Point Lillias is a narrow peninsula jutting southwards from the northern coast of Corio Bay

Corio Bay

Corio Bay is one of numerous bays in the southwest corner of Australia's Port Phillip, and is the bay on which abuts the City of Geelong. The nearby suburb of Corio takes its name from Corio Bay.-Name:...

, near the city of Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. It was formed by a southward trending tongue of lava

Lava

Lava refers both to molten rock expelled by a volcano during an eruption and the resulting rock after solidification and cooling. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at...

 from the volcanic flows of the Werribee Plain

Werribee Plain

The Werribee Plain is an extensive low-lying area of flat land located WSW of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The plains are notable for their extensive, flat, featureless spans, interspersed by the occasional vertical feature, such as the You Yangs, a series of granite ridges, and several small...

s. The seaward end of the peninsula forms a low cliff fringed by shelly

Shelly limestone

Shelly limestone is a highly fossiliferous limestone, composed of a number of fossilized organisms such as brachiopods, bryozoans, crinoids, sponges, corals and mollusks. It varies in color, texture and hardness...

 beach ridges. Forming the end of the same lava tongue 500 m to the south is a small basalt island known as Bird Rock, connected by a submerged shoal to the peninsula. Point Lillias adjoins the evaporation ponds of Cheetham Salt's saltworks

Saltern

Saltern is a word with a number of differing meanings. In English archaeology, a saltern is an area used for salt making, especially in the East Anglian fenlands....

 at Avalon

Avalon, Victoria

Avalon is a locality situated north east of Geelong, Victoria. Its Local Government Area is the City of Greater Geelong and its Ward is Windermere...

. It is listed as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention

Ramsar Convention

The Ramsar Convention is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, i.e., to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural,...

 as part of the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site

Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site

The Port Phillip Bay and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site is one of the Australian sites listed under the Ramsar Convention as a wetland of international importance. It was designated on 15 December 1982, and is listed as Ramsar Site No.266...

.

Geological significance

Point Lillias illustrates the development of coastal features on a lava surface. Although the adjacent coastline has developed through the submergence of the edge of the Werribee lava plain, Bird Rock is the only emergent, offshore remnant of the lava flows.

Chemical storage issues

Following the 1991 fire in the Coode Island

Coode Island

Coode Island, was an island at the convergence of the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers, 4km west of central Melbourne, Australia. Today the low-lying land is part of the Port of Melbourne, site of Swanson and Appleton Docks and their associated container storage and rail yards, as well as a number of...

 chemicals storage facility in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

, and a long period of inquiry to find an alternative site, in 1996 the Victorian Government

Government of Victoria

The Government of Victoria, under the Constitution of Australia, ceded certain legislative and judicial powers to the Commonwealth, but retained complete independence in all other areas...

 recommended Point Lillias as the new site for the transshipment

Transshipment

Transshipment or Transhipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, and then from there to yet another destination....

 and storage of bulk liquid chemicals for the chemicals industry in Victoria. The arguments backing the recommendation were accepted by the Australian Government

Government of Australia

The Commonwealth of Australia is a federal constitutional monarchy under a parliamentary democracy. The Commonwealth of Australia was formed in 1901 as a result of an agreement among six self-governing British colonies, which became the six states...

in 1997, and it was proposed to excise 20 ha of the Ramsar site in order to build the new facility. However, later that year the Victorian Government decided not to proceed with the move from Coode Island to Point Lillias.