Encounter Coast Discovery Centre and The Old Customs and Station Masters House - Victor Harbor
Direct Phone Number : (08) 8552 5388
Return to Victor Harbor
Go to where the first encounter really happened. At Victor Harbor's Encounter Coast Discovery Centre you can learn about the meeting between English and French naval captains Matthew Flinders and Nicolas Baudin. It took place in Encounter Bay in 1802.
And then as you walk through the Discovery Centre, you will encounter the many other stories of Victor Harbor and the sea. Discover some of the relics from the early whaling industry and unusual bottles found at the bottom of the Bay. When ships were moored at anchor, sailors used the sea as their rubbish dump. There was a rich archaeological deposit right by the jetties and wharves of Victor Harbor. It's now on view in the Discovery Centre.
Listen to the stories recalled by some of the early residents of Victor Harbor, Port Elliot and Goolwa - the local midwife, a merchant, a local boarding house keeper and others. Or gaze nostalgically out to sea through the 'parlour window' of Mount Breckan, one of Victor Harbor's finest nineteenth century mansions.
Wander through to the Old Customs and Stationmaster’s Residence, which was built in 1866 and is furnished in the style of that era and the early twentieth century. One room features the holiday boarding houses typical of over forty such buildings in those days. Other displays include an array of photographs of early local identities and scenic memories of times long past.
Groups by prior arrangement only, details on application.