Disinfecting & Bathing Complex c 1866 - Quarantine Station, Point Nepean National Park, Portsea, Mornington Peninsula, VIC

The Disinfecting & Bathing Complex comprises of the following infrastructure:

  Bath & Wash House c 1866

  Disinfecting Building & Boiler House c 1866

  Infected Luggage Receiving c 1900

  Clean Luggage Store c 1900

  Two Bath Blocks c 1900

  Shower Block c 1925

The decontamination complex was built in response to a perceived threat of plague descending upon the Western World during the early 1900’s.  The threat of a worldwide pandemic was realised when the Spanish Flu emerged as World War 1 ended in 1918.  Cases of the Spanish Flu began to appear in Australia in early 1919 resulting in approximately 40% of the population falling ill and some 15,000 deaths.

Hence the original open bath and wash house built c 1866, were supplemented with high capacity bath houses which were built on either side of a central laneway.   As part of the decontamination process, passengers progressed from the waiting room → to the bath house → to their accommodation, or into isolation should their condition require it.

Luggage, mail and clothing on the other hand, was transported via a tramway system (c early 1900’s) from the jetty → to the infected receiving store → to the disinfection building → and into the clean luggage store.

There were two methods of disinfecting items:

The Formaldehye Gas Method – used for passenger’s luggage and clothing.  It took approximately 5 minutes for the formaldehyde to fill the chamber and a further 35 minutes to process the articles and clear the gas.  A 20″ vacuum was achieved in about 20 minutes.

The Steam Saturation Method – used for bedding.  The chamber was sealed and the steam pressure was raised.  The treatment and subsequent cooling of the articles took a further 50 minutes, noting that the articles would come out of the process completely dry.  Again, a 20″ vacuum was achieved in about 20 minutes.

Disinfecting Oven manufactured by Geneste-Herscher installed mid 1890 and moved to the current location c 1900

‘Type Design Disinfecting Chamber’

Geelong Advertiser (Vic) – 8 Nov 1899

Helpful Hints:

– Located approximately 2.5 km West of the Portsea Town Centre – obtain Directions here

– Walking Trail access via ‘Coles Track‘

– Located within Point Nepean National Park

– A Car Park is available to service the Quarantine Station

– Other Historical POI’s Nearby

Discover Portsea:

– Points of Interest

– Things to Do

– Dining Out

– Shopping

– Places to Stay

– Facilities available at Portsea include:

– Picnic Tables

– Sheltered Pavilions

– Barbecues

– Public Toilets