Disaster, tragedy and misfortune have marked Phillip Island’s colourful history.

This week the Advertiser explores some of the fires, accidents, crimes, disasters and deaths that have pockmarked the island’s past.

Black Sunday Cape Woolamai

It was in February 1980 that Phillip Island experienced Black Sunday.

A sudden grass fire at Cape Woolamai burnt out up to 20 acres of scrub and mutton bird rookeries, and spread to destroy 44 cars at a Surf Life Saving Club carnival.

According to the local newspaper of the day, the Phillip Island Sun, the fire alert was issued at about 1.45pm on Sunday February 10 with 12 fire trucks attending the blaze, from as far away as Lang Lang, Kernot and Inverloch.

The blaze broke out in dry grass in a temporary car park that had been opened to accommodate the large crowds at the Cape Woolamai beach carnival.

“Woolamai Beach Surf Life Saving Club members fought to contain the blaze, but fanned by a northerly wind it quickly engulfed the rows of exploding cars,” the Sun reported.

“Fire brigades sprayed foam onto cars to prevent the petrol tanks exploding.”

Luckily, fire fighters were able to remove more than 150 cars from the area, but the 44 cars destroyed were valued at $250,000 at the time.

Onlookers reported seeing LPG cylinders ignite and burst into the air.

“After a series of announcements at the surf carnival, people ran from the beach to find their cars engulfed by flames.”

The paper reported that some frantic people ran into the inferno of exploding cars to try to save their possessions, but “miraculously” no-one was injured or seriously burnt.

Some events at the surf carnival were cancelled because of the effect of the fire on club members

The cause of the fire was unknown.

Tornado at Nobbies

A mini tornado hit the Seal Rocks Sea Life Centre in August 2002, demolishing the roof of the centre’s restaurant and leaving a trail of destruction and debris across Point Grant.

According to that week’s edition of the Advertiser, about 40 people were in the centre when the tornado hit, but no one was hurt as glass panels and iron roofing came crashing down. Staff and customers were forced to take refuge in the building’s concrete toilets as the storm raged outside.

The force of the tornado blew a one tonne iron shipping container from the rear car park at the centre, 30 metres away in to the scrub.

The storm caused huge damage to the then $27 million tourist centre.

“Miraculously, no one was on the boardwalks in front of the building or standing outside when the tornado struck,” the article states.

One of the staff described the event, saying they saw a whirly wind start to form at the base of the Nobbies Rock, then watched it come towards the centre.

“As it hit, it sucked all the air out of the building. It was a tornado just as you see on TV, it wasn’t a water spout,” the staff member reported.

The Seal Rocks centre reopened in April 2007, four years after it was damaged by the mini-tornado, after a $7.1 million repair makeover funded by the state government.

At the time the tornado struck, an arbitrator had just settled a two-year legal wrangle over the centre, finding the State Government had breached its contract with the centre's operators. Taxpayers at the time were hit with a $60 million compensation bill to the Centre’s developer.

Accidental shooting

A tragedy occurred at the McHaffie home in 1868, when a friend of John McHaffie, Captain Grossard, was accidentally shot when a fellow guest on the verandah of the homestead mishandled a gun during preparations for a hunt.

Captain Grossard's dying wish was that he should be buried on a cliff near the sea. His lonely grave is still to be seen at the end of Grossard Point Road.

This inscription appears on the headstone: "Sacred to the memory of William Phillip Grossard, formerly of Bideford, Devonshire, many years captain in the Merchant Service, who was killed by accidental discharge of a gun during a visit to Phillip Island, the 17th December, 1868.

Shots fired at hotel robbers

Cowes Police First Constable John Hodgson received a valour badge in 1950 for “outstanding courage and devotion to duty in effecting the arrest of three desperate criminals”.

In Joshua Gliddon’s book Phillip Island in Picture and Story the constable tells his account of the events on Christmas morning, 1949.

“I received a message from the proprietor of the Continental Guest House that three men in a late model sedan had just stolen his office safe containing approximately 3000 pounds in money and valuables,” First Constable John Hodgson writes.

“It is well known that an experienced safeblower requires 10 minutes to blow a safe. Also he will not usually carry a safe any distance as he does not like to be caught with one.

“I packed a .45 calibre revolver and ammunition and proceeded to the bridge in the company of AJ Jones, the proprietor of the Continental.

“The road from Forrest Caves to Newhaven was not then sealed and was very dusty. I was sure that no vehicle had preceded us as there was no dust hanging over the road.

“Phillip Island was crowded with thousands of campers and holiday makers. There was a possibility the offenders might camp on the island and mingle with the crowds until things quietened down.

“Suddenly the car appeared and speeding dangerously in the centre of the road. I had my revolver in my hand. I waved both hands in the air and attempted to stop the driver. I could only see one man and sensed he did not intend to stop.

“I was not going to let this vehicle pass: either this driver was going to run me down or I was going to stop him. I fired two shots in the sand in front of the car. He did not appear to be stopping.

“I then fired again, the car reared into the air, the driver lost control and the car stopped in the sand at the roadside.

“As soon as the stranger stopped, he abused me for shooting and said he would “go further into the matter about shotting at a civilian driving along the road”. At that moment two men’s heads appeared from the floor of the rear seat of the car. I had the men covered with my revolver and ordered them not to move. I was now confident I had the offenders concerned in the robbery.

“The robbers had failed to blow the safe, but had hidden it at Gentle Annie Corner, with the intention of obtaining more explosives and completing the operation on Christmas night.”

The three offenders were later charged with robbery and imprisoned.

Isle of Wight razed

The historic Isle of Wight hotel was due to be demolished for redevelopment when a fire gutted the building in May 2010.

More than 100 fighters responded to the blaze but could not save the century-old hotel.

While the pub was popular with locals, it was also renowned for playing host to Fred Astair, Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck during their filming of the movie On the Beach in 1958.

In 1959, the Australian Women’s Weekly reported that tennis champion Frank Sedgman purchased the Isle of Wight Hotel at Cowes, with fellow professional tennis players Ken Rosewall, Lew Hoad, Tony Trabert, Pancho Segura, and Richard Gonzales.

The hotel held a significant stock of historic local photos and memorabilia that was also destroyed.

CFA investigators and police examined the site to determine the cause of the fire, with workers locking up the premises at 2am and the fire alarm going about 10 minutes later.

At the time, the hotel's owner, David Gearing, vowed to rebuild, saying the loss of the iconic hotel was a huge blow to the community.

In 2016 the 8625 square metre Isle of Wight property was sold, and then sold again in January 2021.

Plans for rebuilding are currently in the pipeline.

Ferry on fire

The Matthew Brady ferry, built in Hobart in 1972, saw service on Phillip Island from 1981-1992.

Her demise came on July 8, 1992 when the ferry caught fire returning from Cowes to Rhyll, was run ashore near Silverleaves but could not be saved.

The Advertiser’s July 16, 1992 edition details the fire, explaining the owner of the ferry service, David Leadbetter, vowed to have a replacement ferry back on the tourist run as soon as possible.

“David was understandably shaken after his ferry, the Matthew Brady, caught fire while returning from Cowes to its mooring at Rhyll,” the article states.

“The fire broke out in the galley and reduced the ferry to a hull.

“He said the fire started burning so furiously from below the only thing to do was to beach the ferry just west of Observation Point, and get off quickly.

“For the next two hours David and his engineer Colin Gunn sat on the shore and swore, as they watched the boat burn to a hull.”

The article states the Matthew Brady was insured for $500,000; a new ferry was to cost between $800,000 and $1 million.

Shipwrecks

Probably the best-known shipwreck on Phillip Island is that of the SS Speke, whose rusted remains can still be found at a rocky reef at Kitty Miller Bay.

The Speke was sailing from Peru to Sydney in February 1906 when it drifted towards the reef at Kitty Miller Bay.

One person on board died after a lifeboat capsized, but the rest of the crew managed to swim to the shore in choppy waters.

The greatest shipwreck tragedy on our shores was when all 17 members onboard the SS Coramba died off Phillip Island on November 30, 1934, during a violent storm.

The beaches of Philip Island were littered with debris from the ship and searchers scoured the coastline looking for survivors, of which there were none.

The remains of four sailors were washed ashore at Forrest Caves.

The 531 ton coastal steamer was built in Scotland in 1911 and it was only in 2011 that the remains of the Coramba were found, about 10 nautical miles south of Seal Rocks.

Cowes Primary blaze

Cowes Primary School’s main wing was totally destroyed in an inferno in September 2003.

The blaze swept through the central building of the school early in the night, causing an estimated $1 million in damage.

Destroyed completely in the fire were the school’s administration block, library, information technology department, toilet facilities and five classrooms, which housed 120 of the school’s 360 students.

Arson squad police ruled out foul play, with the fire starting from an electrical fault.

The flames were visible from as far as Rhyll, with 50 CFA brigade members battling for two hours to bring the fire under control.

Quarry accident

Diamond Dolly was a gravel quarry near the Rhyll Inlet that operated during the Depression years of the 1930s up to World War II, making gravel for roads on the island.

During the quarry’s short existence, two people were killed during operations.

One was a bulldozer driver, killed when the edge of the cliff gave way and the machine he was in went over the edge with him in it.

The other person that died accidentally drank nitro-glycerine out of a bottle. The man had stopped for lunch and unfortunately drank out of the wrong bottle.

Grossard shooting

Today Grossard Point is best known for its panoramic vista across Western Port.

The site is name after Captain William Grossard, who was accidentally shot and killed in 1868 at the McHaffie homestead, who were the first settlers on the island.

According to Joshua Gliddon’s book, the captain was “accidentally shot when a fellow guest on the veranda mishandled a gun during preparations for a shooting expedition”.

The captain had just carried a little seven-month-old baby to the nursery and was returning when he was shot.

The Captain’s dying wish was that he should be buried on a cliff near the sea.

For years a lonely grave headstone, surrounded by railing, stood under a cypress tree at Grossard Point as “a tribute to tragedy”, but when coastal erosion threatened it, a plaque and information board was instead erected.

“You are standing at the original site of the grave of Captain Grossard after which this point is named,” the board details.

The site is now considered to be of historical significance and protected by the Victorian Heritage Trust.