Revealing a Mornington Mystery

Revealing a Mornington Mystery

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Posted 2014-09-08 by Fiona Andersonfollow
I'm not meaning to be deliberately mysterious in the article title. The fact is that I visited a site yesterday to see something, and I'm still not entirely sure what it was! So by publicising it here, perhaps I will find out.

The location is the Cape Schanck Road, the one which runs from Boneo Road down to the Cape Schanck Lighthouse . Driving down this attractive, semi-rural road, you wouldn't know this mysterious site lurked off to one side unless someone told you about it. There's no sign, no marker, nothing to indicate that a strange but interesting building, if one can call it that, is just a few metres off the road through the scrub. My partner Dave had been there before, so was able to share the secret with me. The best description I can give is that it's about half way along Cape Schanck Road, on the west side. There is a visible track leading through the scrub, but you could easily miss it if you zoomed by in a car.



What this structure looks like is a bunker or air raid shelter. It's a solid building, with various vents, entrances and hatches. Unfortunately, some of the hatches have been removed (or fallen off), but of those that remain, you can see that they are very solid, and have been designed to be pulled down and secured when one is inside. The structure itself is set into the side of a small hill or mound, a little like a Hobbit home. Sticking up from the structure is a turret, again with a steel hatch, next to which is a spiral staircase.



Walking to the far side of the mound, there is another entrance to the structure, through heavy steel doors. There are unusual symbols adorning the door, which almost suggest an occult connection.



Inside the structure, there is room enough to stand up and walk around. There is evidence of others having visited the place, including a long defunct cassette player.



The place has an eerie vibe, intensified by the fact it is surrounded by bush, and isolated from the road.

Although it's not easy to find this location, alas, others have found it and graffitied it.

Whatever theory I come up with for this place, it doesn't seem quite right. While we were there, two families, including young children, arrived and were swarming around. "Army bunker", one of the party said. "Lime kiln", said another. Army bunker sounds possible, but why the strange symbols on the door? Lime kiln sounds less plausible; why have heavy steel hatches to batten down if it's a lime kiln?

My best guess is a privately built bunker, constructed perhaps around the time of WWII. But that is just a guess.

Whatever it is, it's an interesting piece of history that should be preserved.

#architecture
#cape_schanck
#day_trips
#escape_the_city
#mornington_peninsula
%wnmelbourne
160498 - 2023-06-14 17:47:56

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