The Surf Coast on Wadawurrung Country: Torquay, Jan Juc, and Bells Beach
The Surf Coast of Victoria — encompassing Torquay, Jan Juc, and Bells Beach — is today celebrated as the birthplace of Australian surf culture. Yet long before surfboards, wetsuits, and the Rip Curl Pro, this stretch of coast was and remains Wadawurrung Country, rich with Dreaming stories, ecological abundance, and ceremonial significance (Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation [WTOAC] 2023). From volcanic plains and coastal wetlands to reef fishing grounds and soaring limestone cliffs, the Surf Coast has long been a place where land, sea, and sky converge.
This article explores the deep history of the Surf Coast through Wadawurrung perspectives, the impact of colonisation, William Buckley’s extraordinary story, and the modern surf legacy that continues to shape the region’s identity.
The Meaning of Torquay
The name Torquay was given by European settlers in the late 1800s, after the English seaside town. Long before that, the area was a key part of Wadawurrung Country, featuring seasonal camps, middens, and freshwater springs (Clark 1990; Presland 1994). Swamps leading towards Lake Connewarre teemed with black swans, ducks, and fish, while the ocean yielded shellfish, abalone, and crayfish.
Wadawurrung people wove grasses and reeds into nets, baskets, and ropes to harvest marine and freshwater food resources sustainably (Zola & Gott 1992). These intricate fibre technologies reflected a deep understanding of materials, tides, and seasonal rhythms — far from “primitive,” they were ecological sciences in practice (Broome 2005).
Jan Juc: Place of Middens and Story
The name Jan Juc is thought to have Aboriginal origins, though its precise linguistic derivation remains debated (Blake 1991). Archaeological and oral evidence confirm millennia of use by the Wadawurrung:
Middens along cliffs reveal generations of feasting on shellfish and abalone.
Reef stone traps and net fishing demonstrate knowledge of tidal cycles and marine ecology (Clark 1990).
Fibre weaving of rushes and reeds provided tools for coastal harvesting.
Cultural burning along dunes encouraged yam daisy (Microseris walteri) and other edible plants (Zola & Gott 1992).
For the Wadawurrung, these coastal systems were living cultural landscapes — maintained through fire, ceremony, and story, not wilderness to be “tamed.”
Bells Beach: Law, Spirit, and Surf
Though named after the Bell brothers, who grazed cattle here in the 1840s, Bells Beach has always been part of Wadawurrung sea Country (Clark 1990; WTOAC 2023).
Ceremony: Coastal gatherings involved fire, dance, and song, connecting land and ocean to ancestral beings.
Dreaming: Rock formations and shifting tides are linked to creation stories that encode law and balance between human and marine worlds.
Subsistence: Shellfish, seaweed, and reef fish were staple foods, their remains forming the extensive middens still visible along the cliffs (Presland 1994).
Today, Bells Beach is internationally renowned for the Rip Curl Pro, yet its deeper story is one of continuity — a ceremonial and resource-rich place sustained for thousands of years before colonial surf culture emerged.
William Buckley and the Surf Coast
One of the most remarkable stories tied to the Surf Coast is that of William Buckley, the escaped convict from the Sullivan Bay settlement in 1803. After weeks of wandering, Buckley reached a burial ground near Spring Creek (Torquay), where he found a broken spear belonging to the recently deceased Wadawurrung warrior Murrangurk. When discovered by the Monmart clan of the Wadawurrung, Buckley was believed to be Murrangurk’s reincarnated spirit (Clark 1990; Broome 2005).
He was accepted into the community, living among the Wadawurrung for 32 years. His later accounts describe fishing with stone traps, midden feasts, and deliberate fire management — revealing a sophisticated aquaculture and ecological system that colonial settlers largely failed to recognise (Critchett 1990).
Flora, Fauna, and Sea Country
Before colonisation, the Surf Coast supported exceptional biodiversity, sustained by Wadawurrung land management and totemic law (Zola & Gott 1992; WTOAC 2023):
Plants: Pigface (Carpobrotus rossii) for food, saltbush for medicine, coastal wattle for tools, stringybark for canoes and shelters, and seaweed as food and fertiliser.
Animals: Kangaroos, wallabies, echidnas, and emus were hunted inland; pelicans, ducks, and swans thrived in the wetlands.
Marine life: Fish, abalone, crayfish, and shellfish were harvested with fibre nets and stone traps.
These systems were maintained through cultural burning, seasonal movement, and respectful harvesting, ensuring regeneration of both terrestrial and marine ecosystems (Gammage 2011).
Colonisation and Dispossession
European settlement in the 1830s brought rapid and devastating change. Squatters established sheep runs, drained swamps, and destroyed middens and sacred sites (Clark 1995; Critchett 1990).
For the Wadawurrung this meant:
Loss of land — sacred places and waterholes were fenced or destroyed.
Conflict and violence — including massacres recorded across western Victoria (Clark 1995).
Displacement — survivors were moved onto missions and reserves such as Coranderrk and Framlingham (Barwick 1998; Broome 2005).
The Surf Coast thus became a frontier landscape, where Aboriginal ecological stewardship was replaced by colonial pastoralism.
Surf Culture and the Global Stage
By the mid-20th century, Bells Beach was transformed again — this time as the epicentre of Australia’s surf identity. The first contest was held in 1961, evolving into the Rip Curl Pro, now the world’s longest-running professional surfing event.
While surfing today is often portrayed as a modern spiritual connection to the ocean, the Wadawurrung have embodied that connection for millennia. The same tides, winds, and reef breaks that surfers ride are the same forces that shaped Wadawurrung cosmology and economy. Surfing, in many ways, echoes the ancient rhythm of living with the sea (WTOAC 2023).
Wadawurrung Custodianship and Revitalisation
Today, the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation leads the protection and revitalisation of cultural heritage along the Surf Coast (WTOAC 2023). Key initiatives include:
Protecting middens, artefact scatters, and burial grounds through cultural heritage overlays.
Cultural education programs highlighting traditional weaving, eel-fishing, and fire-management.
Ecological restoration combining traditional knowledge and modern conservation, particularly around dunes and wetlands.
Public storytelling that re-centres the Wadawurrung as the first custodians of the Surf Coast and asserts ongoing sovereignty.
These programs ensure that the Wadawurrung’s relationship with Country remains visible, respected, and integral to the Surf Coast’s identity.
Conclusion
The Surf Coast — from Torquay to Bells Beach — is far more than a surf destination. It is Wadawurrung Country, where middens record ancient feasts, Dreaming stories embed law in the land, and Buckley’s story bridges two worlds. From volcanic plains to crashing surf, the region reflects a layered history of ecological richness, dispossession, resilience, and cultural renewal.
To walk its beaches or ride its waves is to move through a living cultural landscape, where Wadawurrung sovereignty, knowledge, and spirit remain ever-present.
References
Barwick, D. (1998). Rebellion at Coranderrk. Canberra: Aboriginal History Monograph.
Blake, B. (1991). Wathawurrung and the Colac Language of Southern Victoria. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Broome, R. (2005). Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Clark, I.D. (1990). Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900. Melbourne: Monash Publications in Geography.
Clark, I.D. (1995). Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria, 1803–1859. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press.
Critchett, J. (1990). A Distant Field of Murder: Western District Frontiers, 1834–1848. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press.
Gammage, B. (2011). The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Presland, G. (1994). Aboriginal Melbourne: The Lost Land of the Kulin People. Melbourne: Harriland Press.
Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation (WTOAC) (2023). Cultural Heritage Reports and Country Plan. Geelong: WTOAC.
Zola, N. & Gott, B. (1992). Koorie Plants, Koorie People: Traditional Aboriginal Food, Fibre and Healing Plants of Victoria. Melbourne: Koorie Heritage Trust.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
Magic Lands Alliance
Sharing the truth of Indigenous and colonial history through film, education, land and community.
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.