Panorama of portion of Beacon Cove, Port Phillip Bay, June 1998
Redevelopment of the docklands at Port Melbourne (Tasmanian ferry dock in left foreground)

Port Phillip Bay

Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, Australia

This page has some supplementary information that could be used with the booklet distributed by the Australian Geography Teachers Association through its affiliates. The figures and limited information found here may make little sense without reference to the Coastal Action booklet.

These pages are intended to prompt further investigation of a range of issues rather than provide sufficient information themselves. The information provided here comes from very few sources. Students should seek opinions from a wide variety of sources and from the main people involved in the issue.

Students may find some useful sources of information in the Port Phillip Bay links provided and are encouraged to search for more using suitable search and directory and directory sites.

Some issues in Port Phillip Bay

Pollution at Brighton?

An issue common to coasts is the pollution dumped into the ocean from storm water drains.

Redeveloping the metropolitan foreshore of Port Phillip Bay

The roles and functions of docklands in many cities around the world have changed dramatically with changes in production, distribution and transport over the twentieth century. Melbourne's docklands also are changing.

This page is a little slow as it has several photographs.

Dredging sludge in Corio Bay

Soil which has been contaminated over many years by industries and other activities around the Bay has been disturbed by dredging and seems to be posing major environmental and health risks.

Pollution at Brighton?

Mr Kevin Spencer, a member of the Brighton Foreshore Preservation Group (Vic) expressed his concerns about pollution in Port Phillip Bay (The Age, Thursday, 2 December 1997).

Kevin Spencer spent years campaigning to preserve the Brighton Baths and eventually won. Now he believes he faces a new battle: to save the refurbished baths from water pollution.
Mr Spencer, a member of the Brighton Foreshore Preservation Group and an East Brighton resident for 26 years, said a new stormwater drain flowing into the bay at Brighton would regularly pollute the water around the baths and could sometimes force their closure.

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The Mayor of Bayside, Cr Graeme Disney, said the council was awaiting a report from the Environment Protection Authority on drains within the municipality which discharged into the bay.

He said he could not comment on the health implications of effluent discharged from the drain before the report was released.

But the council had installed a $150,000 litter trap on the drain, estimated to catch more than 90 per cent of the hard rubbish that passed through it, Cr Disney said.

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The organizers of Coastcare Week, which began yesterday, said boat users caused significant pollution, dropping an average of half a kilogram of rubbish into the water each trip.

However, about 80 per cent of nutrients, sediments, heavy metals and litter found in the oceans came from the land, they said.

Return to Port Phillip Bay issues

A few extra sources of information

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Created: April 1998

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