The Committee of Management of the Bream Creek Recreation Reserve was formed in 1912. Two shillings and sixpence could secure a campsite on the Crown Land for a year. By 1915 shacks had started to be built, many with whatever had swept onto the beach by south westerly winds from many shipwrecks in the vicinity. At a time when the 1930s depression left many begging or joining soup kitchen queues it attracted self sufficient people who could eke out an existence in the pleasant surroundings. Fish were plentiful in the surf or the creek, but there were no roads, telephone, shops, school, power, reticulated water or sewerage. In 1942 the reserve was divided into 87 lots which were auctioned, but interest was only expected from the existing shack owners. Some of the names of original purchasers whose blocks were later taken over by another generation: EJT Kerrison CC Wall L Burfield-Galland WC and ER Wilson LM Mahon WJ Wilson FH Hamblett MN Murphy MJ Bogan |