Located on the open Ocean Beach at Flinders on the Mornington Peninsula and covering 80 hectares in area, Mushroom Reef Marine Sanctuary supports the most diverse intertidal rocky reef communities in Victoria. The Marine Sanctuary comprises an extensive rock platform, with sheltered rock pools and coves protected by a shallow reef on the ocean side.

Flinders is about 80 km south of Melbourne and the Ocean Beach is part of the Mornington Peninsula National Park.

I visited the Sanctuary on Tuesday afternoon November 3, 2009.

From the car park at West Head Lookout, my 3 km return route took me down the steps to the Beach. From there, I walked past the exposed Reef, to the cliffs at the western end.

I returned the same way, with a short diversion to inspect the old sheds overlooking the Beach, near the viewing platform.

I have included a photo I took on January 12, 1952, looking west along the Beach. This was part of a beach walk from Shoreham to Flinders, as part of a 10-day summer holiday activity organized by the YMCA, at Camp Buxton, Shoreham.

The camera I used in 1952 was a Box Brownie, and it is still in good working condition. I have included a photo of it as it is on November 3, 2009, 57 years later!

For further infornation about the Sanctuary, please visit:

http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/resources05/05_0785.pdf