Town by town snapshot: Indented Head

THE size of Indented Head is approximately 4.1 square kilometres and has four parks covering nearly 6.2 per cent of total area.

The population of Indented Head in 2011 was 920 people and by the 2016 Census the population was 1,127 showing a population growth of 22.5 percent in the area during that time. The Indented Head property market has been an outstanding performer in recent years seeing a 40 per cent increase in values over a short period, as many who once thought of the town as a sleepy peninsula holiday and fishing village, soon recognised the potential of this charming and peaceful coastal hamlet.

Indented Head was named by Captain Matthew Flinders when exploring Port Phillip Bay in the ship Investigator (1802).

Landing on the east side of the bay he ascended Arthurs Seat and observed on the opposite side of the bay the Bellarine Peninsula with the indented coastline which he named Indented Head.

It was thought that foreshore camping began as early as the 1920s, and in 1951 the Victorian municipal directory described it as a seaside resort with a store, telegraph office, the Batman Park camping area and two private camping areas.

The foreshore is broken into reserves and camping areas; out from the Batman Park camping area the Ozone steel paddle steamer was sunk as a breakwater (1925).

Indented Head is the site of the Jade Tiger Abalone breeding and processing factory, Australia’s largest abalone farm. CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Indented Head is 60 – 69 years with households in Indented Head being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying $1,400 – $1,799 per month on mortgage repayments, and in general, people in Indented Head work in a professional occupation.