Word of mouth (Half Moon Bay) 2018 is a two-panel work which is the largest painting the artist has made to date. It is a colourful and fun, light-hearted scene of an imaginative party that the artist would love to attend at Half Moon Bay in Black Rock. Depicted in the work are over 30 figures, including international tourists, family and friends of McHaffie as well as famous identities such as musicians David Bowie and Solange Knowles, and fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. McHaffie’s DJ friend Lucreccia Quintanilla has set up a DJ deck and speakers on the beach while the party goers are wading in the shallow waters, dancing on the cliff and mingling on the beach in what appears to be an idyllic summer’s day in Bayside.oil on linen (diptych)painting, beach, half moon bay, black rock, bayside, coast, party, rob mchaffie, dj, dance, musician, karl lagerfeld, david bowie, solange knowles, lucreccia quintanilla, port phillip bay, word of mouth, mooji, jon campbell, tourists, family, friends, cliff, rocks, water

Postcards began to be produced in Victoria from 1876. Between 1900 and 1920, picture postcards in Australia became an incredibly popular phenomenon. People could cheaply and easily send messages, without the formality of a letter, and they provided a cheap form of souvenir. Eventually, every event of significance was commemorated in some way with a postcard, and this led to the development of a ‘picture on one side and a message/stamp on the other’ postcard we are familiar with today. They were also a popular form of advertising. This postcard appears to be one in a set of postcards promoting the Black Rock area.Sepia toned postcard depicting Half Moon Bay at Black Rock.black rock, beachside, foreshore, holiday, postcard

half moon bay, elizabeth presa, child, boat, water, poem, bayside city council, public art, scultpure

watercolourcoast, water, landscape, boat, red bluff, half moon bay, sandringham, cliffs, william oliver, bayside, port phillip bay

Sybil Craig, Half Moon Bay c.1930, pencil and watercolour, 21 x 18.8 cm. Bayside City Council Art and Heritage Collection. Purchased 2020.half moon bay, sybil craig, bayside, coast, bathing box, bathers, black rock, boat, landscape

charcoal on papersandringham, craig gough, coast, boat, port phillip bay, sailing, black rock jetty, pier, half moon bay

elizabeth prior, boats, sailing, bay, water, half moon bay, black rock, bayside

Postcards began to be produced in Victoria from 1876. Between 1900 and 1920, picture postcards in Australia became an incredibly popular phenomenon. People could cheaply and easily send messages, without the formality of a letter, and they provided a cheap form of souvenir. Eventually, every event of significance was commemorated in some way with a postcard, and this led to the development of a ‘picture on one side and a message/stamp on the other’ postcard we are familiar with today. They were also a popular form of advertising. This postcard appears to be one in a set of postcards promoting the Black Rock area.Postcard with photographic image which appears to have been hand tinted depicting Half Moon Bay beach at Black Rock. In the foreground in tea-tree bush, the foreshore has beach shacks on it, along with many small boats moored in the bay. A long jetty enters the bay. The photograph has been taken from the cliff top. Printed in red ink on the top right hand corner of the image is "Pier, Half Moon Bay".postcard, beach, landscape, holiday

Postcards began to be produced in Victoria from 1876. Between 1900 and 1920, picture postcards in Australia became an incredibly popular phenomenon. People could cheaply and easily send messages, without the formality of a letter, and they provided a cheap form of souvenir. Eventually, every event of significance was commemorated in some way with a postcard, and this led to the development of a ‘picture on one side and a message/stamp on the other’ postcard we are familiar with today. They were also a popular form of advertising. This postcard appears to be one in a set of postcards promoting the Black Rock area.Colour postcard with a handtinted photograhic image of the cliffs at Black Rock beach, known as Half Moon Bay. People can be seen picnicing on the sand with tide out and a portion of seawall is visible.beach, holiday, black rock, photography, hand tintin

Postcards began to be produced in Victoria from 1876. Between 1900 and 1920, picture postcards in Australia became an incredibly popular phenomenon. People could cheaply and easily send messages, without the formality of a letter, and they provided a cheap form of souvenir. Eventually, every event of significance was commemorated in some way with a postcard, and this led to the development of a ‘picture on one side and a message/stamp on the other’ postcard we are familiar with today. They were also a popular form of advertising. This postcard appears to be one in a set of postcards promoting the Black Rock area.Colour postcard from a hand tinted photographic image depicting the foreshore at Half Moon Bay, Black Rock. There are people in the foreground wading in the sea, a man sitting in a small boat near the shore, several other boats around, people deeper in the water in the background, and a range of beach shacks/bathing boxes in the far background.beach, holiday, leisure, boating, bathing boxes, recreation, foreshore, seaside

kevin taylor, red bluff, cliffs, black rock, port phillip bay, half moon bay, bayside, coast, beach, boat

acrylic on canvassandringham, craig gough, bayside, half moon bay, coast, port phillip bay, sailing, landscape, sandringham band rotunda

acrylic on papersandringham, craig gough, night, rotunda, coast, boat, port phillip bay, sandringham band rotunda, half moon bay, rooftops

charcoal on papersandringham, craig gough, coast, boat, port phillip bay, sailing, half moon bay, ship

charcoal on papersandringham, craig gough, coast, boat, port phillip bay, sailing, half moon bay, roof tops, palm tree

charcoal on papersandringham, craig gough, coast, boat, port phillip bay, sailing, half moon bay, palm tree, sandringham band rotunda, fountain, rotunda

boats, bay, water, half moon bay, black rock, bayside, john trebilco, aerial, houses, streets, coast, beaumaris, beach road

This photograph was the hero image from artist Ayman Kaake’s commissioned exhibition at Eltham Library Community Gallery ‘In their names’ which was Nillumbik Shire’s first collaboration with Midsumma Festival. The work is a self-portrait of the artist at Half Moon Bay in which he is covered by and hugs a Prayer Rug. The backdrop is the sea, a significant border between countries. Kaake born Tripoli, Lebanon arrived in Australia 2011. Ayman’s initial works were made without an artist community. As a young queer man in a country where he did not speak the language, he used his camera to photograph mainly himself. Ayman knows the experience of what it is to feel oneself a foreigner & be conflicted in ones identification with home. His works evoke borders - those of governance, culture, sexuality - through water, sand, & objects of ritual. AYMAN KAAKE (he/him) is an award-winning Lebanon-born Australian photo-media visual artist currently based in Melbourne’s inner northern suburbs. He explores diasporic melancholy and the agony of exile through contemplative portraiture and sculptural, styled poses. Ayman Kaake arrived in Australia as a telecommunications engineer graduate in 2011. Enamored by the camera, he lied to his family to pursue his artistic journey – enrolling in secret in visual arts in Melbourne. His many accomplishments include being a finalist at the National Photographic Portrait Prize in 2022 and 2023, a featured artist for PHOTO 2024 International Festival of Photography for the outdoor program, the winner of Midsumma and Australia Post Award 2022, the winner of the Small Work Art Prize at Brunswick Street Gallery 2022, and recipient of Room to Create residency at Collingwood Yards 2020. A book of Ayman’s artworks has been recently published by Tall Poppy Press. Photographic print on textilelgbtqia+, queer, half moon bay, midsumma, lgbtqia+ politics, migration, criminalisation of homosexuality

A group of beach revellers of all ages pose happily for the photographer against a timber boat, propped sideways on the sand. Iconic bayside bathing boxes line the familiar eroding cliff face and indigenous coastal vegetation of the sand belt. A group of beach revellers of all ages pose happily for the photographer against a timber boat, propped sideways on the sand. Iconic bayside bathing boxes line the familiar eroding cliff face and indigenous coastal vegetation of the sand belt. The story and exact location of this image remain a mystery. Perhaps they are city folk who have caught the train down to Sandringham or Brighton for a liberating day in the sun, sand and water. Featured in "Newsworthy: Melbourne in photographs 1933-1936" exhibition at East Melbourne Library, October to December 2023. Exhibition caption by Fiona Campbell. In August 2025 the image was found published in The Age with the following caption: "Five thousand Richmond district scholars had a day at the beach this week. It was not warm enough for them all to go in bathing." Again the location is not given though it very much resembles Half Moon Bay off Beach Road, Black Rock. It seems unlikely that 5000 individuals were present on the excursion! References: PYRAMIDS IN THE SUN--RICHMOND GOES TO THE BEACH--PALS--"FOUR"--MEMORIAL FOUNTAIN. (1934, March 23). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 3. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203840391Photographer notations on slide: "B19".beaches, 1930-1939

The Half Moon Caravan Park was located at 1–9 Millers Road, Brooklyn, on the corner of Somerville Road. It was established in the 1960s, according to commercial property records but another source states the caravan park was built in 1956, which likely reflects the earliest development of the site before it became widely known as Half Moon. The caravan park closed prior to 2010, when the site was sold and later cleared. When it closed, 73 residents were rehoused through a coordinated effort by Hobsons Bay Council and community agencies. By 2016–2017, the site was being marketed for industrial redevelopment, including a permit for 28 warehouses.half moon caravan park, somerville road, brooklyn