Walkerville Lime Kilns

A short walk along the beach at Walkerville brings you unexpectedly upon giant brick buttresses protruding from the cliffs like the ruins of some ancient Roman engineering works. These are all that remain of the Walkerville lime kilns.
At the peak of production in the 1890s, up to eighty men were employed quarrying limestone, working the kilns, supplying timber and bagging and stacking lime.
Limestone mined from the cliffs was burnt with firewood in brick lined kilns to produce quick lime.
The lime was then bagged and hauled in tram carts pulled by horses along a 350 metre jetty which once stretched out into the bay to waiting ships.
The kilns operated from 1875 and provided lime supplies to Melbourne's building industry they were closed in 1926 due to reduced demand, high transport costs and the replacement of quicklime by cement.