OUR STORY
Portsea Surf Life Saving Club was formed in 1949 by a group of local residents who’d seen enough. Mt. Levy Beach, the Portsea Back Beach as most people know it, was notoriously dangerous, and the people who lived here decided they were going to do something about it.
They built a clubhouse out of a packing crate. It wasn’t much, but it was the start of something that’s now saved over 5,500 lives.
The first permanent clubhouse went up on this site in 1960. It grew over the decades, survived a storm that nearly took it out in the 80s, and was rebuilt from the ground up by the community after that. Every version of this building has told the same story: when Portsea needed it, the Peninsula showed up.
THE 2019 REBUILD
By 2013, it was clear the clubhouse had reached the end of its life. A group of volunteers took on the job of designing, planning, fundraising for, and building something built to last, including a new access road so ambulances and emergency vehicles could actually reach the building.
In April 2019, members and supporters gathered to open the clubhouse you’ll find here today. It wouldn’t have happened without the Victorian Government, the Mornington Peninsula Shire Council, the Commonwealth Government, the Portsea SLSC Foundation, and a community of families who backed the project from day one.
WHAT WE STAND FOR
Three things guide everything we do.
- Respect and teamwork.
We’re one club. That means working together across every age and background, valuing different perspectives, and respecting everyone who’s worn the cap before us. - Protect the community.
Keeping people safe on this beach is why we exist. It shapes how we train, how we patrol, and how we show up for the Peninsula. - Empower strong, resilient leaders.
Our older members teach the younger ones. Everyone shares the load. And we keep investing in the next generation, because that’s how this club outlasts any one of us.