Pope's Eye | |
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  Pope's Eye | |
| Coordinates:38°16′37″S144°41′56″E / 38.277°S 144.699°E /-38.277; 144.699 | |
| Location | Port Phillip,Victoria |
| Operator | Parks Victoria |
| Area | |
| • Total | 4 hectares (9.9 acres)[1] |
| Elevation | descends 1.5–10 m (4 ft 11 in – 32 ft 10 in) |
| Designation | Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park |
| Website | Pope's Eye |
Pope's Eye is the uncompleted foundation for an islandfort intended to defend the entrance toPort Phillip in the state ofVictoria, Australia. The undefined area of the fort, generally assessed at 4 hectares (9.9 acres), is one of six separate areas that comprise thePort Phillip Heads Marine National Park and is a popular site fordivers.[1]
The fort has been protected as amarine reserve since 1979 and is now part of the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park. It is located about 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) inside Port Phillip Heads, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) east ofQueenscliff, 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) north ofPortsea, and is less than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) south-west of the formerChinaman's Hat. It is named after a naval midshipman and has noreligious connotations.
Construction of Pope's Eye began in the 1880s, under the supervision ofSir William Jervois, by dumpingbluestone boulders on a submerged 12-metre (39 ft) deep sandbank until they formed a horse-shoe shaped artificial reef, open to the north-east, just above high-water level. Construction ceased before completion as a fort because improvements in naval gunnery enabled the entrance to Port Phillip (The Rip) and the associated shipping channel to be protected by guns at the nearbySwan Island fort, as well as atFort Queenscliff andFort Nepean, making Pope's Eye redundant for military purposes. The reef now hosts a navigation beacon.[3]
The inside of the 'eye' is only about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) deep and is accessible to small boats as a sheltered anchorage. It is protected from strong currents and the whole structure is popular with snorkellers and scuba-divers.[1]
The reef provides a rich habitat based on the underwater forest of marine algae, such as giant and leatherykelp, that sustains a rich fauna offish and marineinvertebrates, includingsponges andsoft corals. The site is part of theSwan Bay and Port Phillip Bay Islands Important Bird Area, identified as such byBirdLife International.[4] Pope's Eye is an important breeding site forAustralasian gannets, which nest on platforms constructed for them as well as on the rocks of the reef, which are also used for roosting byblack-faced cormorants and for foraging byruddy turnstones. The site is often visited byAustralian fur seals andBurrunan (bottlenose) dolphins.[5]
{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)| NearEast Gippsland | |
|---|---|
| NearCorner Inlet | |
| NearWilsons Promontory | |
| InWestern Port | |
| InPort Phillip | |
| NearPortland Bay | |
| In rivers | |
