A Load of Old Bollards - Geelong

‘Bollards’, answered the lady behind the information desk with a smile. ‘Pardon?’ I replied, having previously asked what to check out in Geelong. ‘The bollards,’ she said. ‘Start with the bollards along the waterfront. There are 104 of them and every one tells a story about the city. And, if you have kiddies, get them to look for the rabbits.’ Millions upon millions of dollars have been spent tarting up the waterfront of Corio Bay and the bollards work a treat. And the rabbits painted on some of them aren’t there just for a 3-D game of ’Where’s Wally’: Thomas Austin arrived in Corio Bay in 1859 with the first pairs of rabbits for his hunting pleasure, and they bred like, well, rabbits. Statistics say there are around 300 million rabbits in Australia, though I’m not sure whose job it was to count them.

Local artist, Jan Mitchell painted the bollards, over several years, to represent aspects of life in Geelong and some famous locals. From small groups of lifesavers to lone figures, the tall round poles were used originally to tie boats to wharves, and many have come from old piers in the district. They are colourful and fun, and add to a stroll along the foreshore. My favourite is Nancy Nattyknickers. She sits astride her velocipede (the first made in Geelong in 1869) brazenly flaunting her wearing of trousers that finally allowed women to ride the contraptions.

The pier and beachfront area has had a massive upgrade, and there’s safe swimming as well as casual and fine dining. The project even led to the rediscovery of a mineral water spring at Eastern Beach, which now again produces extremely pure, sparkling water from the spring without need of a pump.