Summary

Sepia photograph featuring the Akhurst and Kitz families at the Red Bluff, Point Ormond, Elwood, 1897. The Akhurst and Kitz families were very close at this time. Red Bluff was re-named Point Ormond in the late 19th century, after soil had been removed for the infill of swamps in Elwood, flattening the cliff.

Description of Content

Extended family and friends group seated in front of a rocky cliff face at the beach. They consist of two women, two men, and eight children. A woman wearing a hat with a veil over her face is seated in a wooden and wicker wheelchair. A boy at back is holding a book.

Physical Description

Digital image file. A digital photograph was taken of the original sepia print.

Significance

"A marked geographic feature of Elwood, Point Ormond hill lies just south of the Elwood Canal at Point Ormond Reserve where it rises prominently from the sea to form a lookout over Hobson's Bay. At one time this mound formed a steep and curving headland of red sandstone known as the 'Little Red Bluff'. Over time the crashing waves below eroded away the base and nose of the cliff, forcing it to retreat from the coast. This natural phenomenon was accelerated in the 1890s, by the removal of stone and earth from the base of the cliff. This was used as landfill in the reclamation of the swamplands which once covered much of present day Elwood. In the late nineteenth century the name of the site was changed from the 'Red Bluff' to 'Point Ormond'". "Point Ormond", City of Port Philip, http://www.portphillip.vic.gov.au/default/CommunityGovernanceDocuments/Point_Ormond_article.pd, accessed 30/6/2010

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