Geelong icons Smorgy’s, Eureka, Western Beach Baths among icons of a bygone era
They are relics of a bygone era but these Geelong icons brought plenty of character to our city. Which of these should authorities consider reviving?
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Geelong’s rapid growth as a city has meant some much-loved features of the community have disappeared in years recent and further back.
From waterfront dining at a joint lovingly dubbed ‘Australia’s best worst restaurant’, to old-timey swimming enclosures, amusements parks and minor sections of our streets and buildings lost to progress, there are many aspects of Geelong threatening to disappear from our city’s collective memory.
So in the spirit of keeping them alive, here are a few:
SMORGY’S
Before the end of Cunningham Pier was reserved for the ultra-hip and swankiest of restaurants and venues, it was home to Geelong’s kitschy, sometimes-guilty obsession: Smorgy’s.
From the early 90s, until Cameron Ling got his hands on it in 2010, the point of the pier was home to the equally loved and derided all-you-can-eat buffet chain – featuring a special underwater theme here in Geelong.
And by ‘underwater theme’, we mean full animatronic entertainment hosted by King Neptune and his little buddy Salty the Seal – a show so ingrained in the minds of Geelong locals one man spent more than a decade hunting down Salty after Smorgy’s closure, finally buying him earlier this year.
The restaurant closed its doors for good in April 2010 to make way for a classier facelift, in a joint development from a group of business partners including former Cats skipper Cameron Ling, Dominic Tripoli and hotelier Darren Holroyd.
Ling at the time said the focus of the new venues would be to provide something a little classier for diners.
“The emphasis is on quality, with a quality experience, quality food and a quality setting,” he said.
“There’s not too many other places in the world like Cunningham Pier and we want it to be a Geelong landmark.”
The ultra-classy Pier venue and Instagram-worthy Wah Wah Gee and its accompanying Wah Bar have since replaced Smorgy’s at the end of the pier, and while they’ve earned themselves some pretty handy reputations, the kitschy buffet still seems to have a place in the hearts of plenty of residents.
THE MARKET SQUARE FOUNTAINS
No, not the recently relaunched shoe-soakers, the two full-sized fountains in the middle of the Little Malop St Market Square mall back in the 90s.
Before the latest through-road was build down the middle of the mall – from Yarra St to Moorabool St – Market Square was blocked off from traffic and made a large walking space for the community – back in the day when the mall was a mall.
Along with the memorable square brick benches sprinkled across the mall, were the two main fountains.
From summer snaps of kids splashing in the water, to chucking coins in and making a wish, most Geelong residents will have a few memories of the since disappeared fountains.
HY-LITE PARK
From 1956 to about 1985 we had our own little version of Melbourne’s Luna Park right on the foreshore – the Hy-Lite Amusement Park.
Situated on the corner of Bellarine St and Ritchie Blvd, the popular attraction welcomed residents and visitors to the town year-round and featured various rides including a mini-race track, trampolines, the carousel, massive slides a ferris wheel and much more.
Our remaining reminder of the popular amusement park is the foreshore ferris wheel, also run by the Verfurth family who were initially behind the original amusement park.
WESTERN BEACH BATHS
The city’s love affair with public baths – and the historic fight for supremacy between a host of Eastern Beach and Western Beach bathing facilities – saw multiple baths built and operated at Western Beach from the 1840s until about 1930.
A 2004 report into the historic background of Western Beach outlined the popularity of public bathing houses in both Western Beach and Eastern Beach during much of the 1800s.
The Geelong Public Bathing House – also known as the Jackson and Rays Bathing House – at Western Beach was run by Richard Parker in the 1840s before it was destroyed by a storm.
A number of other bathing houses would be established, and some combined, over the following decades – with men’s-only and women’s-only facilities and timetables changing throughout the years.
It is understood the Western Beach Gents Baths was the last surviving bathing facility on the western edge of the waterfront, established in 1973 and demolished around 1930.
In January 2022, federal senator and former Corangamite MP Sarah Henderson revealed her vision to bring the baths back to life.
The idea included the construction of a tunnel running from Western Beach, linking to the new Geelong Convention & Exhibition centre.
NEW WORLD SUPERMARKET
In the 60s, Coles opened their ‘new world of shopping’ line of supermarkets, appropriately named Coles New World – with Geelong welcoming its first CBD store on Malop St.
One of the city’s first supermarkets – hence the space-age rocket on the roof – it gave shoppers the relatively unique experience of being able to pick up everything they needed in one big visit.
The supermarket would later be redeveloped into a monster toy store, before eventually becoming the Officeworks which currently remains on the site.
A series of artworks on the facade of Officeworks were also present when the New World supermarket was built.
GEELONG TRAMWAY SYSTEM
From 1912 until the mid-50s Geelong was home to an extensive tram system, which grew alongside the city’s expansion.
The tram system had long been spoken about, before the Melbourne Electric Supply Company eventually agreed to the project in about 1910.
Original routes included the wharf (City to north end of Moorabool St), station (City to Geelong station via Malop St), west (City to Pakington/Church St via Ryrie St) and Newtown (Pakington/Aberdeen St to Aphrasia St/Shannon Ave) trips.
During WWII use of the trams skyrocketed during petrol rationing and jobs in munitions factories around the city, with one estimate of 6.5m people using the system in 1943.
But, by 1953 a state government report recommended replacing trams with buses, and Geelong’s final tram took passengers from the city to Belmont and back in March 1956.
An August 9 poll on the Geelong Advertiser’ Facebook page showed about 80 per cent of voters wanted trams — potentially ‘trackless’ — to feature in Geelong’s transport plans in the future.
GEELONG HOSPITAL KIOSK
As part of Geelong hospital’s numerous – and ongoing – upgrades, a little pointed kiosk once took pride of place at the front of one of the city’s most important buildings.
The inquiries kiosk was built in the mid-20s at the entrance to the ‘casualty department’ of the hospital.
It was eventually demolished in 1980 to make way for upgrades to help the hospital keep up with the city’s ongoing population boom.
SPECIAL MENTION: EUREKA
This could be any number of bars, clubs or pubs which held a special place in residents’ hearts for a particular period of their lives but have since disappeared.
It would be too divisive to try and name which lost waterholes meant most to us, so we’ll just list one of the most recent – the Eureka.
At the time a group of investors bought the venue from former mayor Darryn Lyons in 2018 it was licensed for 1000 people up until 5am.
But, in the name of progress, the investors soon decided it was best the CBD had one less nightclub.
They went about turning it into the cleaner and quieter Westend venue operated by renowned Geelong publican Cam O’Keefe.
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