Victoria
Location: Point Nepean
Threat: Disposal and Inappropriate Development

Significance of Place
Point Nepean is a national treasure. The National Trust has campaigned for many years for the conservation of the Point Nepean Defence land, its coastal bushland, marine ecosystems and the historic Point Nepean Quarantine Station.

The Quarantine Station, which operated between 1852 and 1978, was the first permanent quarantine station in Victoria and probably one of the earliest and most substantial in Australia. The area is a significant landscape for its unique record of past landforms, remnant coastal flora and fauna, aesthetic characteristics of the rugged coastline and the superb views obtained from the many high points to both ocean and bay-side areas.

Description of Threat
The National Trust has teamed with another not-for-profit community organisation, the Victorian National Parks Association, to stop the sale of land at Point Nepean and to have it and the remaining Commonwealth land retained in public ownership, transferred to the Victorian Government and included in a new Point Nepean National Park under the management of one agency: Parks Victoria.

Action Required
The two bodies are campaigning to bring the Commonwealth and Victorian governments to the negotiating table to resolve their differences over the future of the site. We believe that the Commonwealth government must take the land (85 hectares) off the market, and the State government must publicly commit to a well-funded, well-managed and well-protected long-term future for Point Nepean. Large-scale intensive development such as plush hotels and heliports should be banned.

The two organisations have the support of more than 200 community groups from the environment, heritage, arts and recreation sectors, educational bodies, bushwalking clubs and sporting groups. We also have a substantial in-principle support from a philanthropic (charitable) trust to assist the establishment of the Point Nepean Living Museum, including a coastal and marine studies centre and a cultural heritage centre. So there is a groundswell of community support for our vision.

It is pleasing that the State Government has nominated the joint bid as inconsistent with its objectives for the site. The Australian Democrats have also endorsed the joint submission. High-level discussions are continuing to try to resolve this stand off between the governments.