History
THE MOOROODUC QUARRY A MOUNTAIN OF STONE By Lance Hodgins
F
or 40 years the Moorooduc Quarry was the main source of stone for the roads of the Shire of Frankston and Hastings. It nearly didn’t survive past its second birthday. The ridge on the northern edge of the Moorooduc Plains held a hard, high quality stone. It was first exploited in the late 1880s by David Munro & Co who found it to be perfect ballast under the new railway lines he was building to Stony Point and Mornington. After this, the quarry lay idle - the motoring age had yet to make its mark on the landscape with its need for roads. It was not until well into the twentieth century that cars became
E ssence
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more common and local governments realised that they would face an ever-expanding road network to build and maintain. For most of the Peninsula, these needs were being met by several private quarries. Not so in the north, where Frankston Riding councillors saw that their requirements would soon outstrip the existing supply from the quarry in Cole’s Paddock. They eyed the old Moorooduc one, which sat on 400 acres of timbered land belonging to the Stenneken family. Money was tight, however, and when the Great War rolled around to demand different priorities, plans for a Shire quarry were put on hold. continued page 60...