John Quinn & Co was a highly successful but let's be fair somewhat dodgy real estate developer active in the first half of the 20th century; one of the things the company made a bad habit of was piggybacking developments on other larger estates, qv Quinn's 'Milleara Station Estate' (where there was not and never will be a station) near the much more important Milleara Estate. In this case the only really 'dodgy' element is the extremely peculiar imaginative surrounds to the otherwise accurate plan, which puts the 'Back Beach' right next door, whereas it is more like 12 km away. Queenscliff and Portsea are, similarly, 12-14 km further away. The suggestion that the Pacific Ocean is 4 miles from the estate is also arguable.
What is important for us is of course that in this design via the surveyor Bonwick, we see a well-placed internal reserve (now known as Quinn Park) one block back from the beach. The park space is, you will note, included without comment: it's just best practice for the time.
When was 'the time'? The estate was being actively promoted in 1927, as per this ad from the Melbourne Herald 28 September of that year, page 17. Note there is some uncertainty about whether the homeowners of Rye Beach Estate should be weekend-only or permanently abiding.
This was largely built as designed. View it here.
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