HistoryWesternCovep4

I came to Western Cove the first time in 1971 after Cliff Hawkins real-estate agents had arranged flights from Adelaide for potential buyers to inspect allotments.

The Cliff Hawkins Kangaroo Island Newsletter (Winter 2021) says: "In 1963 Cliff Hawkins began offering free flights aboard a DC 3 aircraft to Kangaroo Island to inspect a land subdivision at Vivonne Bay... Further trips were offered to estates at American River, Baudin Beach and Nepean Bay. Records show over 200 prospective buyers took advantage of the free trips!"

According to Wikipedia a DC-3 could carry "3 crew and 14 sleeper passengers, or 21 to 28 day passengers". But I recall a much smaller aircraft and only four or five other prospective buyers accompanied me.

I purchased an allotment for $370.

Only one or two houses existed at Western Cove at the time and several sheds.

In 1983 the Western Cove township had ten houses and another five or six allotments had sheds without houses. This can be confirmed on an aerial survey photo from 1983.

THE FIRST THREE HOUSES

The following photos (taken in 2006) show the first three houses built at Western Cove after subdivision into allotments:

1 2 3

Peter and Florence Sullivan purchased the property at left (Allotment 95, Oceanview Drive) in 1967. The house was built in 1969.

David and Joyce Ness bought it in 1990 for their retirement and lived there until 2008 when they transferred to Kingscote. David was previously a farmer and mechanic on his own farm near the airport; Joyce worked in the Kingscote hospital as a domestic and also drove the school bus.

The second house is Allotment 71 on the Esplanade and was built in the early 1970s. The information to hand is that the first owners and occupants were two elderly English women. After that until 1983 it was owned by American photographer Mike McKelvie.

The third house (Allotment 47 on the Esplanade) was built in 1976. The first owners were Thomas Chapman (1924-2001) and Coral Chapman (1921-2009).

SIX MORE HOUSES in 1981-1982

The following six houses were built around 1980-1982 but the exact sequence is unclear:

Allotment 49 Esplanade
Allotment 50 Esplanade
Allotment 61 Esplanade
Allotment ? Oceanview Drive
Allotment 20 Oceanview Drive
Allotment 41 Oceanview Drive

Two of these houses were purchased from a company that manufactured sheds and garages. Thinking of doing the same I enquired at the Kingscote Council and was told no further permission would be granted: "We don't expect people to build mansions; but we also don't want a shanty town."

Allotment 49 Esplanade: Don Hedger said he built and moved here in about 1980

Allotment 50 Esplanade: Built in 1981 by Alf and Stase Standen

Allotment 61 Esplanade: Built by William Slade (1918-1988) and Sheila Slade (1924-1980). The next owners were Jeff and Joan Seddon followed by the current owner who arrived in 1994.

Alfred Robson Berndt (1936-2010) and Dorothy Berndt (b.1938) built their house on Oceanview Drive in 1981. "Ours was the ninth house at Western Cove," said Dorothy.

Her job in Adelaide at the time was in the manufacture of shoes. After they moved to KI Alfred drove the Sealink Shuttle Coach for seven years and after that the school bus.

The following photos show their house in 2006, and Dorothy with granddaughters Nicole and Natasha in 2000. Nicole (the older granddaughter) was 14 at the time and lived at Western Cove for four years while attending the Kingscote High School.

Dorothy recalled the occasion in 1999 when almost 50 dolphins stranded themselves on Western Cove Beach: "Alfred and I got buckets and poured water over them but couldn't manage by ourselves."

A phone call to the Kingscote School produced lots of youthful volunteers who helped. Local resident Fred Peters contacted someone who had a front-end loader with which the dolphins were carried in slings to shallow water where students helped to direct them out to sea.The incident made news in Adelaide and three helicopters from Channel 7, 9 and 10 parked next to the Berndts' house.

AFTER 1982

In 1983 Michael G. Kenyon (1930-2001) and Rita Kenyon built their house on Oceanview Drive Allotment 111, the 11^th or 12^th house at Western Cove, and lived there until 2001. The final time I met them was before the turn of the century to get some aspirin. Michael was by then confined to his bedroom and dependent on an oxygen tank.

Eric Jesussec came from Prussia, a German state annexed by the Soviet Union in 1945. He built on Oceanview Drive approximately 1984 near the intersection with Sharpie Road. He lived there with his family for about 15 years before moving to Kingscote.

Harry and Ross Spencer, the former a landscape painter, built at 58 Esplanade in 1985 and lived there until 1993.

Frederick Richard [Rick] Ellery (1934-2003) was born at Dongara 350km north of Perth. He built at the intersection of Western Cove Road and Oceanview Drive approximately 1990.

Houses and People Continued on Page 5: