On This Day Wednesday 5th August 1914 a round is fired from a 6 inch Mark VII coast gun at the Fort Nepean Battery, Victoria’s Port Phillip Heads, preventing the German cargo ship, SS Pfalz, from leaving the Port. The round is fired across the Ship’s bows, into the waters (the Ship turns around and returns to Portsea).  

This shot is deemed to be the ‘first shot fired by British Empire Military’ in The Great War.