13. The Point

Ricketts Point has been popular for many decades but the name remains something of a mystery. One suggestion relates to Thomas Ricketts who was a skilled gardener at J. B. Were’s estate in Brighton in the 1840s, but there is no proof that the area was named for him.  Others have spoken of a Captain Ricketts whose house was once on the cliff and whose ghost haunted a later building!

Whatever the origins of the name, Ricketts Point is well known for its  rocky shore and reefs which for decades have attracted beach lovers, fishermen, snorkellers, students of marine life, painters, bird watchers and children looking for crabs.

Between 1960 and 1985 observers were concerned to see signs of depletion of marine life. Hence a long campaign was initiated with the aim of ensuring that better management would ensure the survival of a rich abundance of sea life. The declaration of a Marine Sanctuary on 16 November 2002 marked the start of an increase in the creatures inhabiting the reefs and of fish numbers.

The Tea House, constructed on the site of an earlier kiosk (which was destroyed by fire), attracts visitors from near and distant places.

On the inland side of Beach Road, stand the bluffs which mark an earlier line of cliffs cut when the sea was at a higher level. In 1890 Matthew Lang, a successful Melbourne wine merchant and Mayor of Melbourne, ordered the construction of a mansion on this high ground.  The Point stood on six acres and included a large ballroom. In 1919 Thomas Turner Shaw, a grazier, purchased the property. His son, Major Harry Turner Shaw had served in the Royal Flying Corps during the Great War (1914-1918) and after the War maintained his love of flying.  An old resident recalled that  Turner Shaw added to the interest of the district by flying his plane to and from The Point and landing in the property which surrounded the home where he lived with his wife and children.

The property was eventually subdivided and the great house demolished in 1959, but the memory remains through the naming of Point Avenue.