82. Chinaman Island to Blind Bight

This information has been developed from one or more of these publications:

Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Westernport Bay Catchment (1984) by Neville Rosengren.
Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance in the Western Region of Melbourne (1986) by Neville Rosengren
Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance on the Coast of Port Phillip Bay (1988) by Neville Rosengren.
Sites of Environmental Significance in the Flood Plain of the Upper Yarra Valley Region (1983) by Neville Rosengren, Douglas Frood and Kim Lowe (as part of a study of Sites of Environmental Significance by the University of Melbourne for the then Upper Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges Authority).

Geological heritage sites, including sites of geomorphological interest and volcanic heritage sites, are under regular revision by the Geological Society of Australia, especially in the assessment of significance and values. Reference should be made to the most recent reports. See the Earth Science Heritage section of the Geological Society of Australia website (external link) for details of geological heritage reports, and a bibliography.

Location:	Devon Meadows – 520670 to 547683. All of Chinaman Island and intertidal areas adjacent to the island, and the coastline extending inland for approximately 100 metres along shoreline north-east of Chinaman Island.	Relict spit (A) on Chinaman Island. Rutherford Inlet and Quail Island in background, Sites 80, 82.
Access:	Rutherford Parade (Warneet) and Blind Bight Road. Chinaman Island is accessible at low tide by fording a small tidal creek in the north and landing may be made by boat on the western shore from Rutherford Inlet.
Ownership:	Crown Land and some private land.
Geomorphology:	Chinaman Island preserves a Cranbourne Sand topography similar to that on Quail Island. There are also abandoned beaches and spits, and on the western shore on Rutherford Inlet there are major outcrops of a highly ferruginous sandstone which forms low cliff, shore platforms and cobble beaches. On the mainland coast north-east from Adams Point to Blind Bight there are low parallel sand ridges that lie inland of the salt marsh zone and follow the trend to the present shoreline.
Significance:	Regional. The stratigraphic position of the ferruginous sandstones is not understood. It is not clear if they have been derived from the Baxter Sandstone or the Warneet Beds, or are indurated layers of the Cranbourne Sands. The parallel sand ridges are evidence of higher sea level and/or stronger wave action in the northern part of Westernport Bay.
Management:	Class 2. No coastal engineering works should be undertaken that would obscure the sandstone outcrops or the relict spits on the shores of Chinaman Island. No dumping of dredged material in the mangrove zone should be permitted as this causes rapid mortality or mangroves as evidenced by the destruction of the stand immediately south of Blind Bight. The parallel sand ridges that extend south from Blind Bight should be left undisturbed.

Image: Sites of Significance Westernport Bay

Mangroves killed by sand smothering
following dredging of Blind Bight,
Site 82.

Site 82, Chinaman Island to Blind Bight

Page top