Left to rot: Anyone can walk into the neglected, dangerous power station site.
SPECIAL REPORT by Noel Murphy
NORTH Geelong’s abandoned power station looks like something from a post-apocalpytic Mad Max movie.
Once an industrial icon of the North Geelong shoreline, it’s now a shattered, abandoned, ugly mess.
Around the imposing grey concrete structure fences have been torn down, windows smashed and steel security bars cut.
Dangerous sharp wire, derelict steel and broken concrete threaten the visitor.
Inside the unsecured station, a kaleidoscope of spray-can art, pornography and vandalism make for a bizarre coloured exhibition.
But watch your step. Trip up and unprotected holes in the floor will send the intruder hurtling two metres below the floor.
Get adventurous and take the stairs to the concrete landings high overhead and risk a deadly fall. No railing protects the unwitting.
Anyone entering this place at night, even with torchlight, would take their life in their hands. Even in the day it’s a strangely threatening site.
The power station has been host to intruders for a long time. The walls are extensively splashed with artwork, including graphic sexual images.
The only way these artists could have reached the heights their artwork now adorn was with considerable risk.
The power station is not just an ugly, neglected part of Corio Bay’s shoreline – it’s a threat to life and limb.
Call for body to oversee action
Bay our ‘icon’
CORIO Bay should be declared Geelong’s new high-profile icon, says Geelong Environment Council.
“It’s here staring us all in the face,’’ council Joan Lindros said.
She argued that the bayfront’s length and breadth from Point Lillias to Point Henry needed a special focus.
The Independent last week reported calls for action on “bombsites” littering the foreshore, with figures including Ms Lindros blaming duck-shoving between authorities.
She listed a series of sites worthy of remediation or protection.
“There is a range of industrial facilities, the port, the Avalon and Lillias foreshore, naturally and geologically interesting and RAMSAR-listed, and history at Osborne House that should become a showpiece.
“Rippleside Park is a green gem and must be protected. Ramsay’s Rippleside (slipway) disaster should somehow be reconsidered, I don’t know how, but he has destroyed the ship facility and left a mess.’’
Mrs Lindros fired a salvo at billion-dollar convention centre plans for Eastern Park and called for a former gun club site to be cleaned up and adjoining historic lime kilns improved.
“This is a huge task,’’ she said.
“The area of land the gun club was on has magnificent views and should not be built on.
“Eastern Park must be protected from development. The Cheetham ponds likewise should not be built on but highlighted as valuable bird areas.’’
The environment council called for a special body to oversee the protection and rehabilitation of the bay’s foreshore.
“A new committee with someone of vision to convene it would be a really good start,’’ Mrs Lindros said.
noel.murphy@geelongindependent.com.au
