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Breamlea
Breamlea, Victoria, Australia, is a secluded seaside hamlet located on the south coast of the Bellarine Peninsula, 18 kilometres south of Geelong and halfway between Barwon Heads and Torquay. It is divided between the City of Greater Geelong and the Surf Coast Shire. In the 2011 census, Breamlea and surrounding areas (including the eastern half of Connewarre and a rural portion of Barwon Heads) had a population of 444 people.
Breamlea is nestled in the sand dunes between Thomsons Creek and the beach. The nearest township to Breamlea is Connewarre.
The area was once populated by the Mon Mart Clan of the Wathaurong people. The rock shelves on the coast in the area have always been rich in shellfish, and large middens of the discarded shells can be seen on the headland between Buckley's Bay and Stingray Bay. William Buckley lived in this area; across the road from the caravan park is a well that he is supposed to have used.
Thomsons Creek, also known as Bream Creek, runs through a natural network of reedy canals and widens before it enters Buckleys Bay. At the mouth of the creek is Point Impossible, which is a well-known longboard surfing break. The patrolled surf beach at Breamlea is called Bancoora, named after the steamship SS Bancoora that ran aground there in 1881. The clipper ship Victoria Tower, on its maiden voyage to Melbourne, was wrecked on rocks at Point Impossible in 1869. The wreck is one of many included in Victoria's Underwater Shipwreck Discovery Trail.
Thompsons Creek attracted campers and fishermen from the 1870s onwards and by the 1920s, makeshift huts were being built by regular campers. During the 1930s depression, squatters constructed more permanent buildings, rate-free, and eked out meals from the creek and the ocean. The existence of the settlement was formally acknowledged by the government in October 1941 when it was proclaimed in the Government Gazette, creating a small linear township huddled behind the high, Moonah-covered sand dunes. The proclamation paved the way for the sale of the first freehold land in 1942. A Post Office opened on 1 July 1947.
Breamlea was only connected to the electricity grid in the 1960s. In 1962 a surf lifesaving club was formed at Bancoora Beach, with clubrooms being built in 1963. Breamlea has around 100 houses nestled in the sand dunes between Thomsons Creek and the beach. There is also a caravan park and small general store with basic supplies. The area is underdeveloped and many residents wish to keep it that way. The architecture of Breamlea is a mix of fibro-cement beach shacks built in the 1950s and 1960s, and modern architect-designed houses.
Source: Wikipedia
