Kennon Cove Beach (Flinders)

The town of Flinders lies behind the elongated Flinders Point. Beaches lie either side of the point, with two sheltered beaches on the east side called Dodds Creek and Kennon Cove. Kennon Cove provides the best access and picnic facilities of these two beaches.

Kennon Cove Beach is a sheltered beach facing east and is backed by 20 to 40 m high, vegetated bluffs. Kennon Cove is 1.2 km long, with a 300 m long jetty in the centre and bluffs to either side. A car park, slipway and picnic area are located south of the jetty.

Waves are usually very low and sand flats extend 200 m off the beach, beyond which there are boat moorings. Flinders Yacht Club and a Marine Rescue facility are located at the southern end of the beach. It is usually a calm beach, with bathing off the beach only possible at mid to high tide.

The beach has a General Beach Hazard Rating of 4/10 (Moderately hazardous)

There are a number of information boards covering the history of the area. These include:

Fishing and the Skipway - Fishing was an early seasonal industry in this area. Fishermen came in their boats from Queenscliff and Rye, taking fish and crayfish along the rocky coast and sheltering in tents and simple huts. The foreshore provided a good base: boats were pulled up on to the beach and crayfish stocks were kept in wooden floating crates known as caufs. Several Chinese were among the early fishermen based in Flinders, noted for their technique in curing fish.

Once the railway line from Melbourne was extended to Bittern and Stony Point in 1889 commercial fishing at Flinders began in earnest, reaching its height in the 1930s. In many cases Flinders fishermen married the daughters of nearby fishing families, and their sons carried on the fishing tradition.

From the early 1890s several fishing families began leasing foreshore land between the jetty and West Head, where they built cottages. They were able to apply to occupy Crown Land under a regulation known as the Fishermen's Right to Permissive Occupancy. These beach homes were demolished as a wartime defence measure in 1942.

The slipway and winch shed forms a tangible link with the heyday of the fishing past. The slipway was constructed c1949 by the Victorian Public Works Department using timber beams, with steel rails running into the deeper water, A winch was used to raise boats out of the water, and a system of dollies and tracks slid boats to one side of the winch area for maintenance work.

Commercial fishing at Flinders is now very limited, though fishing as a hobby is widely enjoyed by both visitors and locals.

The Flinders Fishing Families - Among the best known of the Flinders fishermen were the Lucas, Chidgey and Mannix families, several of whom were related by marriage.

After fishing for some time from Queenscliff and Rye, Alex Lucas brought his couta boat to Flinders and began operating in Bass Strait during the crayfish season. He built "Bayview" on the Flinders beach and was joined by his wife and family in 1893. There they raised 13 children, and the family fishing tradition was carried on into the third generation.

Ben Chidgey was another Queenscliff resident who came to Flinders and San Remo for the crayfish. He married Annie (known as Nan) the daughter of Patrick Mannix and Fanny Finnerty, and built a beach cottage c.1915. Nan drove a cart laden with fish to Bittern to catch the early morning train to the Melbourne fish markets.

Nan's brother Jack Mannix was one of the fishermen who lived mainly at Queenscliff and fished periodically at Flinders. Eventually he settled with his family at Flinders, building one of the foreshore cottages c.1923. Seven of his sons fished at Flinders and also Queenscliff and San Remo.

Johan "Hans" Johansen, a cray fisherman, settled at Flinders in 1898. Following his death at sea his son Andy fished at Flinders for some 60 years. John Finnerty lived on the foreshore, and fished locally during the early years of the twentieth century. After his death Con Mannix occupied his hut. Bert Hoppen, born into a fishing family at Queenscliff, married Rebecca Lucas and moved to Flinders in 1932. The son of Theo Delaney and Rose Chidgey, Tom Delaney fished with his Chidgey uncles.

Cable Station Walk - During April 1869 a submarine telegraph cable was successfully laid over the 320kms stretching between Low Head at the mouth of the Tamar River, Tasmania, and the mainland terminal at Flinders.

This installation completed the connection of Tasmania to the mainland telegraph network and via Darwin with the rest of the world.

The undersea cable was connected to a hut on the beach between the Flinders jetty and the present car park, where the morse code messages were received and recorded. The current carrying the messages under the sea was not strong enough to go any further than the beach. A messenger would then head for Happy Valley, the staff house in a gully half way up the cliff, where messages were decoded. Again on foot, the decoded messages were taken to the mainland terminal at the top of the cliff, where the Bluestone foundations are still visible. Messages were then telegraphed to Melbourne and
overland to Darwin, and then by undersea cable to overseas destinations.

By 1891 boosting equipment had been installed on the beach, so that Morse signals could be carried by underground cable to the new Staff House and Telegraph Office on the corner of Cove Lane and Wood Street. The receiving but was no longer needed and it is thought that it became a fisherman's cottage.

Flinders Pier Precinct - Fish and shellfish of Western Port Bay formed part of the diet of the local Aboriginal people known as Bonurong. In November 1839 Assistant Protector William Thomas took an accurate census, counting and naming 83 men, women and children belonging to this group. By the 1860s the Bonurong were almost all gone from the Mornington Peninsula.

The Flinders foreshore area is recognised as being of post-contact historical significance because of three elements:

- the pier, built in 1864/65, reflecting the reliance on shipping for moving heavy cargo to isolated coastal settlements due to the poor condition of the roads;
- the local fishing industry; and
- the telegraph cable, which from 1869 provided the communication link between Tasmania and the mainland.

European pastoral settlement of Flinders was accompanied by temporary occupation of the seashore, as the abundance of barracouta, crayfish, and flathead
attracted fishermen from Port Phillip Bay who moved with the seasons, following the fish.

From time to time Chinese immigrants landed illegally in Western Port during the 19th century. A handful settled in Flinders, establishing market gardens on the foreshore towards West Head, the area later used for the cottages of fishing families. Chinese fishermen were noted for their skill in curing their catch.

Cargo Shed - For movement of heavy cargo in the early years, sea transport was the only option and the Flinders jetty was built in 1864-65 for that purpose.

Additions and extensions were made to the jetty over the next twenty years; continuing to the present. The Cargo Shed was an essential element in assembling goods for shipment, or awaiting their removal after arrival. The shed was built c1871 and originally situated at the shore end of the jetty. A trolley was used to move cargo along the jetty. The floor level of the shed was the same height as the floor of the trolley, and goods were moved via a rolling door on the jetty side of the shed. Another door at the road end of the shed (since removed) was used for loading or unloading cargo on to horse drawn vehicles.

The technique of curving corrugated iron for water tanks was developed early in Australia, and was adopted for curved roofs to simplify construction in isolated places. The curved roof of the Cargo Shed is one of the most intact surviving examples in this State. The Cargo Shed is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, regarded as being of architectural, historic, social and scientific importance at a state level. Its restoration by the Mornington Peninsula Shire was successfully nominated by the Flinders District Historical Society for a Mornington Peninsula Heritage Award in 2012.

Photos:

Location

12 The Esplanade, Flinders 3929 Map