Pope's Eye is the uncompleted foundation for an island fort intended to defend the entrance to Port Phillip in the state of Victoria, Australia.
Construction of Pope's Eye began in the 1880s, under the supervision of Sir William Jervois, by dumping bluestone boulders on a submerged 12-metre (39 ft) deep sandbank until they formed a horse-shoe shaped artificial reef, open to the north-east, just above high-water level.
[3] The inside of the 'eye' is only about 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) deep and is accessible to small boats as a sheltered anchorage.
[1] The reef provides a rich habitat based on the underwater forest of marine algae, such as giant and leathery kelp, that sustains a rich fauna of fish and marine invertebrates, including sponges and soft corals.
[4] Pope's Eye is an important breeding site for Australasian gannets, which nest on platforms constructed for them as well as on the rocks of the reef, which are also used for roosting by black-faced cormorants and for foraging by ruddy turnstones.