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“Fifty Eight years on the ‘Nautilus
Dining Experience’ is still identified as a
‘Must Do’ when in the tropical far North of
Queensland”.
With fifty eight years of continuous
operation on the same site, Nautilus remains
the icon restaurant of tropical Queensland
with a history matched by very few
Australian restaurants.
The story begins with Max & Dianna Bowden
who arrived in Australia in the early
1950’s. Max had been an agent in Her
Majesty’s Secret Service, and had come to
Australia seeking to start a new life away
from the United Kingdom. His new wife
Dianna, an elegant and very attractive lady,
was a Beau Lyons & first cousin to Queen
Elizabeth II.
This intriguing pair found Port Douglas,
fell in love with the natural beauty of the
tropical paradise, and took up residence.
They purchased most of the property bounded
by Macrossan, Murphy, Grant and Wharf
Street, basically the whole side of
flagstaff hill that included the current
Nautilus Restaurant site. Max planted an
orchid and Dianna was designing and
manufacturing exquisite shell jewellery that
she sold to department stores in Sydney and
Melbourne, & exported to London.
The beautiful jewellery was very popular and
so a great number of people began journeying
to Port Douglas specifically to buy direct
from the factory. Whilst there were plenty
of pubs in town at the time there were no
restaurants. Max & Di realized the
opportunity to supplement their living and
began serving morning tea, lunch and
afternoon tea.
And so in 1954 Nautilus Restaurant was born.
The Bowdens operated Nautilus themselves for
about 4 years before offering the lease to
Bart Allen who had arrived in Port Douglas
seeking to run a restaurant. A number of
restaurateurs then followed with varying
levels of success. Perhaps the most
accomplished in this period were partners
John Haywood and Bill Austin who took over
the lease in 1971. The pair had a theatrical
background and a focused on a provincial
style menu sourcing most of their produce
from the surrounding region and even grew
their own fruit and vegetables. A large
fishing fleet operated out of Port Douglas
at this time and fresh reef fish including
coral trout were readily available. Visitors
including Sir Lawrence Olivier, Vivian
Leigh, Rupert Murdoch, Goff Whitlam & Paul
Hogan, were perhaps the first to savour the
flavor of the now famous Whole Coral Trout.
In 1980 ownership of the restaurant freehold
and operation changed when the Bowdens sold
the property to their close friends Dianne
Cilento and Anthony Sheaffer. Dianne Cilento
had enjoyed celebrity status in the 60's and
70's with a successful film and stage career
and a marriage to Sean Connery while he was
starring as the first James Bond. Dianne had
moved to Port with Tony a couple of years
earlier to purchase the property that is now
Karnak play house.
Di & Tony’s background in theatre saw the
Restaurant further develop its theatrical
demeanor in the early 80’s. This was a
decade of excesses, & Nautilus surely held
its own in all things decadent, as everybody
who was anybody visited. Nautilus won Best
Restaurant Queensland & was runner up for
Best Restaurant Australia. In 1984 the
restaurant celebrated its 30th birthday with
the biggest bash Port Douglas had ever seen
with Premier Jo Bjelke-Peterson opening the
festivities.
Sunday lunches were the biggest event of the
week for Nautilus. Each week a guest
‘Celebrity Chef’ would nominate their best
dishes and people from the surrounding areas
including Cairns would arrive to dine at the
restaurant. The antiquated Queensland
licensing restrictions at this time meant
that the pubs could not serve liquor after a
certain time of day. Nautilus some how
managed to keep the drinks flowing for these
luncheons as they continued into the night,
without being raided by the local police.
In 1986 Diane persuaded chef Mogens Bay
Esbensen to leave his restaurant in Sydney
and come to Nautilus. Mogens had owned a
restaurant in Thailand and his ability to
combine tropical ingredients with Thai
flavours pioneered what is now considered
Modern Australian Cuisine. During his time
running Nautilus, Mogens operated cooking
schools at the restaurant.
When Mogens returned to Sydney in 1989 to
open his next restaurant ‘Butlers’, the
Nautilus lease was taken over by Gold Coast
restaurateurs John and Carmel Forest. Latter
that year the restaurant property was sold
by Di & Tony to the Wearne family consisting
of Warren & Narelle, Grahame & Jeanette and
Duncan & Janice. The family appointed Carmel
as manager and the good times continued.
Warren had been a successful restaurateur in
Sydney and the Gold Coast running Elizas at
Double Bay, Oatlands House at Dundas, and
Oskars on the Gold Coast. With his wife
Narelle he operated Nautilus until sadly he
passed away in 1996.
Cemented in the history of Nautilus is the
US presidential visit of Bill & Hillary
Clinton in October 1996. One night at around
8:40 pm, with no prior reservation, and two
small tables of "minders" already dining in
the restaurant, two of the Clintons' senior
security officers entered the restaurant and
spoke with Carmel. She was asked if all the
guests had arrived, they had. The secret
service men then proceeded to advise her
that all of the restaurant’s telephones had
been disconnected and that the President and
First Lady would be arriving to dine in
around 10 minutes. None of the other diners
then present in the restaurant were allowed
to leave.
Hillary had seen a feature on Nautilus in
the New York Times and she had included a
romantic anniversary dinner at Nautilus in
their holiday plans. The restaurant was
sealed off, Murphy Street was blocked at
both ends and officers were stationed at all
points including the kitchen. The Clintons
dined alone, and enjoyed their own intimate
"Nautilus Experience". There was a small
wedding party in the restaurant and Bill
signed their wedding certificate and the
bride presented her bouquet to Hillary for
her wedding anniversary.
After his brothers passing, Grahame and his
wife Jeanette took over Warren’s family
interest in the restaurant. The couple made
many sojourns from Sydney to enjoy Nautilus
and Port Douglas often bringing their young
daughter Raechel-Skye. Grahame & Jeanette
moved to Port permanently in 2001 and now
own and operate the restaurant outright,
having acquired the remaining interest in
2004. They are hopeful that through their
daughter there will be longevity for
Nautilus.
Grahame & Jeanette offer their thanks to the
many dedicated people that over the past 58
years have made contributions to Nautilus.
All those chefs, waiters, managers and
patrons that have been a part of this
special Port Douglas Icon. Hopefully the
restaurant will be celebrating 75 years
having continued in the interim to delight
many more patrons, both first time visitors
and old friends. |
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