Family traditions and changing crowds at Mornington Peninsula’s Safety Beach over 50 years

✓ Verified by 2+ sources

Key details reported by multiple sources:

• The author’s family has visited Safety Beach for four generations, including the author’s grandmother, mother, and herself.
• The family’s beach house was originally a fibro shack built by the author’s grandfather in the early 1950s, later clad and renamed 'Shark Bay' by the author’s mother.
• The author’s grandfather bought land on the Mornington Peninsula in the early 1950s, selling blocks as money was needed for new babies, culminating in a beach shack for the ninth child.
• The beach was historically known as 'Safety Beach' but was nicknamed 'Shark Bay' due to sharks lured by blood and guts from a nearby abattoir.
• The author’s wedding was the first held at the Safety Beach Sailing Club.
• The author’s grandmother’s green Holden station wagon was used to transport large groups of children, sometimes hiding them under blankets or in the boot for sneaky movie outings (e.g., *Superman III* at a drive-in).
• The author’s family traditionally visited Rosebud Carnival, where Fleetwood Mac cover bands played from a flat-bed truck.
• The author’s aunt fled with cigarettes, chocolate, and a motorbike to nurse a wounded heart, crying on the hairpin bends of Arthurs Seat.
• The author’s grandfather never bought a bathing box because the family’s house was too close to the beach, allowing children to drag sailboats down for sailing across the bay to Williamstown.
• The author’s mother’s friends included Greeks, Italians, and a Uruguayan named Nicoletta, who guessed the baby’s gender using a gold ring over the author’s pregnant belly.
• The author’s first child was a daughter, surprising the family who had predicted a boy based on Nicoletta’s ring test.
• The author now visits Safety Beach with minimal gear (towel, water, umbrella, book) and observes familiar groups like a Lebanese family with a shisha pipe and eskies, and Greek families under adjoining umbrellas.
• The author visits Shel’s Diner at the drive-in for choc-tops and poses with a life-sized Blues Brothers statue.
• The author drinks Bass & Flinders gin and Little Rebel’s wholesale blend coffee named 'Shark Bay'.
• The author’s family traditionally watched movies at a drive-in, sneaking through blackberry-cloaked paddocks past an irate bull.