Long before European arrival, Churchill Island was part of the traditional lands of the
Boonwurrung people, specifically the Yallok Bulluk clan. For thousands of years Indigenous people harvested its rich marine resources such as shellfish, fish, small marsupials, and seasonal mutton-birds (short-tailed shearwaters). Ochre deposits on Churchill Island were used for ceremonial body decoration, indicating the island’s cultural significance. Evidence of this long habitation persists in the form of shell middens on the island. This was the first European garden and crop of wheat grown in Victoria. Grant also built a simple blockhouse from local timber, though he stayed only a short time before continuing his survey journey. The island itself was named “Churchill Island” in honour of the seedsman, Churchill, rather than after Grant. After this brief 1801 experiment, the island saw no permanent European settlement until the mid-19th century. In 1860, farmer Samuel Pickersgill and his family arrived from nearby
French Island, becoming the first resident settlers (though they held no title to the land). In 1872,
Samuel Amess, a prominent stonemason and former Mayor of Melbourne, purchased Churchill Island as a rural retreat for his family. Amess constructed the substantial Amess House homestead (completed 1872) and various farm outbuildings, many of which remain intact. He expanded the gardens, planting exotic species like a Norfolk Island pine (gifted by botanist
Ferdinand von Mueller) and introduced new livestock. As a member of the Acclimatisation Society, Amess released game such as rabbits, quail and pheasants, and famously established a fold of shaggy Highland cattle on the island. These Scottish Highland cattle thrived and became a lasting feature of Churchill Island’s farm (their descendants still graze there today). The Amess family era (1872–1920s) saw the island used mainly as a summer home and working farm, managed by hired farmhands while the Amess family visited seasonally. Following the Amess period, Churchill Island changed hands several times in the early 20th century. In 1936 it was bought by Melbourne dentist Dr. Harry Jenkins, whose family maintained it as a farm and holiday spot. Dr. Jenkins introduced modernisations like a tractor and even built the island’s first bridge to Phillip Island in 1959. By the 1970s the historical importance of Churchill Island was widely recognised. The Victorian Conservation Trust negotiated to acquire the island, and in 1976 Churchill Island was sold to the state of Victoria for preservation. Volunteers and a “Friends of Churchill Island” group helped to maintain and restore the property over the next decades. Extensive restoration has returned the buildings and gardens to their heritage appearance, and a modern concrete bridge replaced the old timber one for reliable access. Remains of stone foundations from two unknown buildings are also preserved on the island. Today visitors can explore two historic cottages (the Rogers cottage and Amess House), heritage farm structures, and gardens that evoke the island’s 19th-century heyday. Churchill Island’s rich layered history, from Indigenous heritage and first European farming to its preservation as a historic site which offers a tangible connection to Victoria’s early years. Churchill Island and the area around it served as the location for the 1977 Australian film
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