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Interpretation of the mural

The mural begins with the depiction of the discovery of Westernport by George Bass and six crew into Westernport, who sailed into it through the eastern channel in a 28 foot whale boat, on January 4 1798, on an expedition that has left from Sydney Heads a month previously.

Sailing in from Bass Strait, he noted the “high cape, like a snapper’s head” at the entrance, and called the bay Westernport.
He found the Bass River and rowed up its course for six miles to the point where the stream ran fresh.
From there he made an eye sketch of the southern reaches of the bay.

Westernport was next visited by Lieutenant James Grant in the Lady Nelson in 1801, and this is depicted in the second mural picture.

He was given command of the Lady Nelson, a vessel that was specially designed for exploration in shallow water, and brought her out from England to explore the coast of Australia.

He entered Westernport from its western entrance from its western entrance, between Seal Rocks and Phillip Island.
Grant stayed for 33 days examining the various islands in Westernport, and the adjacent mainland.

Grant was also impressed by the resemblance of the eastern end of Phillip Island to a snapper’s head, and he named it Cape Woolamai.
He also named Churchill Island, after John Churchill of Dawlish, who had given him a quantity of vegetable and fruit seeds before the Lady Nelson left England.

The mural proceeds to portray the scattering of the first wheat planted in Australia, on Churchill Island, by Lieutenant Grant.
In a garden there, the first cultivated land in Victoria, Grant also planted onions, potatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, apples, plums, peaches and a rice and coffee were also sown.

A visit later in the year by Lieutenant John Murray, who stayed for one month, found Grant’s garden flourishing.

A portrayal of a sealer’s hut, acknowledging the era when the island was home to the sealing industry, is portrayed in the mural.
Sealing and whaling parties were active around Australia’s southern shores, with men left in gangs on islands to gather skins and oils which were picked up at intervals by the sealing ships.

Huts and headquarters were established on Phillip Island. 

A group of aborigines are in the foreground.

Historians tell us that the aboriginals were regular visitors to the island, rather than permanent residents.
Bowen, the first mate on the Lady Nelson, had met with some aborigines on the mainland who he reported were greatly surprised by his white skin.

The raising of the flag by Captain Wright at Rhyll in 1826 on an expedition into Westernport was an important part in the island’s history, and is the subject of much detail.
The party, which arrived on board two vessels the Fly and the Dragon, consisted of two officers, 18 soldiers and 20 convicts with provision for six months.

Water was obtained from a tide well, and about four acres of land was cleared from the most commanding spot, to form Fort Dumaresq. A flagstaff was erected, two six pounder guns were landed, and formal possession taken on December 3 (coincidentally the same date as the unveiling of the mural exactly 162 years later)

The Union Jack was hoisted and a Royal Salute was fired from this battery. The soil about this little fort was of good quality, and a road was commenced across Phillip Island to the southern shore, where it was hoped coal would be found.
Wright found a party of sealers who had been living on the island for some time, and had two acres of wheat and maize growing.

A new era

A large fraction of the mural’s canvas is devoted to the McHaffie era, around the 1840 period.

This portrayal is deliberately kept simple, in order to convey the emptiness of the place, which at that time was completely unsettled.
An early island tragedy and shooting which occurred in 1868 is recalled with the inclusion of the grave of Captain Grossard.
Captain Grossard, a guest of the pioneering McHaffie family, was accidentally shot when a fellow guest mishandled a gun during preparation for a shooting expedition. 

His dying wish was that he should be buried on top of the cliff near the sea.

He lies in a lonely grave at what was thence known as Grossard Point.

Portraits of members of the McHaffie family, as the first settlers here, and friend and famous botanist Baron Von Mueller, have been deliberately painted in the mural in black and white, and are faithful reproductions of old photos.

The McHaffie brothers William and John had a station near Moonee Ponds where they were visited by a tribe of aborigines who sometimes travelled as far as Phillip Island. Phillip Island in Picture and Story tells us that one of these native residents told the McHaffies about it, and probably guided them here.

These island pioneers initially paid an annual fee of ten pound to lease Phillip Island’s 24,320 acres. The rent later went up to seventeen pounds ten shillings a year.
They were faced with the daunting task of clearing dense scrub, to begin cultivation.
The brothers cleared the island by setting fore to the scrub, a fire that enveloped the entire island.
Its extent and density attracted attention for several days and nights on the mainland and far out to sea.

The McHaffies vacated Phillip Island in 1883.

The following mural scenes tell us that surveyors then came, and that settlers cleared the land and built their houses.

A central and important part of the mural is a scene showing the first church in Cowes, St Phillips Anglican Church, which was built by local people who had worked long and hard to raise the funds to erect it.

The church was the centre of community life and social activities in those days. 
It was the one place where the people on the island could meet. 

Every costume and carriage in this scene has been sketched from photos, with much line detail included. 
The McHaffie carriage is also reproduced here. 

Immortalised

The island's ship building and car racing days, and various forms of farming, are all immortalised in the mural, as is the proclamation deed declaring Phillip Island a separate shire, in 1928. 

This is possibly the most painstaking work of all, with the line print an exact reproduction of the original document. 
A section on Wollamai House also shows Captain John Cleeland's famous 
winner of the 1875 Melbourne Cup, Wollamai, along with his Anchor 
brand ponies and stud goats. 

The island's first cottage hospital, Warley, bought and donated to the community by W E Thompson in 1923, is shown, as is the Thompson family home, Talofa. 

W E Thompson was a prominent early resident, after whom the main street in Cowes, Thompson Avenue, is named.
A segment depicting the cenotaph, and which includes war medals and decorations, commemorates island men who went to war, while an early model aircraft represents the first aerial bread delivery made in Australia, here on Phillip Island.

The old Ventnor school and the local children travelling by pony, is there.
And no account of Phillip Island would be complete without at least one penguin.
The contribution by island artists to island life in later years is recognised with a painting by Jan Bodaan, of our famous shearwaters.

Sculpture by Jason Monet, pottery by Eric Juckert, and a table by master craftsman Jim Lalor, are all included in the sketch of Eric Juckert’s studio setting overlooking Westernport at Grossard Point.

The Cleeland shearing shed, one of the oldest on the island, symbolises the wool industry.
Recognisable characters in this ‘fraction’ are the late Harry Cleeland, and sons Billy and Garry. Greg Price, head down, is shearing.

Later history

The later aspects of island history are immediately recognisable, and will provide a record in years to come of life in the present day.
The old suspension bridge is contrasted with the new; and Sandy Reith’s eight seater Cessna flying overhead is shown heralding in a new beginning for transport from the Phillip Island airport in the late 1960’s through to the turn of the century.
A typical island rural scene of the day shows an old bulldog tractor, Graydens chicory kiln, Donald Dixon’s friesian cows, and a local Ventnor bull called  ‘Lotto’.

Fishing industry

The importance of the fishing industry and the boat building industry over the last century is depicted with the launching of the Stellar Maris, built by W H Crole in 1946 and Dominic Cafarella painting the Lady Maria on the beach at Rhyll.

Many years of generous volunteer service given to the island by a great number of individuals is recorded in a segment showing the ambulance, fire brigade, SES and Cowes Yacht Club patrol boat.

The contribution by the Victorian Police to island life is also recorded.

The mural concludes with a depiction of activities on Phillip Island in celebration of Australia’s 1988 Bicentennial – including the raising of the flag on January 1st 1988, outside the Phillip Island Shire offices, and the bright flames of the bicentennial beacon, set alight at Rhyll, as  part of an Australia wide chain of fire along the coastline heralding 200 years of settlement.