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Point Nepean National Park

Point Nepean National Park is part of an Aboriginal cultural landscape in the traditional Country of the Bunurong People. Parks Victoria respects the deep and continuing connection that Bunurong Traditional Owners have to these lands and waters, and we recognise their ongoing role in caring for Country.

The history of Point Nepean spans back thousands of years to the Bunurong people and it has also played an important role in shaping the early European settlement and defence of Australia, being used to quarantine people arriving in Victoria, defending the colony and for military training.

Walk or cycle through this rugged coastal landscape and and enjoy panoramic ocean and bay views.

Explore military forts and tunnels, learn about the people who passed through the Quarantine Station - and see fascinating artefacts spanning back over 150 years. View the site and memorial where Prime Minister Harold Holt went missing while swimming at the nearby Cheviot Beach.

Things to do in the area

Aboriginal history
Point Nepean is the traditional Country of the Bunurong People who have lived on and around this important cultural place for over 35,000 years. The coastline has been an important source of shellfish and other foods and extensive shell middens are reminders of the enduring association that Traditional Owners have with this area.

European arrival
Point Nepean has evidence of some of the earliest European settlement in Victoria, including pastoral activities and lime burning. Shepherd’s Hut, located in the Quarantine Station, is one of the earliest intact limestone buildings in Victoria. Its cellar dates to 1845.

Quarantine 
Established in 1852, the Quarantine Station was the major place for quarantine purposes in Victoria until 1979 and was closed in 1980. Animals were also quarantined here and you can see the remains of the jetty built for this purpose in 1878 at nearby Observatory Point. The beach here is a beautiful spot for a picnic. 

The walk to Observatory Point is 2km / 30 minute along Coles Track from the Quarantine Station. While you're there, take the Walter Pisterman Walk inland to nearby Gunners Cottage and Point Nepean Cemetery, where those who died in quarantine are buried. If you're on a bicycle you can continue along Coles Track to Gunners Cottage. 

Defence
The entrance to Port Phillip was once the most heavily fortified port in the Southern Hemisphere. There are many Colonial and Commonwealth structures from the 1880s–1940s located around the park. Fort Nepean is considered to be one of the best examples in Australia of a major fort complex exhibiting the changes in military engineering over the 19th and 20th centuries.

The walk from Gunners Cottage to Fort Nepean is approximately 3km or 45 minutes. On the way, you can explore the remains of Fort Pearce, Pearce Barracks and Eagles Nest. Fort Pearce was established in 1911 and designed to take advantage of the six-inch Mark VII guns being introduced to coastal defence at that time. The Pearce Barracks site is where many of the army personnel stationed at Point Nepean lived. Eagles Nest was the site of Australia’s largest 'Disappearing Gun'.

National Park
After World War II, soldiers were removed from the forts and the buildings and fortifications declared redundant. The area remained closed to the public and was used as an occasional firing range and training ground until 1988 when, as part of the Bicentennial celebrations, control of the site was transferred to Victoria, declared a national park and opened to the public. The Quarantine Station became part of the national park in 2009.