Indented Head

The whole Bellarine Peninsula was originally called Indented Head in the beginning and it wasn't until later that it was to take the various names of the early settlers. Early birth, death and marriage registrations showed Indented Head as the place of registration, however the actual place of the event could be any of the towns on the peninsula.

John Batman landed at Indented Head and made that his base camp while he returned to Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) for more supplies and his family. An historic marker stands where he landed.

Memorial cairn, Indented Head

Indented Head - memorial cairn where John Batman supposedly set up his base camp.
[Photograph #1130 : The Bellarine Historical Society photograph collection]

He possibly landed here but probably did not stay, for there is no fresh water about and the lookout point here, from which to watch Port Phillip Heads for ships coming from Tasmania, is not a very good one.

A Map of Batman's Camp, where William Buckley met white men for the first time in 32 years, shows the camp at St. Leonards some three to four kilometres further on.

Map of Batman's camp.
[Photograph #1287 : The Bellarine Historical Society photograph collection]

There is a fresh water creek at St. Leonards and no fresh water at Indented Head. Besides, St. Leonards has an excellent bluff-lookout from where Batman's men could see the Heads and ships coming from Van Diemen's Land.

Indented Head is a small community most of the year until the Summer, when it explodes with campers right along the foreshore swelling the population by several thousands.

Near the shore, the wreck of a paddle steamer can be seen - it was being towed to form a breakwater and was wrecked just off the beach.

[From the files of the Bellarine Historical Society]

Record Sources for Indented Head

Photographs : Bellarine Historical Society; Geelong Historical Records Centre; various private collections.

Maps & Plans : Bellarine Historical Society; Geelong Historical Records Centre.

Newspapers : Geelong Advertiser Indexes - Bellarine Historical Society & Geelong Historical Records Centre; Geelong Advertiser on microfilm - Geelong Historical Records Centre; various local newspapers - Bellarine Historical Society.

Miscellaneous Documents & Advertisements : Bellarine Historical Society; Geelong Historical Records Centre; various private collections.

Bellarine Shire Council Records : Geelong Historical Records Centre.

More recent Council Records : City of Greater Geelong.

Cemetery Records : (Portarlington Cemetery) Bellarine Historical Society; Geelong Historical Records Centre.

Land Records : Registrar of Titles, Melbourne; Bellarine Historical Society; Geelong Historical Records Centre.

Bibliography

Brownhill, Geo. H. Illustrated Guide to Geelong And District, Facsimile edn., Deakin University Press, Geelong, 1990.

Campbell, A. J. Tourist Guide to Geelong and Southern Watering Places, Henry Thacker, Geelong, 1893.

McLeod, Eunice. Early History of Portarlington and East Bellarine, Indented Head and St. Leonards, Eunice McLeod, Portarlington, 1962.

McLeod, Eunice. Portarlington, Indented Head, St. Leonards : History & Reminiscences, Marine History, Portarlington, n.d. (reprint with changes to above publication).

Wynd, Ian. Balla-wein : A history of the Shire of Bellarine, Shire of Bellarine, Drysdale, 1988.

Wynd, Ian. Geelong The Pivot : A Short History of Geelong and District, Cypress Books, Mont Albert North, 1971.