The Cowes Jetty Goods Shed, built in 1873, was an essential structure that originally served mariners and locals as a secure storage space for goods arriving by sea. The historical Cowes Jetty Goods Shed building is currently in review with an exciting opportunity to reimagine its future. Council engaged with the community from 18 December 2024 to 2 March 2025, to understand and consider the community’s vision of the space and ask what they wanted to see there!

The community engagement process for the Cowes Jetty Goods Shed demonstrated the high level of public interest in the future of this iconic site. Through surveys and creative submissions, participants expressed a strong desire to see the Goods Shed revitalised as a welcoming, accessible and vibrant destination that contributes to the cultural and economic vitality of Cowes.

Council is continuing to progress plans for the future use of the Cowes Jetty Goods Shed and is pleased to advise that an Expression of Interest (EOI) process for the lease of the facility is scheduled to be released in October 2026.

While it was originally anticipated that the EOI process would commence earlier, additional planning, project development and lease preparation work has been undertaken to ensure the opportunity is well positioned to deliver long-term benefits for the community, visitors and the broader Cowes foreshore precinct.

The heritage significance of the Goods Shed was a strong theme raised through community engagement. Council has worked closely with Heritage Victoria to ensure these values are appropriately recognised and protected as part of the future lease framework and proposed refurbishment works.

The EOI process will seek interested parties with a vision for activating the Goods Shed in a way that complements the precinct and contributes to the ongoing vibrancy of the waterfront. Following the selection of a preferred lessee and finalisation of lease arrangements, the project will move into its next phase, including planned upgrades and refurbishment works to support the building's future use.

In the meantime, businesses will continue to activate the Cowes Jetty Triangle, separate to the Goods Shed lease, and Council will continue to explore opportunities for temporary activations where possible.

Council appreciates the community's patience, ongoing interest and valuable input into the future of the Goods Shed and looks forward to providing further updates as the lease process progresses.

The Cowes Jetty Goods Shed is a significant site in Bass Coast’s history. The Phillip Island Historical Society explained:

The goods shed on the Cowes Jetty stands as a landmark in the history of Phillip Island, symbolising a vital link to the past when sea travel was the sole means of connection between the island and the mainland. This simple yet essential structure served both the community and the mariners by providing a safe storage space for goods and equipment. Its role was indispensable, particularly when islanders relied heavily on goods brought by sea—everything from household supplies to materials for local industries. For mariners, the shed provided a secure place to store their gear, protecting it from the elements and readying it for the frequent journeys back and forth across the water.

The origins of the goods shed highlight the community’s pressing needs in the 1870s, a time when isolation made every supply drop essential. Designed with a distinctive bow roof—a characteristic that would come to be both locally and historically treasured—the goods shed became a rare example of nineteenth-century industrial architecture. Today, it is celebrated not only for its functionality but as a rare architectural piece, holding state and local heritage value as one of the last of its kind.

Beyond its physical structure, the goods shed stands as a tangible reminder of a period when Phillip Island’s connection to the mainland and the wider world was tenuous and completely dependent on maritime transport. For the community, this shed is more than a historical building; it embodies an era of close community ties and reliance on the sea for survival.

Over the years, the Cowes Jetty Goods Shed has had many uses. With the site currently vacant, Council has an exciting opportunity to reimagine what the space can offer for 2025 and into the future, with input from the community.

The Cowes Jetty Goods Shed is approximately 63m2, with access to water and electricity.

The online consultation was designed in three parts, to maximise the opportunity for community to leave their feedback with consideration to the time they had to spare.

• Option 1 was a 30 second, short-form survey “tell us in 1-2 words your big idea for our small space by the sea”
• Option 2 was a 10-minute long-form survey asking questions like “what type of business/operation would you like?” and “how would you like to see community and visitors engaging with the site?”
• Option 3 gave community an opportunity to upload an image and create a mood board of what they envision the site to be

The word cloud represents all of the responses submitted for this question, and the larger the word the more frequent that word was submitted. Here we can see 'cafe' and 'cafe or restaurant' were the two most comment entries for this question.

Below is a summary of the top 4 business ideas submitted through the community feedback.

Below is a summary of the images submitted through the Mood Board. The images are in order of most supported, in order of amount of 'likes' an image received.