In the late 1800s, North Shore was better known as a quaint holiday destination rather than a bustling hub of industry.
The first sign that this was about to change came with the establishment of a meat freezing works in the mid 1890s. The freezing works was used to process and ship beef to the mother country, England. Whilst industry continued to develop, North Shore remained a largely rural area, disconnected from the centre of Geelong.
Further Information
TRANSCRIPT
[In the beginning...]
[Road sign 'North Shore']
[Black-and-white view of a bay, ca.1939]
[Ferg Hamilton, North Shore resident & local historian]
[Ferg Hamilton]
North Shore was always considered as the north shore of Corio Bay and, although even today, it is part of the City of Greater Geelong, it is on the northern part of Corio Bay.
[Val Gibbons, North Shore resident]
[Val Gibbons]
It was a lovely place to live in those days. It was a real sense of community.
[Della Mitchell, North Shore resident]
[Della Mitchell]
My grandfather used to deliver milk all over Geelong in a horse and cart. There was hardly anyone in North Shore then, when we first come.
[Jon King, Former North Shore resident]
[Jon King]
North Shore was sort of treated as a country area. We were miles from Geelong.
[Black-and-white aerial view of the paddocks]
[Jon King]
The school was over the railway line, uh, in the paddock. It was North Shore Primary. And that's all it was, in the paddock, at that time.
[Black-and-white photograph of the Meat Freezing Works 1895]
[Ferg Hamilton]
The abattoir's... ..that was the first industry that ever established here. Here we are, shipping frozen beef off to England from that one spot.
[David Gibbons, North Shore resident]
[David Gibbons]
That was the first Ford's wharf.
[Black-and-white aerial view of the wharf]
[David Gibbons]
And they extended to around here with the International Harvester Wharf. That's before the International Harvester.
[Della Mitchell and Bryan Power sitting at a table, looking at photographs]
[Della Mitchell]
We used to go and swim down there all the time at the end of the wharf.
[Bryan Power]
Yeah.
[Della Mitchell]
We'd always go down there.
[Bryan Power, Former North Shore resident & local historian]
[Bryan Power]
I remember one... That little jetty. We used to go and fish off this jetty.
[Black-and-white photograph of the jetty]
[Della Mitchell]
And the other one, of course, at the end of the Phosphate. Remember that little wooden one, went straight out?
[Bryan Power]
Oh, there it is. Yeah.
[Jon King]
We had friends, who was a... He was a stevedore, foreman, and he gave me a little ticket and I was allowed on the boat.
[Black-and-white photograph of boat]
[Jon King]
Someone had given me one of these American hats. I used to wear this proudly. Taffy Kendrick, he was the foreman, and he got me to be allowed to have dinner with the captain, with his crew. I thought that was marvellous. So here I am, sitting down the end of the table, proudly wearing my hat. I thought I was Mr King, I was. Anyway, the captain arrived and sat down and looked around the table and he said, 'We will not commence the meal until our guest takes his hat off!' Oh, so I shrunk under the table and took the hat off and I've got a phobia about hats now, inside a house.
[Black-and-white aerial view of the paddocks]