In the 1860 report by Captain Peter Scratchley R.E., he proposed for the 6 guns on Shortlands Bluff, 40 Permanent soldiers backed up by a Queenscliff Militia of 200 men. However, this was never adopted by the government.
In late 1859, the Queenscliff Volunteer Rifle Company was formed. The following year it was re-organised as an artillery company to man the guns at Shortland’s Bluff. Over the following years they provided the regular soldiers with invaluable support along with detachments knowns as the South Grant, Drysdale, Geelong and Williamstown detachments. Initially they were volunteers, and after the defence reorganisation of 1883, they were enrolled as militia.
Since 1882 Queenscliff has had all the qualifications of a garrison town. The number of soldiers permanently in the Fort averaged about 200 personnel. This was a large garrison for a town whose population between 1882-1946 only averaged 2,200.
The guns were operated by men of the garrison artillery battery with a fortress engineer company having responsibility for the searchlights, a signals detachment and even laying and maintaining the sea mines to close the channels.
In 1939 the Fort was fully mobilised to defend the Heads and 1942 there were troops providing Anti-Aircraft, Infantry, and Anti-Tank coverage around all the forts to prevent an attack. While the total war establishment strength of the garrison was about 200 personnel, Militia units based in Melbourne and around the region supplemented the garrisons of the forts during wartime. Including women of the Australian Women’s Army Service (AWAS). One estimate has over 25,000 men and women serving on the Bellarine in 1942, either manning the defences or undergoing training before being transferred to the front. This force included personnel from the Australian Army’s Permanent Garrison Artillery, the Australian Imperial Force, Citizens Military Force, Volunteer Defence Corps, Australian Women’s Army Service, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force.
