Celebrating 53 years of Bells Beach
After 53 years of managing the Bells Beach/Djarrak area alongside the Surf Coast community, Surf Coast Shire Council is preparing to transfer this land to Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority (the Authority) later in the year.
Bells Beach is one of many land parcels that Council is progressively transferring to the Authority, which is the dedicated Crown land and sea managers for the Great Ocean Road's coast and park.
For the preceding 65,000 years this very special place has been cared for and managed by Wadawurrung People, the Traditional Custodians. It is known as Djarrack, which means 'bended arm' and describes the distinctive shape of the cliffs surrounding this iconic beach.
In preparation for the handover, historical photos and stories have been unearthed illustrating the recent history of management from 1971 to the present day. This pictorial history demonstrates the progress in restoring and protecting both the natural and cultural heritage of this important place.
Join us as we travel down memory lane to a time when parking and spectators were allowed anywhere on the cliffs of Bells Beach/Djarrak, wetsuits were non-existent and people warmed themselves by lighting fires using the clifftop vegetation, and we venture back to the beginnings of the Rip Curl Pro or the Surfboard Rally as it was known in 1961.
Council and the Authority are committed to ensuring current community users and experiences are protected and/or enhanced on any reserves transferred to the Authority and through this process ensure the Great Ocean Road can be enjoyed now and for generations to come.
According to our records, for the past 53 years council has been the land manager of Bells Beach.
However for the preceding 65,000 years this very special place has been cared for and managed by Wadawurrung People, the Traditional Custodians. It is known as Djarrak, which means “bended arm” and describes the distinctive shape of the cliffs surrounding this iconic beach.
As we prepare to transfer the land management of Djarrak to the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority we have taken a look through the archives. We will start sharing what we have found each week.
This early map shows the name Djarrak, spelled in this instance as “Tarruc”. It is common to find Aboriginal language names spelled in many different ways throughout historical documents.
Wadawurrung People had oral language only, the written language was recorded the way it was heard by the surveyor.
To learn more about Wadawurrung language, download the app: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wadawurrung-language-intro/id1511858036 For apple users only.
After the locals graded the track to Bells Beach/Djarrak in 1961, and the new surf location became popular, surfers used the surrounding vegetation to light fires to keep warm after surfing, parked wherever they could and camped in any available spots.
In 1971, concerned about the removal of native vegetation, the Australian Surfriders' Association led a push for Council to apply to the state government to be appointed as
the manager of the land and for the area to be known as “The Bells Beach Surfing Recreation Reserve”.
Council was appointed manager in May 1971 and in November 1971 the name ‘Bells Beach Surfing Recreation Reserve’ was officially assigned, making Bells Beach/Djarrak the world’s first surfing reserve.
The first path to the sand and surf of Bells Beach/Djarrak was a rough path surfers carved into the headland. Over time the steps eroded and were repaired with gravel and boards, but that never fixed the problem for long.
In 2008 the current timber steps were built, providing year round and safe access to the famous surf break. The steps provide an iconic entrance to the beach for the Rip Curl Pro competitors.
Pic 1 - Midget Farrelly, 1973
Pic 2 - Johanne Defay, 2024 Rip Curl Pro Runner Up
The first surf contest at Bells Beach/Djarrak was organised by Vic Tantau and Peter Troy, to promote their surfboards known as 'Tboards'.
The competition was scheduled for December 1961, but was moved to Australia Day 1962, because of a clash with a local lifesaving event. The event then moved to its current Easter date and has been running ever year since, except 2020 and 2021 (COVID-19), making this event the worlds longest running surf contest.
Known as the Easter Bells Classic, the event was a pilgrimage for surfers from around the country. In 1973 Rip Curl approached the Australian Surfriders Association, who ran the competition, and offered prize money, making this the first professional surfing event and attracting competitors from around the globe.
Throughout the 1970's the Rip Curl Pro was the 'party event' on tour, with good waves and even better parties afterwards in many pubs and houses around Torquay. Surfing evolved and iconic moments at 'Bells' include Simon Anderson in 1981 unveiling his three fin thruster board in 15-foot waves and winning the event. Since then all Bells winners have ridden a thruster and the three fin design is the common surfboard used by all surfers, professional or recreational.
Today competitors and surfers come from around the globe to watch the best compete 'at the bowl' for the chance to ring the bell, the iconic Bells Beach trophy, "you have to win it to ring it".
Read more about the first surfing competition in 1961/1962.
The Bells Beach/Djarrak car park deserves a post of its own due to the legendary stories from the 1970's of the orange muddy mess after rain with cars regularly becoming bogged and having to wait for the ground to dry out before being able to drive up the hill and out of the car park. Water run-off after rains caused erosion in the car park and along the cliffs and hampered revegetation efforts. Unauthorized vegetation clearing to create better parking spots worsened the erosion issues.
The increasing popularity of Bells Beach/Djarrak meant more people, cars and busses visiting the area. The car park was sealed in the early 1980's to help manage vehicle access and kerbing was installed to channel water to proper drainage points and reduce erosion both in the car park and along the cliffs.
It is clear what a difference proper management of parking made to revegetation efforts and protection of the natural values of this special place.
Today the car park hardstand provides access and stunning views of the coastline and surf break as well as a safe location for the temporary infrastructure built for the Rip Curl Pro event.
The iconic white wave sign has been greeting surfers as they arrive at Bells Beach/Djarrak for over 50 years.
In 1971 the then Barrabool Shire engineer wrote to the Arts Department at the The Gordon Institute asking if students could prepare a 'suitable design for a sign' to be erected at the reserve making it known to the public that the area is officially known as the Bells Beach Surfing Recreation Reserve.
The students were asked to make sure the sign was strong enough to resist vandalism, blend into the landscape of the area and to include the Shire Crest.
The resulting sign was installed in 1972 and has been in place ever since. Today the wave sign is protected and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. It can be found at the first car park as you come around the bend on Bells Beach Road.
This week we are highlighting the Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles, that have been held at Bells Beach/Djarrak since 2012.
For 65,000 years Wadawurrung people cared for and managed Djarrak.
The evidence that Wadawurrung people gathered at this very special place is everywhere, so it is fitting that we also gather together to celebrate the Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles here.
This sacred site has a deep and ongoing connection with Wadawurrung people, the First People of the land.
The event was held from Friday 24 May 2024 to Sunday 26 May 2024.
Australian Indigenous Surfing Titles
The destruction and removal of native vegetation at Bells Beach led to the creation of the world's first surfing reserve in 1971. Since that time replanting, fencing and formalising paths has helped protect cliff edges from erosion and supported regeneration of coastal heath vegetation.
Many groups have assisted the Surf Coast Shire in restoration and conservation efforts starting in 1971 and 1972 with the Australian Surfriders Association requesting that surfers plant a tree instead of paying an entrance fee, resulting in over 400 trees being planted over two years.
Surfers Appreciating the Nature Environment (SANE) formed in 1988 to help with restoration efforts. Holding regular working bees, replanting indigenous plants, removing weeds, brush matting old car and walking tracks and promoting conservation messages. Find out more about
SANE
Rip Curl started their Planet Day initiative in 2000, giving staff a day to join in coastal conservation projects alongside community groups. Most of the focus has been at Bells Beach/Djarrak with staff weeding, planting, installing brush matting and mulching.
This video from the Australian National Surfing Museum Curator Craig Baird, sheds light on how Bells Beach/Djarrak became the worlds first surfing reserve and the conservation efforts that followed.
We all feel that Bells Beach/Djarrak is a special environmental place and this holds true when we crunch the numbers.
At Bells Beach/Djarrak, Council and citizen scientists have recorded:
- 197 indigenous plant species
- more than 80 species of birds including the Otways Rufous Bristlebird which is listed as Vulnerable
- more than 25 terrestrial species including swamp antechinus, white-lipped snakes and leaf curl spiders
- 3 different ecological vegetation classes; Coastal Heathland Scrub, Coastal Alkaline Scrub and Shrubby Dry Forest.
GORCAPA's conservation team will continue the great work to preserve this significant place.
For the past 65,000 years Djarrak or Bells Beach has been cared for and managed by the Wadawurrung people, the traditional custodians. The upcoming transfer of the land management from Council to the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority is just the latest in a series of changes.
Did you know:
- Bells Beach Road was constructed in 1970 to link Jarosite Road and Bones Road.
- The push to create and seal the road related to staging of the 1970 World Surfboarding Titles at Bells Beach/Djarrak.
- Funding was granted on 29 January 1970 and the road was finished by the start of the titles on 2 May 1970.
- The road was made possible by the Shire of Barrabool’s 1969 purchase of 17 hectares of adjoining pastoral company land.
- Southside was part of Bells Beach/Djarrak until 2005 when it was excised and included in the newly created Great Otway National Park.
- In 2002, the ocean off Winki Pop and westwards became part of the Point Addis Marine National Park, created to protect the biodiverse subtidal rocky reefs.
- The coastal land that became Bells Beach/Djarrak was grazed by stock until around 1940.
Read more about the 1970 World Surfing Titles and From the frying pan into the fire
This video shows the diverse underwater life underneath the waves at Point Addis Marine National Park.
Celebrating 53 years of managing the Bells Beach/Djarrak area, we are sharing some memories of movies and TV series held at this iconic location.
We all know about Point Break and the final scene that was meant to be Bells Beach/Djarrak but obviously wasn't, I mean the train directly to the beach, the spruce trees and the gravel beaches are clearly not Bells Beach/Djarrak. That scene was filmed at Indian Beach in Ecola State Park, Oregon.
Some other films we know were filmed
at Bells Beach/Djarrak are:
Bells Beach was one of the stops in the 1966 film The Endless Summer.
In the 2007 animation film Surf’s Up, the Australian surfer is from Bells Beach.
Bells Beach featured in season 2 of Netflix's Surviving Summer series, that's where our pics are from.
There was a documentary about the 1970 World Championship held at Bells Beach/Djarrak called "Getting Back to Nothing".
And of course plenty of surf films have been filmed at or about Bells Beach/Djarrak.