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SHORTLANDS BLUFF

Location

133-135 HESSE STREET QUEENSCLIFF, QUEENSCLIFFE BOROUGH

File Number

FOL/17/50889

Level

Registered

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2018, Looking east .jpg
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2018, Looking east
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Diagram 2367.JPG
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c.1960s carpark.jpg
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1949.jpg
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1940s .jpg
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1937.jpg
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1920s looking east.jpg
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1920.jpg
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1907.jpg
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1882.jpg
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1880.jpg
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1860s.jpg
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1857.jpg
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c.1854.jpg
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1854.jpg
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2018, Twentieth century
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2018, Looking
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2018, World War II bunker on
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2018, Walkway to top of World
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2018, Concealed see-saw
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2018, Former location of the
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2018, Looking west to the
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2010, Hume tower and white
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1920s_Obelisk and white
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1890s view to Shortlands Bluff

Statement of Significance

WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT?

Shortlands Bluff including all of the landscape elements, navigational aids and defence bunkers.

HOW IS IT SIGNIFICANT

Shortlands Bluff is of historical significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion

for inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register:

Criterion A

Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria's cultural history.

Criterion B

Possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Victoria's cultural history.

Criterion D

Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects.

Shortlands Bluff is significant at the State level for the following reasons:

Shortlands Bluff is historically significant for its association with maritime navigation since the 1840s.

The construction of maritime navigational aids at Shortlands Bluff assisted in the safe passage of

vessels into Port Phillip Bay. This was critical for the establishment of Melbourne and the

development of Victoria, particularly following the discovery of gold in 1850. [Criterion A]

Shortlands Bluff is also historically significant for its association with defence from the 1860s until

the end of World War II. Defence emplacements were initially prompted by the discovery of gold in

1850 and the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1853. Additional emplacements and searchlight

bunkers were constructed from the late nineteenth century until the end of World War II. [Criterion

Shortlands Bluff contains uncommon elements associated with maritime navigation and defence.

The White and Black Lighthouses are an uncommon example of lighthouses which were designed

and constructed as a pair. The concrete bunker of the see?]saw searchlight is evidence of the only

known example of this type of searchlight in Victoria and one of only four known examples worldwide.

[Criterion B]

Shortlands Bluff is significant for containing notable examples of elements representing the classes

of maritime navigation and defence. It was the location of some of the earliest maritime navigational

aids and defence emplacements in Victoria. The land formation and location of the place was critical

to the development of Victoria through its ability to provide safe navigational guidance for maritime

vessels entering Port Phillip Bay, and as one of the places in a strategic network around Port Phillip

Bay from which to defend Victoria in the event of seaborne attack. [Criterion D]

Group