Susannah Forrest (pictured) with some of her collection of nautilus shells. The fragile and rare shells were highly prized by early residents for their beauty. Joshua Gliddon records in his book “Phillip Island in Picture and Story” that “perhaps the finest collection is that of Susannah Forrest, who has specimens ranging in size between almost ten inches down to tiny ones of just an inch and a half”. Thin and fragile, the nautilus shells are actually the egg case of an octopus. Legend has it that these rare specimens wash up on local beaches following gales, every seven years. The Melbourne Argus, in a May edition in 1928, deemed the phenomenon newsworthy. It described the paper nautilus as a rare visitor to Victorian shores (as the tropics are their natural habitat) and said that when they do appear, the shells are searched for eagerly. It went on to describe the 1928 appearance of the shells around Westernport. Local beaches were dotted with lanterns carried by residents at night and in the early morning, searching for these rare specimens, the report stated. About 450 were picked up from the beaches between Cape Woolamai and Newhaven, and several thousand were estimated to have been found around San Remo. The Argus reported older residents stating that such fine specimens had not been seen for the last 60 years. Bev Forrest still has some of the shells from her grandmother Susannah’s collection in her Cowes home.
Who put the “Forrest” in Forrest Caves, and other tales of this fifth genera...
