Editing Point Nepean (section)

==History==
Evidence of [[Australian Aboriginal]] settlement of the area dates back 40,000 years. [[Bunurong]] women often bore their children at the point.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/12/12/1071125658370.html |title=Portsea's point of contention |newspaper=[[The Age]] |date=2003-12-13}}</ref> Their name for the point was ''Boona-djalang'', which means 'kangaroo-hide', descriptive of the angular shape of the point akin to a stretched hide.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smyth |first1=Robert Brough |title=Aborigines of Victoria: With Notes Relating to the Habits of the Natives of Other Parts of Australia and Tasmania Compiled from Various Sources for the Government of Victoria. Volume 2 |date=1878 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781108006569 |page=217}}</ref> There are 70 registered Aboriginal archaeological sites within the Point Nepean National Park.<ref>{{cite news |url= http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/08/25/1061663731764.html|title=People power wins out at Point Nepean |newspaper=The Age |date=2003-08-26}}</ref>

The area's early settlers mined limestone from the coastal cliffs, and two [[lime kiln]]s were built around 1840. The [[Point Nepean Quarantine Station]] was opened in 1852<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1589658 |title=TINCONDEROGA. |newspaper=[[The Argus (Melbourne)]] |issue=21,979 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 January 1917 |accessdate=6 August 2024 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and is the second oldest intact quarantine station in Australia. It contains the oldest buildings erected for quarantine purposes in Australia, four of the main hospital buildings (established in 1857), pre-dating the oldest intact quarantine-related structures at [[Sydney Heads|North Head]], Sydney, by 16 years. The Quarantine Station operated until 1980.{{cn|date=August 2014}}

Australia's first major oil spill occurred off Point Nepean in 1903, with the wreck of {{SS|Petriana}}. It remained Australia's largest oil spill until 1975.<ref name=amsa>{{cite news |url= https://www.amsa.gov.au/marine-environment/incidents-and-exercises/petriana-28-november-1903 |title=Petriana, 28 November 1903 |publisher=Australian Maritime Safety Authority |access-date=15 March 2020}}</ref>

Point Nepean Post Office opened on 1 April 1859 but was closed by 1865.<ref name="a">{{Cite web |last= Premier Postal History |title= Post Office List |url= https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country= |access-date= 2008-04-11}}</ref> Fortifications were built from 1878. Gun batteries were installed at [[Fort Nepean]] in 1886 and Eagles Nest in 1888. A gun battery was constructed at [[Fort Pearce]] in 1911. With the removal of coastal artillery after World War II, the facilities housed the Officer Cadet School (OCS) Portsea and later the School of Army Health from 1951 to 1998.