Portal:Military history of Australia/Units/August 8

Fort Queenscliff Keep

Fort Queenscliff is an Australian Army facility located in Victoria, Australia. The fort was built between 1882 and 1885 by the colonial government of Victoria and was the headquarters for an extensive chain of forts around Port Phillip Heads. On orders from Fort Queenscliff, the first British Empire artillery shots of World War I were fired when a gun at Fort Nepean put a shot across the bow of a German freighter attempting to escape to sea. The same gun, with a different barrel, also fired the first Australian artillery shot of World War II. By 1946 coastal artillery was outmoded, and the fort became the home of the Army's Staff College. After the three Service Staff Colleges were combined in Canberra, it became the base for Army's Soldier Career Management Agency in 2001.