A waterfront favourite
A SAILORS rest had been established in Geelong as early as 1885 as a place where sailors were offered company and entertainment after weeks confined aboard ships.
The first Geelong Sailors Rest occupied part of an existing chapel in Corio St, but it soon moved to upstairs rooms at 51 Moorabool St.
When King Edward VII died in 1910 the Geelong Advertiser held a poll of its readers looking for suggestion for a suitable memorial for the late king. While a purpose-built sailors rest did not feature prominently in the poll the state government nevertheless set aside a block of land at the bay end of Moorabool St for such an institution.
The foundation stone for the built-for-purpose sailors rest in Moorabool St was laid by the Premier of Victoria John Murray on February 3, 1912. Mr Murray told those gathered that there was no man more capable than a sailor when he was on the high seas, but there was no one less capable of looking after himself when he came ashore.
The Premier added that when on shore, the sailor generally lowered his colours to the first piratical craft that crossed his bows, especially when that craft was in petticoats.
In November of that same year the Geelong Sailors Rest was officially opened before a crowd of about 200 onlookers, a company of local infantry and a guard of naval cadets.
The opening ceremony was conducted by Australian navy Captain Bertram Chambers, whose ship HMAS Encounter was visiting Geelong.
Captain Chambers indicated to the crowd that he had been appointed captain designate of the Australian Naval College which was soon to be established. In fact the naval college was opened at Osborne House in North Geelong in
March of the following year, with the establishment being named HMAS Osborne College.
After the opening of the Geelong Sailors Rest, the Geelong
Advertiser reported glowingly that it featured a wellappointed bathroom, chapel, reading room and entertainment hall.
The roof was also described as electrically lit, and commanded a fine view of Corio Bay and its beaches.
The Geelong Sailors Rest underwent a complete restoration in the mid-1990s before
it opened as a hospitality venue as part of Geelong’s $250 million Steampacket Place foreshore redevelopment. By that time the majority of Geelong’s commercial
port activities had moved to North Geelong.
By then the Geelong Mission to Seafarers had been established in The Parade, North Shore, where it still operates.