History of Melbourne’s industrial ammunition building
If you’ve ever driven through Clifton Hill you’ve probably noticed the skinny brick tower sticking out like a sore thumb.
Sometimes mistaken for a turret or giant chimney, this interestingly designed, heritage-listed building was previously used to produce lead pellets for shotguns.
The cylindrical tower, 67 meters high and just 2.5 meters wide, was built in 1882 and remains an early example of the city’s industrial munitions history.
“It’s amazing it’s still here,” said author Dale Campisi, who has written many books about the city’s history.
“It’s a landmark. Everybody who uses the Eastern Freeway … knows about that tower. Even if they don’t know what it is, they’re connected to a site that’s been there for 140 years.”
The Clifton Hill shooting tower is one of only two towers still in existence in the city; The second, perhaps better known, stands inside Melbourne Centre. For a while, both towers belonged to the same family.
Along with the third tower in Tasmania, the trio is thought to be the last remaining towers in Australia.
To form pellets, also called shot, workers dropped molten lead from the top of the tower through a sieve; This bullet turned into balls as it fell.
The spherical pellets were then immersed in a vat of water at the base of the building; This allowed them to cool before workers on the lower floors sorted and distributed them.
The method remained in use until the mid-20th century, when World War II brought significant innovations to the industry and marked the end of production.
Collingwood Historical Society President Karen Cummings said the Clifton Hill tower formed an important part of the area’s strong industrial identity.
“This is a real turning point because you get to see it from so many different sides,” Cummings said. “It’s a reminder of the past and how people made a living in the past.”
Unlike its Melbourne Central counterpart, which is accessible and includes a small museum, the Clifton Hill tower is privately owned, vacant and not accessible to the public.
“It’s closed. It’s actually abandoned. But the structure is still there,” Campisi said.
“It would be really great to see some sort of outcome where the building is preserved, but ultimately the site is also developed.”
In October 2024, the infamous “Bird Pam” sticker on the tower still remains. However, an interesting question arose: Who is responsible for the cleanup?
Last year, the alleged graffiti artist was hit with 200 charges and is expected to stand trial in February.
While Yarra City Council is allowed to remove prominent graffiti on private buildings, workers can only access surfaces less than three meters high.
In serious cases Heritage Victoria can formally instruct the owner of a heritage-listed site to carry out the necessary repairs and the department contacted shooting tower owner Phil Kapogiannis in November 2024.
Kapogiannis I explained this imprint In March last year he said he was working with environmentalists to decide how best to deal with the graffiti cleanup.
“Any graffiti is perceived as neglect,” he said at the time. “So it’s our responsibility to fix this and do everything else. It’s not an easy job.”
A Heritage Victoria spokesman confirmed the regulator had asked the owner for evidence they were working to remove the graffiti and was still waiting.
If no evidence is provided, the agency will consider whether formal enforcement action may be necessary, the spokesman said.
Kapogiannis could not be reached for an updated comment.
Cummings said he and other volunteers from the local history community were unhappy that prominent graffiti was still found on the historically significant tower.
“The only good thing about it is that you can only see it from one direction,” he said.
“It would be nice if the people who go around defacing things would appreciate what’s there a little more.”
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