VICPort & river
Dromana
Lime burners, woodcutters and fishermen needed a jetty.
1862Government funds a jetty
WHAT STARTED IT
Dromana sits on the flat between Arthurs Seat and Mount Martha, where a beach faces the bay. It became the landing place for the district’s lime burners, woodcutters and fishermen, and later for farm produce from Red Hill and Main Ridge.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
After local lobbying, a jetty was funded in 1862, and by 1863 lighters called there for firewood. Dromana became the seat of the local road district and shire, and bay steamers brought holidaymakers until cars made Rosebud the bigger centre.
TURNING POINTS
1862The colonial Estimates provide £2,000 for a jetty at Dromana.
1863A visitor finds a public house, two stores and a long jetty used by firewood lighters.
1874The Flinders and Kangerong road district becomes a shire, with its offices at Dromana.
1920sA progress association markets building allotments to motoring holidaymakers.
1976The shire offices move to Rosebud; the old Dromana offices become a history museum.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A residential and seaside town below Arthurs Seat, with shops facing the pier, foreshore camping and a drive-in. Many of its houses are holiday homes.