The Southern part of Ocean Beach Road is mostly situated within Crown Allotment (CA) 88 of the Parish of Nepean, County of Mornington. (Part is in CA 89).
As you can see on the map, CA 88 was alienated (bought) by Charles Gavan Duffy (1816 – 1903), Politician and Land Developer. He also named “Sorrento” in 1869. CA 89 was alienated by his son John Gavan Duffy (1844 – 1917) a prominent Melbourne lawyer and politician.
CA 88 was alienated by Charles Gavan Duffy on the 20th of June 1872 for £33 . CA 89 was a little earlier on 7 Apr 1869 for £39 18 shillings. In 1870 John sold CA 89 to his father for the same amount. 1
In April 1874 Duffy sold CA 88, CA 89 and several other parcels of land to the newly formed Ocean Amphitheatre Company. This company had been formed by George Selth Coppin (1819 -1906) the theatrical impresario and property developer.
The Ocean Amphitheatre Company bought most of the Town Allotments of Sorrento. The aim was to subdivide the town and sell off blocks. By the end of 1874 the Company had built The Baths on the foreshore and four cottages in what is now Constitution Hill Road.
The Company also cleared a road from the town to the Back Beach or Ocean Amphitheatre. Unsurprisingly it was named Ocean Amphitheatre Road. It would later become Ocean Beach Road.
By June 1876 things were not going to plan for the Ocean Amphitheatre Company and almost all its property was taken over by the Mortgage Holder, the Australian Alliance Assurance Company. This included the bulk of CA 88.
From July 1876 the Australian Alliance Assurance Company began to sell off the properties it had claimed. This included the properties in CA88.
Note the large areas marked 98500. This is part of the area of the final sale in October 1881. This was the balance remaining after several other sales. The buyer of these parcels was a joint venture between George Coppin (yes him again!) and Peter Nettleton (1824 -1901).
Peter Nettleton was a fellmonger and wool merchant based in Victoria St. Abbotsford. He was a significant investor in Portsea in 1875 and now entered the Sorrento market with a vengeance. Jointly they purchased just under 177 acres of Sorrento for £2500. We don’t have any insight into how much each of them individually contributed.
By January 1882 Coppin and Nettleton were selling the lots they’d acquired. This included the sale of a parcel of six lots (nos 42 – 47) in Ocean Amphitheatre Road in May 1882 to a Dr George Graham of Richmond. (see marked in yellow below). As well as a property speculator George Graham was an early landowner South of Melbourne Road in what is now Blairgowrie. 2
We are still in the world of property speculation at this stage.
Dr Graham sold the entire parcel in October 1883 in its individual lots. This included Lot 44 that included what is now 208 Ocean Beach Road. Lot 44 was sold to George Alfred Wainwright of Richmond, Pawnbroker for £20. It appears all the lots were sold to speculators rather than potential residents.
George Wainwright died in June 1885 at 33. The property was left to his wife Sarah who sold it in March 1886 to Joseph Craig of Sorrento, Carpenter, for £32 10 shillings.3
Joseph Craig (1850 -1894 born Josiah) came to Victoria with his parents Josiah and Emma Cragg aboard the Isabella in November 1852, from London. He was 2 years of age. He would become a carpenter and while we don’t know anything about his early years, we know he married Harriet Skelton at Sorrento in July 1878, aged 28.
Harriet Skelton (1855 -1919) was a member of the pioneer Skelton family who had come to Sorrento as Limeburners in the early 1840s.
The Sorrento Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library (now the Sorrento Museum) was opened in February 1877. We don’t know if Joseph had any part in its construction, but we do know he was the first Librarian at the Institute and that he and Harriet lived there.
In December 1884 they had their only child at Sorrento. A son, Arthur Boswell Craig.
So in 1886 when their son was two, Joseph bought the land at 208 Ocean Beach Road. The property doesn’t show up in the rates until July 1891, at which time it is rated for 1 allotment & building with a ‘Net Annual Value’ of £10. 4
Despite the building being there by 1891, presumably built by Joseph, he and Harriet remained living in the Mechanics’ Institute. This was still the case when Joseph died in July 1894. While there was no death notice at the time the following ‘In Memorium’ was published a year later:
The property is listed in Joseph’s probate as “Real Estate: Land 66ft frontage to Back Beach Road by a depth of 5 chains with house thereon consisting of 4 rooms.” valued at £200.
Interestingly under “Rents: due by E. Clark for above property – £7”.
Edward “Ned” Clark (1865-1939) was Harriet’s nephew. We don’t know for how long he had been renting the property.
Harriet, by virtue of Joseph’s will became the owner of the property in June 1896. We don’t know for sure if Harriet and Alfred moved into the property or remained at the Mechanics’ Institute. We do know that the house was rented out in 1903 and was by then known as “Pretoria”.
It is pure supposition, but the name Pretoria may have been adopted after the capture of Pretoria, the South African Republic’s capital, in June 1900 which was a critical event in the Second Boer War.
By October the property had been rented to another of Harriet’s nephews William “Willie or Squid” Clark (1871-1957). “Squid” Clark was a well known proprietor of horse drawn and later motor cabs in Sorrento.
“Squid” and Margaret were still at the house when her father died there in 1909.
Note that Margaret Clark’s maiden name was also Clark and John Morrison Clark was her father.
Harriet continued to be rated for the property until 1917 when it was transferred to Alfred. In 1919 Alfred, now a carpenter, had moved to Camberwell. Harriet lived with he and his wife Georgina for a time, but died in April 1919. Harriet died of senile dementia, a condition that she may have suffered from since at least 1917.
In March 1919 Arthur sold the property to a Percy Ernest Harman of Normanby Road, Deepdene, Gentleman for £275. 5
Percy died at Sorrento in February the next year.
In his probate the property was transferred to his widow Margaret and National Trustees, but it was passed on to his daughter Margaret Elizabeth Harman in August 1921. Unsurprisingly, Percy’s probate lists the property as a “Summer Residence”.
The property than passed through a number of owners:
April 1922 Margaret Harman sold it to Alice May Downing of Glen Huntly Rd. Elsternwick, Married Woman for £550. 6
April 1943 sold to Albert Edgar Dandridge of Heatherton Rd. Dandenong, Carpenter.
March 1953 to Valerie Lylian Horn of Sorrento, Married Woman. Valerie was the wife of Harold Winton Horn. They lived at “The Manse” Darling Rd. Sorrento. Valerie was the daughter of Wilfred John Holt (1880 -1963) who was the Presbyterian Minister at Sorrento from 1945 until his demission (retirement) in 1960.
Valerie sold 208 in December 1960 to Beatrice Florence Davies of 22 York St. Prahran, widow. It was Beatrice who divided the property roughly in half in 1962 and created 31 Ossett Street.
In July 1962 208 Ocean Beach Rd. was bought by May Elizabeth Findlay of Rose St. Sorrento, Married Woman. May was married to John Findlay, a mechanic in Sorrento.
Then in June 1987 to a Company, First Vobarb Pty Ltd of 12 Coppin Gve. Hawthorn for $82,000. Is this perhaps a little ironic, given George Coppin’s early role in the property’s history!
In June 1991 to Joseph and Valerie Versteegen of Kangaroo Ground.
To the current owners in 2025.
There is no evidence, particularly from electoral rolls, that anyone since “Squid” and Margaret Clark were there in 1909, has lived in the property as permanent residents.
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