40 years after Aussie PM Harold Holt disappeared there, David Whitley pays a visit to Cheviot Beach in Victoria.
The Disappearance
On December 17th, 1967 (that’s 40 years ago, then), Australia lost its prime minister. To say the circumstances were unusual would be something of an understatement, and unsurprisingly they led to all manner of conspiracy theories. Holt – a strong swimmer – had decided to go for a dip at Cheviot Beach, near his holiday home at Portsea on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula.
He never re-emerged from the water, leading to one of the biggest searches in Australia’s history and speculation about suicide or capture by Chinese spy submarines.
The Beach
The Mornington Peninsula does have some lovely, tranquil beaches looking out onto Port Philip Bay, but Cheviot is definitely not one of them. Even when the wind is down, the Bass Strait crashes against the rocks and surges up little inlets. It’s undeniably beautiful in a rugged way, but you don’t need the ghost of a Prime Minister hanging around to warn that it’s not the world’s safest swimming spot. Quite where a Chinese sub could park itself is difficult to fathom; the strong currents seem by far the most likely culprit.
The Military Zone
What is especially interesting about the beach – and rarely gets mentioned when raking over the Holt disappearance – is that is in what was formerly military land. The reason it was a private beach with no-one on it was because the public weren’t allowed anywhere near.
Even today, with the Park at Point Nepean being a National Park, much of the land is still fenced off. Helpful little signs warning of possible unexploded bombs are enough to deter anyone trying to sneak in and go wallaby-spotting. In 1967, the only people that could use Cheviot Beach had special clearance to be there. However, there are some perks to being Commander-in-Chief, and Holt pulled rank to get a nice spot to himself.
Nowadays it’s not quite so exclusive. Visitors to the park can walk down there or cycle to the small memorial that looks out above the crashing waves.
War Games at Victoria’s Gibraltar
The Park has a lot more to it, however, than one unfortunate exit 40 years ago. There’s evidence of extensive war games to explore amongst the wild bush. Amongst the sprawling Moonah trees are plenty of fortifications, from command posts to retractable gun placements. Most impressive of all is Fort Nepean, from where the first shots of both World War I and World War II were fired.
It’s an extensive network of tunnels, hidey-holes for heavy artillery and bomb-proof rooms. It was known as Victoria’s Gibraltar for good reason, and bullet-holes and grenade marks from army cadet larkabouts are still very evident.
The infra red bunkers of Port Philip Bay
A little further round is the remains of one of the most ridiculous military follies in history. The dishevelled bunker was part of a cunning World War II defence project that would fire an infrared beam across the mouth of Port Philip Bay. That beam was at periscope level, so any enemy submarines would trigger it, and could be dealt with accordingly. The grand plan lasted about four hours until the numerous birds and dolphins setting the alarms off drove everyone absolutely mental… Perhaps if it was still operational, it could have cleared up the Chinese sub theory?
This article was originally written for Ninemsn.
Copyright David Whitley
