Indented Head can be explored through a range of interests: a walk with views over Port Phillip Bay, a coastal trail connecting three towns, and the story of a paddle steamer whose hull was scuttled as a breakwater. There is also a woodland reserve with a wetland and historic memorial sites. For your planning, it helps to distinguish between a walk with a specific time frame, a walking route connecting several towns, and the themes of water, nature and history.
Getting around on foot and by bike
The Indented Head Beach to Bush Walk is 4.6 km long, rated easy and takes approximately one hour. It offers views over Port Phillip Bay. If you want to fit an activity with a clearly stated distance into your day, you also have an approximate duration here. This gives you a guide for planning your day; the easy rating also helps you assess the walk.
The Bellarine Coastal Trail is the main walking connection between Portarlington, Indented Head and St Leonards. It is wide and mostly flat, and suitable for family bike rides. Your choice of route therefore depends on what you have in mind: the Beach to Bush Walk has a stated distance and approximate walking time, while the Coastal Trail focuses on connecting the three towns, its surface and its suitability for family bike rides.
The Ozone wreck and boating
The hull of the paddle steamer Ozone was scuttled off Indented Head in 1925 to serve as a breakwater for small boats. The Ozone wreck is considered a shallow, easily accessible dive site. Its former role as a breakwater and its status as a dive site are thus both part of its story. On land, an Ozone anchor stands as a memorial on the cliff near Taylor Reserve, overlooking the wreck.
Wrathall Reserve in Indented Head has a two-lane concrete boat ramp and a wooden jetty. So, alongside the dive site, boating facilities are another part of the town’s maritime appeal.
Woodland reserve and wetland
The 13.6-hectare Indented Head Woodland Nature Reserve lies on the western edge of Indented Head. It contains one of the last remaining examples of endangered Plains Grassy Woodland on the Bellarine Peninsula. This makes the woodland type a distinctive aspect of the landscape: the reserve represents not only coastal walks and maritime history, but also a rare habitat.
The wetland in the reserve provides habitat for the Latham’s snipe. This migratory bird travels between Japan and Australia each year. For nature lovers, both the endangered woodland type and the migratory bird’s habitat add to the picture of Indented Head.
Memorial sites and different dates
Matthew Flinders landed in 1802 at the place now known as Indented Head and set up camp there. A cairn in Indented Head commemorates his landing. Another cairn in Batman Park marks the place where John Batman came ashore to camp in 1835. The two memorial sites therefore mark different landings more than three decades apart.
Batman Park on The Esplanade is a public coastal recreation area associated with picnicking, camping and fishing since at least the early 20th century. This historic connection adds another perspective to the memorial stones. The Batman-Flinders Memorial is a stone obelisk erected in 1931 to commemorate the landings of Batman and Flinders.
Discover more destinations: Waurn Ponds.
Return to the broader travel overview: Greater Geelong City.
