National Heritage List NOMINATION FORM This is the official form to nominate a place for inclusion in the National Heritage List. All questions are compulsory. Complete this checklist before you start the form: I have read the National Heritage List Nomination Guide (further help is available by emailing [email protected]). The nominated place is not already in the National Heritage List. I have considered the different heritage lists, and have concluded that State, Territory or Local Heritage Listing would not be more appropriate. If I am not the place owner, I have consulted the place owner have attached evidence of their support of this nomination. I understand that many more places are nominated than can be assessed. I understand that only the listed values of a place are protected once the place is included in the National Heritage List (not the place itself). Nominated place Q1. Place name: To the south ‐ Shortland Bluff and environs. To the north – Queenscliff Foreshore Reserve, including Princess Park, Citizens Park, Queenscliff Pier, Pilots’ Row and Pilots’ Jetty Q2. Place address: To the south ‐ 131‐135 Hesse Street, Queenscliff, Victoria 3225, plus other adjoining sites without designated street addresses. To the north – 31‐41 Gellibrand Street, 1‐3 Wharf Street, 1‐5 Tobin Drive, Weeroona Parade plus other adjoining sites without designated street addresses. Q3. Area and boundary: In addition to Fort Queenscliff, the Queenscliff Headland site (as shown in red dotted line on the map below) is bounded by: Shortland Bluff o To the north, by Fort Queenscliff o To the east, by the high tide mark of Port Phillip Bay o To the south, by the high tide mark of Port Phillip Bay o To the west, initially from the north following Hesse Street, then to the south by a line south‐west from the south western end of Hesse Street to Port Phillip Bay. Queenscliff Foreshore Reserve o To the north, by Wharf Street to Harbour Street, thence from a line to the south‐east to the high tide mark of Port Phillip Bay o To the east, by the high tide mark of Port Phillip Bay o To the south, by Fort Queenscliff o To the west, by Gellibrand Street. 1 Q4a. Map: Q4b. Is the precise location sensitive? If so, why? The location is not sensitive Q5. Heritage type: Select all that apply. Historic heritage Stakeholders Q6. Name of place owner: The majority of the site is Crown Land administered by the Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP). Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning ‐ Barwon South West (Geelong) Phone: 03 5226 4667 Address: 30 Little Malop Street, Geelong, Victoria, 3220 On a day‐to‐day basis, the majority of the site is managed by the Borough of Queenscliffe (BoQ) as a Committee of Management under the Crown Lands (Reserves) Act. 2 Borough of Queenscliffe 50 Learmonth Street (PO Box 93), Queenscliff, Victoria, 3225 Email – [email protected] Part of the Shortland Bluff site contains three critical navigational aids essential for safe shipping through Port Phillip Heads. As shown in the adjoining image, these are: the White lighthouse Hume Tower Murray Tower. These structures are administered by the Victorian Ports Corporation (Melbourne). Tel: 03 8347 8300 Level 5, 530 Collins Street Melbourne VIC 3000 GPO Box 261 Melbourne Vic 3001 Q7. Name of place occupier: All of the area proposed for incorporation into National Heritage is Crown land. Leasing and licencing arrangements on the subject land will need to confirmed via the Borough of Queenscliff or the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning. Q8. Is the owner and occupier aware of the nomination? Do they support your nomination? Both the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning and the Borough of Queenscliffe are aware of this application – refer to emails below: 3 Q9. Who else has an interest in the place? Department of Defence, Canberra (regarding Fort Queenscliff) Commonwealth Government, through the local Member for Corangamite, the Hon. Sarah Henderson MP (contact: [email protected]) Victorian Government, through the local Member for Bellarine, the Hon. Ms Lisa Neville MP (contact: [email protected]) Mayor and Councillors Queenscliff Borough Council ‐ [email protected] The President, Queenscliff Historical Museum, Mr. Garry Spry, at Museum, Hesse Street, Queenscliff (contact: [email protected]) The President, Queenscliff Maritime Museum, Mr. John Barrett, at Queenscliff Maritime Museum (contact: [email protected]) Mr David Connoley, President, Queenscliff Community Association (contact: [email protected]) Mr Rob Minty, President, Point Lonsdale Civic Association (contact [email protected]) Dr Ursula de Jong, Associate Professor, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University (contact: [email protected]) Ms. Michelle Jepson, Friends of the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse (contact: [email protected]) Mr Chris Smythe, Community member (contact: [email protected]) Joan Lindros, Geelong Environment Council (contact: [email protected]) 4 Importance of the place Q10. Why is this place of outstanding heritage significance to Australia? This submission relates to the Queenscliff Headland, comprising the conjoined sites of Shortland Bluff, Fort Queenscliff and the Queenscliff Foreshore Reserve. For the past 150 years, the Queenscliff Headland has provided strategically critical views (see map below) essential to the economic growth and protection of Australia. To the south, can be seen ‘The Rip’, Point Nepean and, past Point Lonsdale, out to Bass Strait. To the east can be seen the important shipping lanes used to access the major ports of Melbourne and Geelong. Queenscliff Headland Point Lonsdale Point Nepean Lighthouse Reserve Stories and the exceptional geographic position of the Queenscliff Headland aid in the understanding and appreciation of Australia’s history and natural environment. Notably the site has evolved through an intensive defence and navigational/rescue period to the current usage (primarily a navigational function with increasing tourism and recreational usage). The Headland provides an archetype of a maritime and defence landscape that still incorporates both important navigational aids supporting the economic development of Australia, as well as a comprehensive range of military structures associated with the defence of Australia dating back to pre‐World War 1. The evolving cultural landscape produced by such prolonged maritime and military usage is important for its association with, and ability to illustrate, a broad range of processes which exemplify the strategic role of the Queenscliff Headland in the growth and defence of Melbourne, the Colony of Victoria and Australia under Colonial and Commonwealth governments. The Commonwealth Heritage Statement of Significance for Fort Queenscliff substantiates how the entire Headland should be assessed as a whole due to the complete integration of the area’s two primary functions ‐ defending Australia and enabling safe navigation: 5 Defence: The Fort is “the first and the primary defence site for Port Phillip Bay (and it) played a command role in relation to the other fortifications around the heads of the bay. Fort Queenscliff was a key element in making the bay the most heavily defended British port in the southern hemisphere at the time.” Maritime: “The Fort also has strong associations with the early maritime history of Melbourne and Port Phillip Bay. Its role as a navigational aid and signalling post are significant, Integration of military and maritime infrastructure especially as the earliest such Queenscliff Historical Society: Fred Kruger 1882 structures around the bay were constructed on this site.” The entrance to Port Phillip Bay was first navigated in 1802. By 1835, only 12 vessels sailed through Port Phillip Heads, the following year 81 entered the Bay, most from Tasmania, carrying sheep. Then the pastoral settlement of Victoria gathered pace with the Gold Rush creating a completely new impetus with rapidly increasing trade and migration. The colonial peak of shipping movements was reached in 1854 when 2,629 vessels brought immigrants and goods to the colony. The vital role of Shortland Bluff in enabling safe passage through Port Phillip Heads determined and shaped the history of Melbourne and Geelong, thereby impacting Victorian economic development. The Queenscliff Headland demonstrates the somewhat ad hoc advancement of decision making relating to infrastructure development. The Government received sound advice from notable mariners such as Captain William Hobson (later Governor of New Zealand) in 1836, Captain Owen Stanley from HMS Rattlesnake in 1849, and Captain (later Admiral) John Erskine from HMS Havannah, both in 1849, that the optimal place for a lighthouse was at The Heads (with Stanley and Erskine nominating Point Lonsdale, Hobson preferring Point Nepean). This view was supported by other prominent Victorian marine specialists, however, the colonial government opted to put two lighthouses at Shortland Bluff, not Point Lonsdale. The two lighthouses on Shortland’s Bluff were constructed by 1862 and are significant for their association with the development and establishment of navigational aids along the Australian coastline in context of a more coordinated approach to coastal lighting as exemplified by the 1856 Lighthouse Commission, which manifested the first Inter‐colonial Agreement on the provision