By NOEL MURPHY
THE Allies’ first mortar fired in World War I landed in farmland west of Point Lonsdale rather than in Port Phillip Bay, claims long-time resident Kevin Roberts.
Historians and military researchers have tried to pinpoint the six-inch shell’s location for years but, with the centenary of The Great War’s outset just weeks away, ramped-up efforts to locate the shell remain unsuccessful.
However, Mr Roberts said the shell went nowhere near German cargo ship SS Pfalz as it tried to exit Port Phillip on 5 August 1914.
“No one believes me but a lot of locals know the true story,” he said.
“It landed in Victor Phipps’ property where the shell-grit works were. He was about 17 and he found it on the ground the same day it landed there.
“He picked it up and brought it home. He took it to the house up there on Shell Rd, the same red-roofed house that’s still there.
“The Phipps had it up there after the war and the army had a big procession out there … and the army confiscated the shell and took it back to the fort at Queenscliff.
“Years later Victor went to the fort to show the shell to some people but no one knew where it was, so it’s probably either been put in the rubbish by some new sergeant major or gone to a private collection.”
Mr Roberts, who said he had lived on a neighbouring property all his life, suggested the Fort Nepean gunner who fired at the Pfalz would have aimed above the ship and also beyond the Point Lonsdale township.
But historian Keith Quinton, author of Stop the Pflaz, said research had revealed where the shell splashed down and where it should lie in the bay.
“I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings… but there’s just no possibility what was found in Phipps’ paddock was the first shot,” he said.
“In some ways, however, the story has a level of credibility. There were tales around of a shell in the sergeants mess at the fort for a couple of decades that had been found on the peninsula somewhere on the Bellarine side.
“The shot was directed towards Pope’s Eye. If you can imagine it ricocheting around to Point Lonsdale…it just isn’t possible.”
