Opinion pieces from local writers exploring their suburb’s cliches and realities and how it has changed in the past 20 years. See all 53 stories . My parents’ first date in the 1950s was at a party in Beaumaris.
It was, my dad explained, an “interesting” suburb. The area was popular at the time with creative types such as writers, artists, actors, fashion designers – Prue Acton, Linda Jackson, and Jenny Brown grew up in Beaumaris – and for some reason, airline pilots. (Dad worked in travel and Mum was an airline hostess).
Years later, when I was at art school, Beaumaris again popped up on my radar, thanks to a fellow student who lived there. I knew it was out of the city and by the bay, and it always sounded a bit exotic to me. I imagined a lifestyle among the trees, drinking wine, painting and lazing on the beach.
My husband and I grew up in the suburbs and had become avowed inner-city dwellers. Then children came along. Two boys and all that energy, combined with some wonderful holidays out of the city, made us yearn for more space, even a garage.
We were missing trees and sky. It’s funny how you can subconsciously mimic your parents. We had just completed a renovation on our “forever house” in East St Kilda and were not looking to move – but somehow, 23 years ago, found we’d bought a mid-century modern home in Beaumaris.
When you see a map of the bay, Beaumaris is the place that protrudes out before the long curve of beaches to Frankston. It has a ric.