After a few days catching up with school friends in Melbourne I headed from Dandenong down to Portsea.
Port Nepean NP played an important part in the history of European settlement in Australia. A quarantine station was built here where migrants were housed on arriving in Australia. It was also an important defence facility and training ground.
The first shot of the British Empire in the First World War and the first Australian shot of World War II were fired from Gun Emplacement 6, earning its entry into military history. These battlements were modified and used right up until the end of World War II.
Prime Minister Harold Holt (1966-1967) had a holiday home at nearby Portsea and regularly swam and dived in the rough waters of the Southern Ocean off Cheviot Beach. Just prior to Christmas 1967 he went missing while swimming off this beach. Despite the biggest search ever undertaken in Australia his body was never recovered.
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