning of the foundation of Geelong, the territory of the present East Beach was a kind of "eyesore" of the city with its sheer coastal cliffs stretching from the northern borders of the city to the bay itself. Only in 1914 did the first plan for the improvement of these places appear. It was assumed that a breakwater with a length of 1.6 km will be built here, the coastal strip will be reclaimed, and the rocks along the beach will be smoothed. Further plans included the construction of a small beach house, which, however, was made in the form of a gazebo.
Landscaping work began in 1927 with the construction of a concrete staircase, embankments and changing rooms. A swimming area protected from sharks with an area of 3.5 hectares and a capacity of up to 10 thousand people, as well as a children's pool were built in 1939. All this cost the city $ 80 thousand.
However, in the 1960s, East Beach, located within the city limits, began to lose its attractiveness as Geelong residents, mostly with cars, began to prefer relaxing on the suburban ocean beaches. Several decades of neglect have left the beach in a state of complete disrepair. It wasn't until 1993 that this situation began to change when Geelong City Council announced plans to restore the site. First of all, a fence was rebuilt to protect the waters of the bay from sharks. Then the gazebo, children's pool and changing rooms were restored. A restaurant has opened on the top floor of the gazebo. The East Beach revival was part of a larger Geelong waterfront improvement project that continues to this day.
