The FORT HISTORY page discusses the shots fired from Fort Nepean, on order from Fort Queenscliff, at the beginning of both World Wars.
While the coastal artillery guns at Fort Queenscliff were frequently fired for practice, they did not fire at an enemy. However, on 29 May 1940 the fort’s anti-aircraft battery fired three rounds at an unidentified aircraft.
In February 1942 the Japanese submarine 1-25 launched its seaplane in Bass Strait for a reconnaissance flight over Port Phillip. The aircraft over flew Fort Queenscliff and RAAF Base Point Cook to Melbourne and then returned over the Mornington Peninsula.
In the early morning of 1 September 1942 a sentry at the Crows Nest Battery at Queenscliff, Gunner Hulston, was discovered missing from his post. Marks on the ground indicated a heavy object had been dragged along the beach. During the search for Gunner Hulston, two soldiers were fired upon with one being wounded in the thigh. On 10 September Gunner Hulston’s body was found in the sea off Queenscliff.