Revealed: Geelong’s underground tunnel network

Geelong’s underground tunnels have long been the source of legend and folklore. But how many really exist?

Old Geelong Gaol manager Deb Robinson. Picture: Alison Wynd

In 1908, Geelong builders were renovating an old hotel when they made a startling discovery.

Upon beginning work on the cellar, workmen discovered a 2m tunnel directly underneath the pub which was linked to a nearby store.

Whispers of underground tunnels and forgotten passageways have been part of Geelong’s history.

“The deeper cutting was directly under the hotel and close to the surface. A rusted spade was found in the opening,” a newspaper report read at the time.

“The tedious task was commenced of gaining access to the entrance by a subterranean passage to the hotel, with a view no doubt of a robbery being committed.”

Newspaper reports at the time make no further mention of the tunnel, or whether it was filled in as part of the renovations.

Terminus Hotel in Geelong

But the discovery, which no doubt caused intrigue among locals, added to an already growing local lore about Geelong’s underground world.

Some passageways – including the tunnel underneath Geelong hospital connecting it to nearby buildings, and part of a railways line along Mercer St – are based on historical fact.

The original use of a famed tunnel between the basement of the old Terminus Hotel and Cunningham Pier has long since been a source of debate.

While people agree the now-bricked up passage existed at some point, its use has been the subject of local lore for many decades.

People have long claimed the historic building, which still exists on Mercer St, was built with holding cells in the basement.

A 2015 book by Scott Sharpe claims the tunnels were used until 1864 to hold female prisoners and the criminally insane.

Old Geelong Gaol general manager and writer Deb Robinson isn’t so sure.

“There were actually a few places to hold female prisoners at the time,” she said.

“Another rumour I don’t quite believe is that the tunnels were used to secure people for working on the ships after a big night out. They’d wake up from a big night seconded to the ships and swabbing the deck?”

Ms Robinson said urban legends of tunnels throughout the city had been rife for years.

“There are so many rumours and stories of tunnels,” she said.

“If half these tunnels existed, it’s a wonder Geelong is still sitting on the earth’s surface and wasn’t built down below.”

Rumoured tunnels included the famous Mackie Tunnel between room A and a “dungeon room” at The Geelong College, the Max and Bush Inn to the Pier and a stretch from the Old Geelong Goal to the army barracks across the street.

But Ms Reynolds said these tunnels are more myth than legend – with the gaol tunnel referring to plans that were never realised.

“It was a discussion point, rather than something that was actually built,” she said.

“There also could’ve been confusion in language, with basement referring to the ground floor of a building and not necessarily a cellar or underground.”

The search for Geelong’s elusive tunnels has gotten people in trouble in the past.

At the time, the council warned of the dangers of illegally exploring dark confined spaces including sudden water riders, build up of noxious vapours, lack of oxygen and the difficulty of a timely rescue if participants were to become trapped.

Furthermore, a Barwon Water spokesman at the time said the small size of most of the underground pipes meant exploration was impossible.

Geelong Gaol. (HM Prison Geelong) Supplied.

“We are talking about confined spaces with running water and wastewater, and in the case of sewerage mains, gases and contaminants,” he said.

Originally published as Revealed: Geelong’s underground tunnel network