Untold History of WA: Fascinating story behind WA’s most loved coastal gem Cottesloe Beach

For generations of West Australians it has represented so much of what we love about living in the State — life outdoors enjoying carefree, relaxed days of summer. Cottesloe Beach has seemingly always been a part of our consciousness, a backdrop to the city’s history. A slice of life centred on sun, surf, sand and happy memories — perhaps of catching a wave; or leaping off the old pylon; or lounging around on the grassed terraces or up against the beach wall, radio playing — just being young; or grabbing a feed of fish and chips under the pines as the sea breeze brought cool relief to salty skin, and the sun slipped beneath the horizon. And yet for a place so entrenched in our lives, what do we really know about its past? Of course, it was a special place long before colonial settlers arrived. The rocky area just south of the beachfront was a significant site for Nyoongar people. The Cottesloe Council’s website says Mudurup or Moonderup is a ceremonial site located at Mudurup Rocks. “Mudurup Rocks is considered one of the most important spiritual coastal sites on the Swan Coastal Plain. ‘Mudurup’ means ‘place of the whiting’,” the council says. “Before European settlement in Cottesloe, Nyoongar peoples fished at Mudurup during mid to late summer, the seasons of Birak (December to January) and Bunuru (February to March).” In 1697 three Dutch ships commanded by Willem de Vlamingh sent a party ashore south of what is now Cottesloe Beach, near where the memorial to Vlaming was later erected, and spent nearly two weeks ashore. After the Swan River Colony was settled, the area became a convenient point along the road between Perth and Fremantle. In 1872 the road was declared a public highway and the Perth to Fremantle railway line was completed in 1881. The district was named Cottesloe in 1886 by governor Sir Frederick Napier Broome in honour of the brother of Captain C.H. Fremantle, who became Baron Cottesloe. According to the site Cottesloe Past, the health benefits of “sea bathing” were known and the Cottesloe Roads Board saw the potential in developing the beach to attract visitors and raise revenue. Historian Ruth Marchant James, in her book Cottesloe, a Town Of Distinction, wrote that Jarrad Street, recognised as the main access road from the railway station to the beach, was the first to be bitumenised, and by 1901 several others streets leading to the seaside had been surfaced with gravel. Conscious of improving the beachfront to make it attractive to the wider public, plans were drawn up in 1903 for a jetty, and construction of a wooden jetty began in 1906, which was opened to the public in early 1908. It was 380 feet long and 10 feet wide, and included a boat landing and rotunda part of the way up the pier, James wrote. The jetty became a major leisure attraction, bands played on the weekends, and the steamer Zephyr would stop off on its way to Rottnest. Meanwhile, the question of allowable beach attire became a hot topic. Mixed public bathing was still in its infancy and led to the stipulation: “Regulation costume for men and women; dress of dark material — serge, flannel or flanelette extending over the shoulder to the knee. “Those in swimsuits should not loiter on the beach or on the jetty.” In 1903, “bathing boxes” were leased out for use by swimmers to change. The boxes could be wheeled close to the water, and then in the evening towed back up the beach by horses, James wrote. The area was given another boost by the opening of the Hotel Cottesloe in 1905. The growing popularity of the beach also led to concerns about swimmers’ safety, and after some close calls and a drowning in 1906, those fears led to the formation of volunteer lifesaving patrols and the formation of the Cottesloe Life Saving and Athletic Club, now the Cottesloe Surf Life Saving Club. The club’s website says its clubhouse building was completed in 1912, opposite the Hotel Cottesloe, below Forrest Street and Swanbourne Terrace (now Marine Parade), and it had two lifesaving reels to service the growing numbers making the day trip to Cottesloe. The increase in visitors also led to the growth of kiosks and refreshment options, the most prominent of which were the Surf Tearooms and the Indiana Tea House, which had its name displayed in large letters on its roof, just north of the ramp to the jetty. Named after the Indian Ocean which it overlooked, the large wooden and iron tea house offered morning and afternoon teas “and a lively band and dancing”, James wrote. The Roads Board decided to provide dressing sheds below Eric Street and “because no one was allowed to tie up horses along the beach, hitching posts were also to be placed along Swanbourne Terrace,” James wrote. “In summer, Cottesloe became the place to be seen and, on one day alone, a crowd of 16,000 visitors travelled by train to spend a day at the beach, earning the district the title ‘Brighton of the West’.” Guest and boarding houses sprang up to cater for long-term visitors and the beach front received another makeover when the surf club opened bigger wooden clubrooms. According to Cottesloe Past, the headland inland of Mudurup Rocks briefly became home to a rollerskating rink and a picture theatre before closing in 1914. “Between 1918 and 1925 Cottesloe Day was held on the beach on the last weekend in January,” Cottesloe Past said. “In January 1920 the Daily News reported: ‘Something like a fifth of the city’s population spread itself out along the crisp stretches of sand at Cottesloe yesterday and did its best to forget the heat wave’. “Entertainments included boxing, swimming competitions, Punch and Judy shows and dancing in the tearooms. A highlight was the ‘Gold Rush’ competition when envelopes of cash were buried in the sand. Contestants began frantically digging for treasure on the start signal.” In January 1922 a new diving jetty to the north of the main jetty opened, but was washed away by the winter storms that year. Development of facilities continued to evolve, as “rows of cubicles, built in tiers on the slope below the present car park, provided change rooms for bathers and thatched roof shelters were a welcome sight on the sands close to the jetty and Mudrurup Rocks,” James wrote. “In January 1928 the Indiana Tea House became the Kit Kat Cabaret, a well-known dance hall and meeting place until the early 1930s.” The next major alteration to the beachfront came when many old buildings were replaced by the more substantial Centenary Bathing Pavilion in 1929. With an observation tower in the centre and a wide promenade, the pavilion also housed restaurant and cafe facilities. The Palais de Danse opened on the top floor in 1932, according to Cottesloe Past. An estimated 5000 beach goers were shocked on November 22, 1925 when a man, Simeon Ettelson, was attacked by a shark while swimming and could not be saved despite heroic efforts by members of the surf life saving club, who bravely went to his aid, some in a dinghy, with others swimming towards the danger. However, it was not until 1934 that council approval was given for a shark-proof swimming area to be protected by netting strung along the jetty to a pylon, then north to a second pylon and back to the beach. However, the plan failed and was abandoned after winter storms damaged the pylon under the jetty and other supporting wooden posts, leaving the one pylon still visible and much-loved today. Other work in the 1930s changed the face of the area, making it close to how it appears today, including the construction of a promenade along the beach front from the jetty to Eric Street, and then to Grant Street; a carpark opposite the Hotel Cottesloe and grassed terraces retained by sandstone walls, which were sometimes used as viewing platforms for concerts. James also writes an amusement centre featuring electrically operated boats on man-made small ponds, and later cars on a small circular track, and a sideshow, operated above the promenade. But World War II brought operations to a halt and anti-aircraft guns and an air-raid shelter appeared in the area, and barbed wire fenced off parts of the beach. Meanwhile, the old jetty continued to be battered by heavy seas in winter and attacked by the teredo worm, and after it was deemed unsafe, it was demolished by gelignite in 1952. Concerns about beach erosion led to construction of a groyne in 1960, and Cottesloe Past records that in 1963 work began on a concrete boardwalk linking the pavilion with the groyne and a children’s swimming pool at the entrance to the groyne, and the beach became a focal point for Beach Girl Quests in the 1960s, which drew big crowds. By the end of the 1970s, safety issues led to the demise of the boardwalk and moves to demolish the deteriorating centenary pavilion, and a simple new two-level dome-shaped pavilion was opened in 1983 — but was superceded by the new “Indiana” in 1996. That now is subject to redevelopment plans. The beach is again set for a makeover. With thanks to The Grove Library, which is keen to receive local history photo donations. Contact Sally Purser at history@thegrovelibrary.com

Untold History of WA: Fascinating story behind WA’s most loved coastal gem Cottesloe Beach

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