Crows Nest Camp Searchlight Emplacements, The Esplanade and 1 Flinders Street
The Esplanade and 1 Flinders Street QUEENSCLIFF, QUEENSCLIFFE BOROUGH
Central Queenscliff Precinct
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Statement of Significance
Statement of Significance as recorded under the Queenscliff Heritage Study 2009
The following is the statement of significance from the Victorian Heritage Inventory:
Part of the defensive network installed to protect Port Phillip Heads. These facilities are shown in plans dated 1918 (Read, 1918), but searchlights have been known to exist in this area before this time. Possible State Heritage significance as part of the defence landscape of Port Phillip and Queesncliff. Local value as part of the Queenscliff/ Shortlands Bluff defence landscape.
In addition the following is also noted:
The Crows Nest camp searchlight and gun emplacements are of historical significance to the Borough of Queensliff and potentially also to the State of Victoria, for their association with the ongoing and evolving Port Phillip Heads defence network of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The structures emphasise the historically important strategic and naval fortification role of Queenscliff in defending Melbourne. They also, through their location, orientation, plan and form, provide evidence of the workings of these defensive structures, and of the historical approach to defending Port Phillip Heads and Melbourne.
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Crows Nest Camp Searchlight Emplacements, The Esplanade and 1 Flinders Street - Physical Description 1
Extract from the 2009 study
Located on the foreshore reserve, each emplacement is partly set into the sand, and faces south toward The Rip and the Bass Strait beyond. Originally, each emplacement appears to have consisted of two rooms: a reinforced concrete room and a windowless room behind. The front chamber has an open space for traversing a light or weapon; this is sheltered by a reinforced concrete slab cantilevered over the working space immediately below it. The square concrete pad of the roof contains a circular arrangement of raised iron bolts from the former gun mounting. The rear room possibly served as a work room, rest space, shelter or plotting room. Entry was via a set of concrete steps that descend into each shelter. Both structures are in poor repair with the concrete gradually breaking up in the harsh coastal environment. The eastern of the two structures is the more intact.
Designed to light the Heads to prevent enemy vessels entering Port Phillip Bay unseen at night, they were an integral part of the Bay defences. They also reflect the evolving nature of the defence strategy for Victoria and the continuing concern about naval attack. The structures may also have had a fire control role.
They are included on the Victorian Heritage Inventory as being an important part of the defence landscape of this area.
Crows Nest Camp Searchlight Emplacements, The Esplanade and 1 Flinders Street - Intactness
POOR
Heritage Study and Grading
Queenscliffe - Queenscliffe Heritage Study
Author: Lovell Chen
Year: 2009
Grading:
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LATHAMSTOWEVictorian Heritage Register H1052
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PILOTS COTTAGESVictorian Heritage Register H1618
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ROSENFELDVictorian Heritage Register H1134
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