Portsea Median PriceThe House price is 46% lower than last year.
Surrounding suburbsPortsea Median RentThe House rent is 15% lower than last year.
| | Map | Street view | Nearby property price | | Planning History: | | | Registered as Victorian heritage | Last updated on - May 5, 1999
What is significant?
The Former Fort Franklin (Portsea Camp) consists of a series of gun emplacements, associated barracks and parade ground, commandant's house and timber staff cottage as well as underground bunkers and observation posts dating from c.1940. Buildings associated with the later use of the site by the Lord Mayor's Children's Camp from 1946/47 to 1995 are also on the site. The fort was operated by the Victorian colonial government until Federation when it was taken over by the Commonwealth. From 1946, the site was leased from the army and then the Department of the Interior before being purchased by the Lord Mayor?s Children?s Camp Fund in 1964.The children's camp is now known as the Portsea Camp.
The fort was sited on land formerly occupied in the 1850s by the Watson family who came to Australia from Scotland in 1856. John Watson occupied an area of land which now forms part of the Portsea Camp and built a six room limestone house there, as well as a hut on the foreshore. The limestone house now known as the Commandant's house may date from the Watson period, that is, prior to 1885. The land on which the fort stands was compulsorily acquired in 1885 from John Watson by the Victorian government at a cost of ??1500.
The fort was constructed between 1885 and 1889 as part of the system of fortifications of Port Phillip Bay to protect Melbourne against invasion by Russian raiders. The outer defences in Port Phillip Bay consisted of forts at Queenscliff, and Point Nepean (Crow?s Nest, Nepean and Eagle's Nest). A fort was required at Portsea to form part of the inner defences, together with South Channel Fort and Swan Island. In 1887 the form of the emplacements can be seen in a contemporary illustration. In 1887 the armament at the Fort consisted of three 80-pound muzzle-loading guns, but it was by then decided to substitute three breech loading guns on the disappearing principle. In 1892, Fort Franklin contained two 5 inch 3 ton guns, one 10 inch 25 ton gun, one 4.724 inch Quick Firing gun for sea defence and one 5 barrel Nordenfeldt field gun in case of land attack. (Michael Kitson) The task of Fort Franklin was to guard the South Channel, preventing enemy shipping using the South Channel and to provide a site for examination anchorage, where suspicious ships were ordered to drop anchor and be searched while under the surveillance of gunners.
The gun emplacements at Fort Franklin have been altered, for example the tunnels of the gun emplacement have been bricked up for safety reasons. Some of the joinery around the storage recesses and other details remain. Some evidence of original signage remains. The form of the three gun emplacements is intact and the mounds demonstrate the way the guns were mounted. The barracks building was probably constructed c.1885-89. The barracks, house and staff co |
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