Pillar 3 - Safety beach bay trail

Lieutenant Colonel Trevor Watts
soldier, banker, diplomat
strode this shore in stylish hats
walking ‘Monty’.
At eighty-five his last sabbat
ended jaunty.

This ‘Jingle’ was written by Tom McCullough in 2015 in memory of the late Trevor Alan Watts (Lt Col Rtd). Trevor had a holiday house called ‘Waverley’ at 49 Marine Drive, Safety Beach facing the sea.  He was the first Honorary Secretary of Safety Beach Foreshore Advisory Group, where he would often report that cars were damaging native plants and shrubs when they drove across foreshore lawns to park in shade opposite his house in hot weather. Trevor could be seen patrolling his foreshore when walking a black cocker-spaniel along the beachfront in summer and winter. His dog was called ‘Monty’ - as were all of his earlier dogs - always black cocker-spaniels with the same name. This former soldier’s stride and smart appearance distinguished Trevor from many other types of visitors jogging or rambling along Safety Beach foreshore. 

A few local people remember Trevor from much earlier days when he had a very athletic build, red hair and always keen to debate politics, cars, big business or conservation in a very knowledgeable but courteous way. Trevor’s love of discussion never left him, even in his later years when his health declined and he was in much discomfort. The long drive from his home in Camberwell to Safety Beach became difficult for a sick man in his eighties, and although Trevor may have grumbled sometimes, he always continued taking Monty out for exercise along the coast that he dearly loved and worried about. After Trevor died in June 2015, he was missed by all who knew him, as well as by some who saw him only as a lone character striding along with his little dog on this popular foreshore. 

Mornington Peninsula Shire funded these poetry pillars that were designed* by Safety Beach Foreshore Landscape Committee Inc., in 2016 (*copyright T. McCullough).

There are 11 of these pillars with different ‘Jingles’ on each one. The pillars are spaced at intervals of about 200 metres apart, alongside the Bay Trail at Safety Beach foreshore.  Marine Drive is parallel to the Bay Trail which runs from the south at Nepean Highway intersection, to the northern end at the Mt Martha cliffs (or Tassell’s Beach) opposite Bruce Road intersection, Martha Cove Marina’s channel entrance and S.B. Sailing Club building. Each Pillar has two red ‘port’ squares or green ‘starboard’ triangles on it, similar to Channel Markers leading into an anchorage. They are meant to reflect our channel markers in Port Phillip Bay leading northward to Melbourne.

REFERENCES: 

Unpublished eulogies (from the funeral of Trevor Alan Watts in June 2015) and the two photos were kindly supplied by MS Jenny Warfe, Dromana and Trevor’s niece MS Rebecca Watts.

For further information or questions, please write to: The Secretary, Safety Beach Foreshore Landscape Committee, 65 Victoria Street, Safety Beach, Victoria, 3934.