By NOEL MURPHY
FEW know of the convict-built pier holding pride of place of Geelong’s waterfront.
That’s probably because it’s long been hidden below the surface of Eastern Pier’s breakwater lane, alongside Royal Geelong Yacht Club.
But it will soon to be retained for posterity with the name Stony Pier Lane.
Stony Pier, or Queen’s Wharf as it was also called, has served for many years through Geelong’s history, hosting sailing craft, cutters, whaleboats and more.
After its construction from 1840 to 1843 the pier hosted a portable timber customs shed. Extended with timber in 1847, the pier was known as Customs House Wharf by the mid-1850s then Eastern Pier from the early 1900s.
The stone origins remain beneath the extended breakwater now familiar to yachties.
Heritage Victoria says the pier is historically significant for its association with the period of first permanent non-indigenous settlement in Victoria and with early pastoralists.
“Eastern Pier is a surviving example of the use of convict labour to carry out public works in Victoria in the early years of settlement and is a rare documented example of a public site where assisted immigrants were employed,” its citation states.
