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View from Flagstaff 50 + years ago
View of 4 Mile Beach 1/2 century ago
Entrance to Nautilus Restaurant
Di Bowden's Shell Jewellery
Old Aerial of Nautilus Location - still there
A famous Guest - one of many
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The Nautilus Story
History of Port Douglas Australia
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“Fifty years on the ‘Nautilus
Dining Experience’ is still identified as a ‘Must Do’
when in the tropical far North of Queensland”.
With fifty two 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 52 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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"The Ultimate Outdoor
Tropical Dining Experience"
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