TALKS are under way to turn North Geelong’s dilapidated power station site into a dry storage for yachts and other marine craft, a councillor has revealed.
“We’re certainly talking to an interested party in developing that site,’’ Cr Eddy Kontelj told the Independent.
“We’re looking for an appropriate use. Various interests have been shown in that site – one has been the possibility of a dry storage area for marine vessels of one sort or another.’’
Cr Kontelj described the old power station as an “eyesore’’ sitting on a “stagnant site’’.
“But there’s huge potential there. It’s right next to Osborne House and if we find something complementary I believe the council would be very supportive.”
Nazi slogans, an image of a woman about to have her throat slashed, explicit drawings of sexual organs and other disturbing graffiti have become the site’s hallmarks.
Four months after the Independent revealed the shattered old powerhouse was riddled inside and out with broken glass and concrete, sharp twisted metal, needles and pornographic artwork, it remains a public danger apparently ignored by its owner and authorities.
Security fencing surrounding the site has been torn down and metal security grids around the concrete structure cut through to allow access to the rubbish-strewn interior with its unguarded shafts and soaring stairs.
The kaleidoscope of spray can art, pornography and vandalism make for a bizarre coloured exhibition. Visitors who trip up face the danger of falling two metres through unsecured holes in the floor.
Graphic images have been spray painted across surfaces throughout the building.
Images of male genitalia two metres high and a crazed knifeman holding a blade to a naked woman’s throat along with offensive rants and diatribes are peppered across walls.
Outside, white Nazi swastikas a metre square have been painted on bitumen paths.
Barbed wire and signs warning off trespassers are rendered ineffectual by multiple breaches of the cyclone fencing. Intruders can simply walk onto the site and easily climb into the building.
The facility was officially opened in 1954 as Geelong B power station under the operation of the former State Electricity Commission.
It was the largest steam power station in provincial Victoria, apart from at Yallourn. Its buildings, boilers and ancillary equipment were operational until 1970.
A Melbourne company owns the site.
The Independent has been unable to make contact with the company.
