Point Wilson is a locality located on the northern shores of

Corio Bay Corio Bay is one of numerous internal bays in the southwest corner of Australia's Port Phillip, and is the bay on which abuts the City of Geelong. The nearby suburb of Corio takes its name from Corio Bay. Etymology When Hamilton Hume and Willi ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. it is approximately 60 kilometres by road from

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, and 25 kilometres by road from

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

. The locality is bounded by Pousties Road to the west, the

Princes Freeway Princes Freeway is a Australian freeway, divided into two sections, both located in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The freeway links Melbourne to Geelong in the west, and to Morwell, Victoria, Morwell in the east. It continues be ...

to the north west, Little River to the north east, and

to the south. Point Wilson is sparsely populated, and public access to the area is restricted due to the

explosives An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

facility located in the area. Other nearby land uses include the Murtcaim Wildlife Area and

Melbourne Water Melbourne Water is a Victorian Government-owned statutory authority that controls and manages much of the water bodies and supplies in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, including the reservoirs, lakes, wetlands, canals and urban cree ...

Western Treatment Plant The Western Treatment Plant (formerly the Metropolitan Sewage Farm or, more commonly, the Werribee Sewage Farm) is a sewage treatment plant in Cocoroc, Victoria, Australia, west of Melbourne's central business district, on the coast of Port P ...

Environment

The Point Wilson area is environmentally sensitive. It forms part of the

Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site The Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site is one of the Australian sites listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. It was designated on 15 December 1982, and is listed as Ram ...

as a wetland of international importance. It contains important habitat for the critically endangered

orange-bellied parrot The orange-bellied parrot (''Neophema chrysogaster'') is a small parrot endemic to southern Australia, and one of only three species of parrot that migrate. It was described by John Latham in 1790. A small parrot around long, it exhibits sex ...

that uses the coastal

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is dominated ...

as a wintering site. The site is part of the

Werribee and Avalon Important Bird Area The Werribee and Avalon Important Bird Area comprises some 37 km2 of coastal land along the northwestern shore of Port Phillip in the state of Victoria, in southeastern Australia. It is important for a wide variety of waterbirds. Descripti ...

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance for

wetland A wetland is a distinct ecosystem that is flooded or saturated by water, either permanently (for years or decades) or seasonally (for weeks or months). Flooding results in oxygen-free (anoxic) processes prevailing, especially in the soils. The ...

and

waterbird A water bird, alternatively waterbird or aquatic bird, is a bird that lives on or around water. In some definitions, the term ''water bird'' is especially applied to birds in freshwater ecosystems, although others make no distinction from seabi ...

s as well as orange-bellied parrots. The area surrounding the jetty consists of salt marshes, a low basalt bluff, and shelly ridges. The environment is considered in good condition due to the lack of human disturbance.

Explosives

Point Wilson has been used as an

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

since 1962, when the facility was relocated from the Altona explosives storage near Laverton. Owned by the

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, the Point Wilson Explosives Area is 326 hectares in size. A 2,700 metre long steel and concrete jetty and wharf structure was constructed in the late 1950s for the importation of explosives. Four explosives storage and handling buildings were constructed in 1981. Commercial ships are used to transport ordnance and explosives from

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to Australia, where they are offloaded at facilities including Point Wilson. 1994 saw the East Coast Armaments Complex proposal made by the Commonwealth of Australia, which involved the upgrade of the facility to handle the loading of explosives to naval ships. The proposal was deferred, although the facility continues to handle the import of explosives for the defence forces.

Chemicals

ICI proposed a

chloralkali The chloralkali process (also chlor-alkali and chlor alkali) is an industrial process for the electrolysis of sodium chloride (NaCl) solutions. It is the technology used to produce chlorine and sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), which are comm ...

-based

petrochemical Petrochemicals (sometimes abbreviated as petchems) are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sou ...

complex for Point Wilson in the 1970s. This proposal did not succeed. The Victorian State Government in 1994 proposed that the

Coode Island Coode Island is a former island at the convergence of the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers, 4 km west of central Melbourne, Australia. The island was formed by the excavation of the Coode Canal in 1887, and became connected to the mainland ...

bulk liquid chemical storage facility be relocated to the adjacent Point Lillias. The proposal was dropped in June 1997.

Weather station

Point Wilson is the location of a

Bureau of Meteorology The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM or BoM) is an executive agency of the Australian Government responsible for providing weather services to Australia and surrounding areas. It was established in 1906 under the Meteorology Act, and brought together ...

weather station A weather station is a facility, either on land or sea, with instruments and equipment for measuring atmospheric conditions to provide information for weather forecasts and to study the weather and climate. The measurements taken include tempera ...

that opened in 1990.

Culture

Some of the shooting locations featured in the film ''

Mad Max ''Mad Max'' is an Australian post-apocalyptic Action film, action film series and media franchise created by George Miller (filmmaker), George Miller and Byron Kennedy. It began in 1979 with ''Mad Max (film), Mad Max'', and was followed by thre ...

'' are on Point Wilson Road.

References

Coode Island/Point Lillias: Case Study - Intergovernmental Resource (Miss)Management
''Peter D Brotherton, B Sc(Hons), Ph D, Dip Ed''
REPORT relating to the proposed EAST COAST ARMAMENT COMPLEX POINT WILSON, VIC
{{authority control Towns in Victoria (Australia) Ramsar sites in Australia

Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...

Important Bird Areas of Victoria (Australia) Suburbs of Geelong