Front Beach

The Front Beach is situated on Zealley Bay between Yellow Bluff and Point Danger. Yellow Bluff is named for its yellow limestone cliffs and Point Danger for the dangerous offshore reefs that were a shipping hazard. Atop Yellow Bluff is Elephant Walk where the circuses that once visited in the summer exercised their elephants. At the south end of the Front Beach is Cosy Corner that is protected from south westerly winds and as the long ebb tide goes out it reveals shallow pools that are very suitable and safe for children. The beach was once lined with bathing boxes set back in the dunes that began to be erected in the 1880s. Boxes were owned by families, numbered and the Council collected revenue for the right. The first clubhouse of the Torquay Life Saving Club was situated in a bathing box with a bell tower and flagpole. The Front Beach panorama has altered over the years and is now very recognisable for its line of Norfolk Island pines along the Esplanade.

In the 2009 Surf Coast Shire Heritage Study the Front Beach between Point Danger and Yellow Bluff was considered on a local level aesthetically and historically significant as it reflects the historical and social heart of Torquay as a seaside resort. Its visual qualities are identified by the elevated grassed areas, line of Norfolk Island Pine trees near the beach foreshore, Cypress and other mature exotic and native trees, bluestone retaining wall on the foreshore, war memorials and William Parker memorial plaque at Point Danger, and the A.L. Long memorial and Joseph H. Scammell anchor in the foreshore reserve. The area was recognised on state level as socially significant as it is valued by the Torquay and more broadly the Victorian community for its seaside recreational value.