In This Section
Bathing Boxes are both iconic and controversial on the Mornington Peninsula. They represent a colourful part of our recreational history. We hold a small collection of records associated with the Mornington Foreshore Committee, which managed the registration of bathing boxes. These include a series of template plans for the construction of a bathing box and accounting records for their registration. Permit records provide a list of bathing box owners arranged by beach and year and represent families such as the Tallis family from ‘Beleura’.
Mornington Peninsula beaches have always been a haven for locals and holiday visitors. While the summertime crowds we experience every year remain a feature, attitudes to crowd management have certainly changed. This report to the Council by Mornington Police Station in 1898 recommends ‘…a portion of the beach be set apart for the Females and the other portion for the Males’. This was following complaints about crowds of night-time bathers at Fisherman’s Beach.