116-453: Corio Bay is one of numerous internal bays in the southwest corner of Australia's Port Phillip , and is the bay on which abuts the City of Geelong . The nearby suburb of Corio takes its name from Corio Bay. When Hamilton Hume and William Hovell arrived at the bay in 1824 they met with the local Wautharong people who referred to the bay as "Jillong" and the surround land "Corayo", but by
232-667: A 600 square metre area. The project aimed to improve marine biodiversity, water quality and fish habitat. Like the Yarra which flows into it, Port Phillip faces the environmental concerns of pollution and water quality. Litter, silt and toxins can affect the beaches to the point where they are shut down by EPA Victoria . In 2008, the owner and master of Hong Kong-registered container vessel MV Sky Lucky were found liable for illegally disposing garbage into Port Phillip, convicted and fined $ 35,000. An Environmental Management Plan has been adopted for 2017-2027 in order to improve and ensure
348-657: A base in the Pacific to counter French expansion . Approximately 50,000 convicts are estimated to have been transported to the colonies over 150 years. The First Fleet , which established the first colony, was an unprecedented project for the Royal Navy , as well as the first forced migration of settlers to a newly established colony. The American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) saw Britain lose most of its North American colonies and consider establishing replacement territories. Britain had transported about 50,000 convicts to
464-476: A boom in copper mining. By 1850 the settler population had grown to 60,000 and the following year the colony achieved limited self-government with a partially elected Legislative Council. In 1824, the Moreton Bay penal settlement was established on the site of present-day Brisbane as a place of secondary punishment. In 1842, the penal colony was closed and the area was opened for free settlement. By 1850
580-423: A building program, assisted by convict labour, advanced steadily. Between 1788 and 1792, convicts and their gaolers made up the majority of the population; however, a free population soon began to grow, consisting of emancipated convicts, locally born children, soldiers whose military service had expired and, finally, free settlers from Britain. Governor Phillip departed the colony for England on 11 December 1792, with
696-607: A colony composed of American Loyalists, Chinese and South Sea Islanders (but not convicts). Following an interview with Secretary of State Lord Sydney in March 1784, Matra amended his proposal to include convicts as settlers. Matra's plan can be seen to have “provided the original blueprint for settlement in New South Wales”. A cabinet memorandum December 1784 shows the Government had Matra's plan in mind when considering
812-566: A convoy of two ships HMS Calcutta and Ocean led by Captain David Collins carrying 402 people (5 Government officials, 9 officers of marines, 2 drummers, and 39 privates, 5 soldiers' wives and a child, and 307 convicts with 17 convicts' wives and 7 children) entered Port Phillip. After some investigation it was decided to establish the settlement at a spot known as Sullivan Bay , very close to where Sorrento now exists. The expedition landed at Sullivan Bay on 17 October 1803, and
928-643: A few dozen marines and officers from the Supply , the rest of the ship's company and the convicts witnessing it from on board ship. The remaining ships of the Fleet were unable to leave Botany Bay until later on 26 January because of a tremendous gale. The new colony was formally proclaimed as the Colony of New South Wales on 7 February. The colony included all of Australia eastward of the meridian of 135° East. This included more than half of mainland Australia and reflected
1044-464: A few sandy beaches, there mostly exists a greater variety of beaches, swampy wetlands and mangroves. The occasional pebble beach and rocky cliffs can also be found, mostly in the southern reaches. Due to its shallow depth, several artificial islands and forts have been built; however, despite the depth, it only hosts a few true islands. Many sandy, muddy banks and shallows exist in its southern reaches, such as Mud Islands , but most islands are located in
1160-588: A free woman, Hannah Harvey was wedded to convict Richard Garrett. Small exploratory groups from this settlement surveyed a land route to Western Port and also sailed to the northwest shore of Port Phillip. On this latter journey, a large group of about 200 Aboriginal people came to meet the Britishers with "hostile intentions", and "with the application of fire-arms absolutely necessary to repel them", several Aboriginal people were shot. Lack of fresh water and good timber led this first British attempt at settlement in
1276-592: A fresh water supply and a safe harbour, which Philip famously described as: being with out exception the finest Harbour in the World [...] Here a Thousand Sail of the Line may ride in the most perfect Security. Phillip named the settlement after the Home Secretary , Lord Sydney. The only people at the flag raising ceremony and the formal taking of possession of the land in the name of King George III were Phillip and
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#17327768464211392-525: A good living from the abundant sea-life, which included penguins and seals . In the cold season, they wore possum-skin cloaks and intricate feathered head-dresses. A dry period combined with sand bar formation, may have dried the bay out as recently as between 800 BCE and 1000 CE. Seismicity has been observed around the bay continually since the 1800s with earlier earthquakes recorded in local newspaper reports. An earthquake that occurred in July 1885
1508-580: A mostly complete chart of Port Phillip including the mouth of the Yarra River , which they visited on 2 February 1803. Robbins found Aboriginal habitations and groups of Aboriginal people at Tootgarook , Carrum Carrum , on the banks of the Yarra and at Geelong . King decided to place a convict settlement at Port Phillip, mainly to stake a claim to southern Australia ahead of the French. On 10 October 1803
1624-638: A number of sites. Port Phillip lies in southern Victoria, separated from Bass Strait by the Bellarine Peninsula to the southwest and Mornington Peninsula to the southeast. It is the largest bay in Victoria and one of the largest inland bays in Australia. The narrow entrance to the bay, called the Rip , between Point Lonsdale and Point Nepean , features strong tidal streams made turbulent by
1740-567: A place of punishment and reform of convicts. Convicts worked on government farms and public works such as land clearing and building. After 1792 the majority were assigned to work for private employers including emancipists (as transported convicts who had completed their sentence or had been pardoned called themselves). Emancipists were granted small plots of land for farming and a year of government rations. Later they were assigned convict labour to help them work their farms. Some convicts were assigned to military officers to run their businesses because
1856-417: A result, convicts who arrived after 1820 were far less likely to become property owners, to marry, and to establish families. The Bigge reforms also aimed to encourage affluent free settlers by offering them land grants for farming and grazing in proportion to their capital. From 1831 the colonies replaced land grants with land sales by auction at a fixed minimum price per acre, the proceeds being used to fund
1972-662: A semi-elected Legislative Council was established in 1842. In 1850, Britain granted Van Diemen's Land, South Australia and the newly created colony of Victoria semi-representative Legislative Councils. British settlement led to a decline in the Aboriginal population and the disruption of their cultures due to introduced diseases, violent conflict and dispossession of their traditional lands. Aboriginal resistance to British encroachment on their land often led to reprisals from settlers including massacres of Aboriginal people . Many Aboriginal people, however, sought an accommodation with
2088-514: A separate colony from New South Wales in December 1825 and continued to expand through the 1830s, supported by farming, sheep grazing and whaling. Following the suspension of convict transportation to New South Wales in 1840, Van Diemen's land became the main destination for convicts. Transportation to Van Diemen's Land ended in 1853 and in 1856 the colony officially changed its name to Tasmania. Pastoralists from Van Diemen's land began squatting in
2204-815: A separate colony in 1825, and free settlements were established at the Swan River Colony in Western Australia (1829), the Province of South Australia (1836), and in the Port Philip District (1836). The grazing of cattle and sheep expanded inland, leading to increasing conflict with Aboriginal people on their traditional lands. The growing population of free settlers, former convicts and Australian-born currency lads and lasses led to public demands for representative government . Penal transportation to New South Wales ended in 1840 and
2320-527: A settlement in Van Diemen's Land (modern Tasmania ) in 1803, partly to forestall a possible French settlement. The British settlement of the island soon centred on Launceston in the north and Hobart in the south. For the first two decades the settlement relied heavily on convict labour, small-scale farming and sheep grazing, sealing, whaling and the "dog and kangaroo" economy where emancipists and escaped convicts hunted native game with guns and dogs. From
2436-622: A typical day will range from 6 °C (43 °F) to 14 °C (57 °F). Port Phillip is often warmer than the surrounding oceans and/or the land mass, particularly in spring and autumn; this can set up a "bay effect", similar to the " lake effect snow " seen in colder climates, where showers are intensified leeward of the bay (particularly in Melbourne 's eastern suburbs ). Port Phillip hosts many beaches, most of which are flat, shallow and long, with very small breaks making swimming quite safe. This attracts many tourists, mostly families, to
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#17327768464212552-659: A useful lesson to be more cautious in future." After exploring the southern part of the bay, Murray formally took possession of the area on 8 March 1802 for King George III of Great Britain in a small ceremony at a place now known as the Point King Foreshore Reserve in Sorrento . A few days later Murray sailed out of the heads and returned to Sydney . About ten weeks after Murray, Matthew Flinders in HMS ; Investigator also found and entered
2668-667: Is an important feeding ground for waterbirds and migratory waders . The Mud Islands , off Sorrento , are an important breeding habitat for white-faced storm petrels , silver gulls , Australian pelicans and Pacific gulls . Salt marshes in the northwestern sections of the bay, such as that in the Werribee Sewage Farm and the adjacent Spit Nature Conservation Reserve , are within the Port Phillip Bay (Western Shoreline) and Bellarine Peninsula Ramsar Site , listed as wetlands of international importance under
2784-761: Is home to about 100 to 150 of the recently described species of bottlenose dolphin , the Burrunan dolphin ( Tursiops australis ). The other 50 or so of this rare species are to be found in the Gippsland Lakes . Port Phillip has lost over 95% of native flat oyster and blue mussel reefs since European settlement. In 2014 the Port Phillip Shellfish Reef restoration project set about restoring shellfish reefs at two locations off Hobsons Bay near St Kilda, and off Corio Bay near Avalon. 300,000 native Angasi oysters were laid on limestone rubble over
2900-586: The Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip , and is completely surrounded by localities of Victoria's two largest cities — metropolitan Greater Melbourne in the bay's main eastern portion north of the Mornington Peninsula , and the city of Greater Geelong in the much smaller western portion (known as the Corio Bay ) north of the Bellarine Peninsula . Geographically,
3016-577: The Mornington Peninsula that is located where Arthurs Seat ends as the mountain falls steeply towards Port Phillip and is part of the Selwyn Fault . In 1800, Lieutenant James Grant was the first known European to pass through Bass Strait from west to east in HMS Lady Nelson . He was also the first to see, and crudely chart, the south coast from Cape Banks in South Australia to Wilsons Promontory in Victoria. Grant gave
3132-595: The Mornington Peninsula to Frankston , Safety Beach / Dromana and Rye to Portsea . Longshore drift carries sand from south to north during winter and from north to south during summer. Cliff erosion control has often resulted in sand starvation, necessitating offshore dredging to replenish the beach. On the western side of the bay there is a greater variety of beach types, including both sandy and sandstone rock beaches, seen at Queenscliff , St Leonards , Indented Head , Portarlington , Altona and Geelong's Eastern Beach . Numerous sandbanks and shoals occur in
3248-471: The Parramatta region as a promising area for expansion, and moved many of the convicts from late 1788 to establish a small township, which became the main centre of the colony's economic life. This left Sydney Cove only as an important port and focus of social life. Poor equipment and unfamiliar soils and climate continued to hamper the expansion of farming from Farm Cove to Parramatta and Toongabbie , but
3364-669: The Port Phillip hinterland on the mainland in 1834, attracted by its rich grasslands. In 1835, John Batman and others negotiated the transfer of 100,000 acres of land from the Kulin people. However, the treaty was annulled the same year when the British Colonial Office issued the Proclamation of Governor Bourke stating that all unalienated land in the colony was vacant Crown Land, irrespective of whether it
3480-497: The Ramsar Convention , and the critically endangered orange-bellied parrot is found at three wintering sites with saltmarsh habitat around Port Phillip and the Bellarine Peninsula . A variety of seabirds , such as Australasian gannets , nest on artificial structures in the bay. Port Phillip contains 3 Marine Sanctuaries managed by Parks Victoria to protect and conserve the bay's biodiversity, ecological processes and
3596-711: The Tweed River . A series of disputes between northern pastoralists and the government in Sydney led to increasing demands from the northern settlers for separation from New South Wales. In 1857, the British government agreed to the separation and in 1859 the colony of Queensland was proclaimed. The settler population of the new colony was 25,000 and the vast majority of its territory was still occupied by its traditional owners . Between 1788 and 1868, approximately 161,700 convicts (of whom 25,000 were women) were transported to
Corio Bay - Misplaced Pages Continue
3712-631: The scrub by the waterholes were "honey eaters, warblers, red coat robins, emu wren with 2 long feathers in tail, Laughing jack ass- everywhere, butcher bird, also known as shrike or whistling jackass, Quail where coverage good in bottom of scrub, turkey at Boneo and the big swamp off the property." On the flats were found spur wing plovers, minas, and leatherheads. In timbers near the flats were "many varieties of parrots, Lorry, Rosella, Blue mountain or honeysuckle parrot, Sulphur –crested white cockatoo, Black cockatoo of two kinds, Grey cockatoo with scarlet crest and Corella or cockatoo parrot." Among
3828-421: The 1820s free settlers were encouraged by the offer of land grants in proportion to the capital the settlers would bring. Almost 2 million acres of land was granted to free settlers in the decade, and the number of sheep in the island increased from 170,000 to a million. The land grants created a social division between large landowners and a majority of landless convicts and emancipists. Van Diemen's Land became
3944-511: The 1980s. Sometimes, whales and dolphins can be seen in the bay. Commercial net fishing in Corio Bay ended in 2018 after campaigning by recreational fishing groups. Industrial activity around Corio bay has resulted in pollution to the bay: Port Phillip Port Phillip ( Kulin : Narm-Narm ) or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria , Australia . The bay opens into
4060-468: The Aboriginal people, and continued to shoot at them as they fled, inflicting likely mortal wounds on two of the Aboriginal people. Watching from the boat, Murray ordered grapeshot and round shot to be fired from the carronades aboard the ship at the fleeing Aboriginal people. Murray said "Thus did this treachery and unprovoked attack meet with its just punishment and at the same time taught us
4176-782: The Australian colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land and Western Australia. Historian Lloyd Robson has estimated that perhaps two-thirds were thieves from working class towns, particularly from the Midlands and north of England. The majority were repeat offenders. The literacy rate of convicts was above average and they brought a range of useful skills to the new colony including building, farming, sailing, fishing and hunting. The small number of free settlers meant that early governors also had to rely on convicts and emancipists for professions such as lawyers, architects, surveyors and teachers. The first governors saw New South Wales as
4292-413: The British, as it showed the interest of France in the new land. Nevertheless, on 2 February Lieutenant King, at Phillip's request, paid a courtesy call on the French and offered them any assistance they may need. The French made the same offer to the British, as they were much better provisioned than the British and had enough supplies to last three years. Neither of these offers was accepted. On 10 March
4408-555: The French Government his surprise that the Spanish had not protested at a colony strategically place to challenge Spanish interests in the region. King points out that supporters of the penal colony frequently compared the venture to the foundation of Rome, and that the first Great Seal of New South Wales alluded to this. Phillip, however, wrote, "I would not wish Convicts to lay the foundations of an Empire...[.]" After
4524-552: The French expedition, having taken on water and wood, left Botany Bay, never to be seen again. Governor Phillip was vested with complete authority over the inhabitants of the colony. His intention was to establish harmonious relations with local Aboriginal people and try to reform as well as discipline the convicts of the colony. Early efforts at agriculture were fraught and supplies from overseas were scarce. Between 1788 and 1792 about 3546 male and 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney. Many new arrivals were sick or unfit for work and
4640-666: The Islands adjacent in the Pacific" between the latitudes of Cape York and the southern tip of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). King argues that an unofficial British map published in 1786 ( A General Chart of New Holland ) showed the possible extent of this claim. In 1817, the British government withdrew the extensive territorial claim over the South Pacific, passing an act specifying that Tahiti, New Zealand and other islands of
4756-462: The New World from 1718 to 1775 and was now searching for an alternative. The temporary solution of floating prison hulks had reached capacity and was a public health hazard, while the option of building more jails and workhouses was deemed too expensive. Sir Joseph Banks , the eminent scientist who had accompanied Lieutenant James Cook on his 1770 voyage, recommended Botany Bay , then known to
Corio Bay - Misplaced Pages Continue
4872-465: The Pitt government announced its intention to send convicts to Botany Bay. The Government incorporated the settlement of Norfolk Island into their plan, with its attractions of timber and flax, proposed by Banks's Royal Society colleagues, Sir John Call and Sir George Young. There has been a longstanding debate over whether the key consideration in the decision to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay
4988-460: The Port Phillip catchment) flowed down what is now the middle of the bay, formed a coastal lake in the southern reaches of the bay dammed by The Heads , and subsequently pouring out into a closed bay that formed over the western portion of the prehistoric Bassian Plain, which was later completely flooded and became Bass Strait . The Aboriginal people inhabited the area long before the bay
5104-459: The South Pacific were not within His Majesty's dominions. However, it is unclear whether the claim ever extended to the current islands of New Zealand. On 24 January 1788 a French expedition of two ships led by Admiral Jean-François de La Pérouse had arrived off Botany Bay, on the latest leg of a three-year voyage. Though amicably received, the French expedition was a troublesome matter for
5220-529: The Yarra River, which make up today's Port of Melbourne . The Melbourne Harbor Trust and Geelong Harbor Trust were responsible for the piers and wharves in their respective cities — they are now the government owned Port of Melbourne Corporation and the privately operated GeelongPort. European settlement of Australia The history of Australia from 1788 to 1850 covers the early British colonial period of Australia 's history. This started with
5336-484: The area around Port Phillip was divided between the territories of the Wathaurong (west), Wurundjeri (north) and Boonwurrung (south and east) people, all part of the indigeous Kulin nation . The first Europeans to enter the bay were the crews of HMS Lady Nelson , commanded by John Murray and, ten weeks later, HMS Investigator commanded by Matthew Flinders , in 1802. Subsequent expeditions into
5452-662: The area of the modern state as well as modern Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory. The Proclamation of Governor Bourke , (10 October 1835) reinforced the doctrine that Australia had been terra nullius when settled by the British in 1788, and that the Crown had obtained beneficial ownership of all the land of New South Wales from that date. The proclamation stated that British subjects could not obtain title over vacant Crown land directly from Aboriginal Australians, effectively quashing
5568-640: The arrival in 1788 of the First Fleet of British ships at Port Jackson on the lands of the Eora , and the establishment of the penal colony of New South Wales as part of the British Empire . It further covers the European scientific exploration of the continent and the establishment of the other Australian colonies that make up the modern states of Australia. After several years of privation,
5684-569: The bay Port King after the Governor of New South Wales , Philip Gidley King . On 4 September 1805, King formally renamed it Port Phillip, in honour of his predecessor Arthur Phillip . Murray chose to base the Lady Nelson off what is now known as Sorrento Beach. During this voyage, Murray records in his journal his first encounter with local Aboriginal peoples. This initially friendly encounter started with trading, eating, and gifting, and
5800-524: The bay covers 1,930 km (750 sq mi) and the shore stretches roughly 264 km (164 mi), with the volume of water around 25 km (6.0 cu mi). Most of the bay is navigable, although it is extremely shallow for its size — the deepest portion is only 24 m (79 ft) and half the bay is shallower than 8 m (26 ft). Its waters and coast are home to seals , whales , dolphins , corals and many kinds of seabirds and migratory waders . Before European settlement ,
5916-682: The bay he described "scallop shells which were used as an oil lamp with a bulrush wick, banks of cockles covered with birds, grey and white gulls, a 13-16 lb size schnapper ground off Mt Martha Point, mutton fish or venus ear- bait, coatfish, parrot fish , leather jackets, flathead , dog fish, sting rays, shark tailed rays, and pig fish that he thought to be "very old". On the beaches could be sighted pelicans, penguins, grey and grey white gull, called "bungan" by aborigines (the Bunurong Mayone-bulluk clan), small white and lavender gull, pied oyster catchers, terns, cormorants,
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#17327768464216032-574: The bay is the driest part of southern Victoria and almost approaches a semi-arid climate ( BSk ) with a mean annual rainfall as low as 425 millimetres (17 in) (comparable to Nhill or Numurkah ), whilst the eastern shores less shielded by the Otways receive as much as 850 millimetres (33 in). Summer temperatures average around 25 °C (77 °F) during the day and 14 °C (57 °F) at night, but occasional northerly winds can push temperatures over 40 °C (104 °F), whilst in winter
6148-596: The bay of Port Phillip have shown increases. Unlike in Portland and on Great Ocean Road , Southern Rights in eastern Victorian waters are still critically endangered and in very small numbers; however, presences of cow-calf pairs in the bay in recent years indicate that Port Phillip was possibly once a wintering/calving ground for these whales. They swim very close to shores to take rests in shallow, sheltered waters, sometimes just next to piers in Frankston . The bay
6264-426: The bay took place in 1803 to establish the first settlement in Victoria, near Sorrento , but was abandoned in 1804. Thirty years later, settlers from Tasmania returned to establish Melbourne (now Victoria's capital city) at the mouth of the Yarra River in 1835, and Geelong at Corio Bay in 1838. Today, Port Phillip is the most densely populated catchment in Australia with an estimated 5.5 million people living around
6380-531: The bay's entrance, The Rip , and later lived with an Aboriginal Australian group for many years, being given up for dead. Port Phillip was then left mostly undisturbed until 1835, when settlers from Tasmania led by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner (who had been at the Sorrento settlement as a child) established Melbourne on the lower reaches of the Yarra. John Batman encountered William Buckley who then became an important translator in negotiations with
6496-578: The bay, unaware Murray had been there. The official history of Nicholas Baudin 's explorations in Le Géographe claimed they too had sighted the entrance at that time (30 March 1802) but this is almost certainly a later embellishment or error, being absent from the ship's logs and Baudin's own accounts. As a result of Murray's and Flinders' reports, King sent Lieutenant Charles Robbins in HMS Cumberland to explore Port Phillip fully. This surveying party, which included Charles Grimes , produced
6612-473: The bay; Melbourne's suburbs extend around much of the northern and eastern shorelines, and the city of Geelong sprawls around Corio Bay in the bay's western arm. Port Phillip formed between the end of the last Ice Age around 8000 BCE and around 6000 BCE, when the sea-level rose to drown the vast river plains , wetlands and lakes at what was then the lower reaches of the Yarra River . The ancient Yarra and its tributaries (the other present-day rivers of
6728-401: The beaches of Port Phillip during the summer months and school holidays. Water sports such as body boarding and surfing are difficult or impossible, except in extreme weather conditions. However, stand up paddle boarding (SUP), kite surfing and wind surfing are very popular. Most sandy beaches are located on the bay's northern, eastern and southern shorelines, while the western shorelines host
6844-465: The bluedevil fish and fantastic sponge walls on the Lonsdale wall in the heads of the bay. It also hosts breeding colonies of Australian fur seals . Occasionally, Australian sea lions , New Zealand fur seals , subantarctic fur seals , and leopard seals may come into the bay as well. Certain individual southern elephant seals may frequent the bay as well. Swan Bay , adjacent to Queenscliff,
6960-413: The cherry trees in the garden at the homestead were "bronzewing pigeon and satin birds, love birds and honeyeating parakeets." Birds of prey were "eagle hawks, falcons, and owls, some white and of great size". Small numbers of common dolphins have become residents in eastern parts of the bay since the late 2000s. In recent years, the numbers of southern humpback and southern right whales entering
7076-430: The colony as a strategic base against Spanish interests were occasionally made after 1788, but never implemented. Macintyre argues that the evidence for a military-strategic motive in establishing the colony is largely circumstantial and hard to reconcile with the strict ban on establishing a shipyard in the colony. Karskens points out that the instructions provided to the first five governors of New South Wales show that
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#17327768464217192-429: The colony. He appointed emancipists to key government positions including Francis Greenway as colonial architect and William Redfern as a magistrate. His policy on emancipists was opposed by many influential free settlers, officers and officials, and London became concerned at the cost of his public works. In 1819, London appointed J. T. Bigge to conduct an inquiry into the colony, and Macquarie resigned shortly before
7308-563: The command of Captain Arthur Phillip set sail for Botany Bay. A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney Cove , known by the Indigenous name Warrane, on 26 January 1788. This date later became Australia's national day, Australia Day . The colony was formally proclaimed by Governor Phillip on 7 February 1788 at Sydney. Sydney Cove offered
7424-586: The condition of healthy convicts also deteriorated due to the hard labour and poor food. The food situation reached crisis point in 1790 and the Second Fleet which finally arrived in June 1790 had lost a quarter of its passengers through sickness, while the condition of the convicts of the Third Fleet appalled Phillip. From 1791, however, the more regular arrival of ships and the beginnings of trade lessened
7540-538: The creation of a settlement in New South Wales. The major alternative to Botany Bay was sending convicts to Africa. From 1775 convicts had been sent to garrison British forts in west Africa, but the experiment had proved unsuccessful. In 1783, the Pitt government considered exiling convicts to a small river island in Gambia where they could form a self-governing community, a "colony of thieves", at no expense to
7656-675: The departure of Phillip, trade developed with visiting ships and farming spread to more fertile lands on the fringes of Sydney. The New South Wales Corps was formed in England in 1789 as a permanent regiment of the British Army to relieve the marines who had accompanied the First Fleet. Officers of the Corps soon became involved in the corrupt and lucrative rum trade in the colony. Governor William Bligh (1806 – 1808) tried to suppress
7772-502: The district had a population of 75,000 Europeans, 2,000 Indigenous inhabitants and 5 million sheep. In 1851, the Port Phillip District separated from New South Wales as the colony of Victoria. In 1826, the governor of New South Wales, Ralph Darling , sent a military garrison to King George Sound (the basis of the later town of Albany ), to deter the French from establishing a settlement in Western Australia. In 1827,
7888-410: The dry climate, and a lack of capital and labour. By 1850 there were a little more than 5,000 settlers, half of them children. The colony accepted convicts from that year because of the acute shortage of labour. The Province of South Australia was established in 1836 as a privately financed settlement based on the theory of "systematic colonisation" developed by Edward Gibbon Wakefield . The intention
8004-493: The east shore of the bay. Later, resorts further south such as Sorrento and Portsea became popular. The more swampy western shores of the bay were not so favoured, and have been used mainly for non-residential purposes such as agriculture, the Point Cook Royal Australian Air Force base and the Werribee Sewage Farm , and significant nature reserves. In recent decades the population along
8120-495: The feeling of isolation and improved supplies. In 1788, Phillip established a subsidiary settlement on Norfolk Island in the South Pacific where he hoped to obtain timber and flax for the navy. The island, however, had no safe harbour, which led the settlement to be abandoned and the settlers evacuated to Tasmania in 1807. The island was subsequently re-established as a site for secondary transportation in 1825. Phillip sent exploratory missions in search of better soils, fixed on
8236-463: The first of the "orders" issued by Collins bears that date. On 25 October, the King's birthday, the British flag was hoisted over the tiny settlement and a little salvo of musketry celebrated the royal occasion. On 25 November the first white child was born in Victoria and was baptised on Christmas Day , receiving the name of William James Hobart Thorne. The first marriage took place on 28 November, when
8352-402: The government's original motives were in establishing the colony, by the 1790s it had at least achieved the imperial objective of providing a harbour where vessels could be careened and resupplied. On 13 May 1787, the First Fleet of 11 ships and about 1,530 people (736 convicts, 17 convicts' children, 211 marines, 27 marines' wives, 14 marines' children and about 300 officers and others) under
8468-460: The government. In 1785, a parliamentary select committee chaired by Lord Beauchamp recommended against the Gambia plan, but failed to endorse the alternative of Botany Bay. In a second report, Beauchamp recommended a penal settlement at Das Voltas Bay in modern Namibia. The plan was dropped, however, when an investigation of the site in 1786 found it to be unsuitable. Two weeks later, in August 1786,
8584-408: The gullies, that were caught in box traps with sliding doors, porcupine ant eater or echidna that were at the back of Arthur's Seat mountain, the great iguana, tree lizard- 5 feet, python, and the rock or sleeping lizard." The trees were coast banksia, honey suckle, and grass trees "with crowns for thatching". The gum of Xanthorrhoea australis was used for carriage varnish. In the waters of
8700-476: The head of the expedition, Major Edmund Lockyer , formally annexed the western third of the continent as a British colony. In 1829, the Swan River colony was established at the sites of modern Fremantle and Perth , becoming the first convict-free and privatised colony in Australia. However, much of the arable land was allocated to absentee owners and the development of the colony was hampered by poor soil,
8816-478: The historic McCrae Homestead on the southern shore of the bay, part of the Mornington Peninsula . In the letters he described in detail the natural history of the area in the 1840s, and the species he particularly remembered 60 years later. In 1939, Charles Daley read an article before the Royal Historical Society of Victoria based on these letters, which was published in its journal in 1940
8932-566: The initial plans for the colony were limited. The settlement was to be a self-sufficient penal colony based on subsistence agriculture. Trade, shipping and ship building were banned in order to keep the convicts isolated and so as not to interfere with the trade monopoly of the British East India Company . There was no plan for economic development apart from investigating the possibility of producing raw materials for Britain. Christopher and Maxwell-Stewart argue that whatever
9048-454: The inner harbour. Ships were required to drop anchor in the bay, and cargo was brought into Geelong on small barges . At times it was possible to walk across the bay on the sandbar at low tide. The first channel through the sandbar was started in 1853, providing less than 4 metres draught for ships. This channel was straightened out and dredged at a depth of 6 metres in the 1860s. In 1881 a new channel started that took 12 years to complete. It
9164-462: The last autocratic Governor of New South Wales , from 1810 to 1821, and had a leading role in the social and economic development of New South Wales, which saw it transition from a penal colony to a budding civil society. He established a bank, a currency and a hospital, and commissioned extensive public works. Central to Macquarie's policy was his treatment of the emancipists , whom he considered should be treated as social equals to free-settlers in
9280-668: The line of division between the claims of Spain and Portugal established in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. Watkin Tench subsequently commented in A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay , "By this partition, it may be fairly presumed, that every source of future litigation between the Dutch and us, will be for ever cut off, as the discoveries of English navigators only are comprized in this territory". The claim also included "all
9396-411: The little sandpiper, and musk ducks. In the swamps (which have since been filled in) were "The Nankeen bird with one long white feather behind the ear, The rail, The bittern, The snipe and jack snipe, Several ducks- wood duck, black duck, Teal, Spoonbill, Black swan Geese, Cranes, Blue and white coots, Water hens, Kingfishers here and there and swamp or ground parrot with the barred tail feathers." In
9512-571: The local Gweagal people as Kamay, as a suitable site. Banks accepted an offer of assistance from the American Loyalist James Matra in July 1783. Matra had visited Botany Bay with Banks in 1770 as a junior officer on the Endeavour commanded by James Cook. Under Banks's guidance, he rapidly produced "A Proposal for Establishing a Settlement in New South Wales" (24 August 1783), with a fully developed set of reasons for
9628-620: The local Aboriginal tribesmen. In 1838 Geelong was founded, and became the main port serving the growing wool industry of the Western District . For a time Geelong rivalled Melbourne as the leading settlement on the bay, but the Gold Rush which began in 1851 gave Melbourne a decisive edge as the largest town in Victoria. As Melbourne prospered, its wealthy classes discovered the recreational uses of Port Phillip. Bayside suburbs such as St Kilda and Brighton were established on
9744-420: The locally born exceeded the convict population of New South Wales. From the 1820s, grazing of sheep and cattle expanded rapidly, and the colony spread beyond the official bounds of settlement. In 1825, the western boundary of New South Wales was extended to longitude 129° East, which is the current boundary of Western Australia. As a result, the territory of New South Wales reached its greatest extent, covering
9860-465: The marshy shallows of Swan Bay . Some of the bay's major islands include: Jellyfish are a familiar sight in Port Phillip, and its waters are home to species such as Australian fur seals , bottlenose dolphins , common dolphins , humpback whales , and southern right whales . Many other cetacean species may also migrate off the areas. The smooth toadfish is one of the most common fishes in muddy areas. The bay has many endemic species including
9976-511: The name "Governor King's Bay" to the body of water between Cape Otway and Wilsons Promontory, but did not venture in and discover Port Phillip. The first Europeans to find and enter Port Phillip, were the crew of the Lady Nelson , commanded by John Murray , which entered the bay on 15 February 1802. The bay was then known as Narm-Narm by the people of the Kulin tribe, and Murray called
10092-514: The natural and heritage features. Port Phillip's marine water quality is monitored by the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria and was fluctuating between Good to Very Good across the bay in 2021-2022. In 1906, George Gordon McCrae wrote two letters to a local schoolmaster at Dromana , Mr G.H. Rogers. His subject was his earliest recollections of an idyllic boyhood spent at Arthur's Seat Run, location of
10208-496: The nature of the colony and make transportation "an object of real terror". The food ration for convicts was cut and their opportunities to work for wages restricted. More convicts were assigned to rural work gangs, bureaucratic control and surveillance of convicts was made more systematic, isolated penal settlements were established as places of secondary punishment, the rules for tickets of leave were tightened, and land grants were skewed to favour free settlers with large capital. As
10324-558: The new settlement having survived near starvation and immense isolation for four years. A number of foreign commentators pointed to the strategic importance of the new colony. Spanish naval commander Alessandro Malaspina , who visited Sydney in March–April 1793 reported to his government that imperialism and trade were the real objects of the colony. Frenchman François Péron , of the Baudin expedition visited Sydney in 1802 and reported to
10440-489: The officers did not want to be directly associated with trade. These convicts learnt commercial skills which could help them work for themselves when their sentence ended or they were granted a "ticket of leave" (a form of parole). Female convicts were usually assigned as domestic servants to the free settlers, many being forced into prostitution. Convicts soon established a system of piece work which allowed them to work for wages once their allocated tasks were completed. Due to
10556-466: The outbreak of civil war in the Netherlands might precipitate a war in which Britain would be again confronted with the alliance of the three naval Powers, France, Holland and Spain, which had brought her to defeat in 1783. Under these circumstances a naval base in New South Wales which could facilitate attacks on Dutch and Spanish interests in the region would be attractive. Specific plans for using
10672-461: The penal colony gradually expanded and developed an economy based on farming, fishing, whaling, trade with incoming ships, and construction using convict labour. By 1820, however, British settlement was largely confined to a 100-kilometre (62 mi) radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's land . From 1816, penal transportation to Australia increased rapidly and the number of free settlers grew steadily. Van Diemen's Land became
10788-532: The population of Brisbane had reached 8,000 and increasing numbers of pastoralists were grazing cattle and sheep in the Darling Downs west of the town. However, several attempts to establish settlements north of the Tropic of Capricorn had failed, and the settler population in the north remained small. Frontier violence between settlers and the Indigenous population became severe as pastoralism expanded north of
10904-567: The region later known as Victoria to be abandoned on 27 January 1804. When Collins left Port Phillip, the Calcutta proceeded to Sydney , and the Ocean to Risdon Cove in Tasmania , where they arrived on 15 February 1804. Prior to abandonment, a group of convicts including William Buckley , escaped from the settlement. Buckley took up residence in a cave near Point Lonsdale on the western side of
11020-664: The report of the inquiry was published. In 1820, British settlement was largely confined to a 100 kilometre radius around Sydney and to the central plain of Van Diemen's Land. The settler population was 26,000 on the mainland and 6,000 in Van Diemen's Land. Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 the transportation of convicts increased rapidly and the number of free settlers grew steadily. From 1821 to 1840, 55,000 convicts arrived in New South Wales and 60,000 in Van Diemen's Land. However, by 1830, free settlers and
11136-477: The rum trade and the illegal use of Crown Land, resulting in the Rum Rebellion of 1808. The Corps, working closely with the newly established wool trader John Macarthur , staged the only successful armed takeover of government in Australian history, deposing Bligh and instigating a brief period of military rule prior to the arrival from Britain of Governor Lachlan Macquarie in 1810. Macquarie served as
11252-479: The settlers and established viable communities, often on small areas of their traditional lands, where many aspects of their cultures were maintained. The decision to establish a colony in Australia was made by Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney . This was taken for two reasons: the ending of transportation of criminals to North America following the American Revolution , as well as the need for
11368-402: The sheep. They also worked in trades and small business. Emancipists employed about half of the convicts assigned to private masters. After 1815 wages and employment opportunities for convicts and emancipists deteriorated as a sharp increase in the number of convicts transported led to an oversupply of labour. A series of reforms recommended by J. T. Bigge in 1822 and 1823 also sought to change
11484-415: The shortage of labour, wage rates before 1815 were high for male workers although much lower for females engaged in domestic work. In 1814, Governor Macquarie ordered that convicts had to work until 3pm, after which private employers had to pay them wages for any additional work. By 1821 convicts, emancipists and their children owned two-thirds of the land under cultivation, half the cattle and one-third of
11600-535: The southern section of the bay, and parts of the South Channel require occasional maintenance dredging. The region has an oceanic climate ( Köppen Cfb ) with warm summers possessing occasional very hot days due to northerly winds and mild winters. Annual rainfall, which is evenly distributed over the year, shows considerable variation due to the Otway Ranges to the southwest: the northwestern shore of
11716-428: The time the area was surveyed in the late 1830s the Aboriginal names had been swapped. The names "Corayo" and "Jillong" had since been Anglicised to "Corio" and "Geelong". The Port of Geelong is located on the shores of Corio Bay, and is the sixth largest port in Australia by tonnage. Before the initial settlement of Geelong, a sandbar across the bay from Point Lillias to Point Henry prevented ships from entering
11832-399: The treaty between John Batman and the Aboriginal people of the Port Phillip area. By 1850 the settler population of New South Wales had grown to 180,000, not including the 70–75 thousand living in the area which became the separate colony of Victoria in 1851. After hosting Nicholas Baudin's French naval expedition in Sydney in 1802, Governor Phillip Gidley King decided to establish
11948-468: The uneven contours of the seabed. The best time for small craft to enter the Rip is at slack water . Large ships require expert local guidance to enter and exit, provided by the Port Phillip maritime pilots . Work has begun to deepen the channel entrance, to allow newer, larger container ships to access Melbourne's docks. The eastern side of the bay is characterised by sandy beaches extending from St Kilda , Sandringham , Beaumaris , Carrum , and down
12064-613: The water quality is helping the marine life flourish as well as divide the supervising of the Bay between the government, community and industries. The southern section of the Bay near the Heads is covered by extensive sand banks, known as the "Great Sand". A shipping channel was dredged in an east–west direction from the Heads to near Arthur's Seat late in the nineteenth century, and maintained ever since. Early shipping used piers at Sandridge (Port Melbourne), but later moved to various wharves along
12180-417: The western side of the bay has grown more rapidly. In the 21st century, property along the Port Phillip coastline continues to be highly sought after. Port Phillip continues to be extensively used for recreational pursuits such as swimming, cycling, boating, and fishing. The bay also features a number of historical walks and fauna reserves. The traditional land owners of the area have also been acknowledged at
12296-552: The year after a large bushfire in January 1939 hastened the disappearance of much of the original surviving wildlife from the area. The names of the species reflect the titles given to them by the original European settlers of the bay. The animals he observed as a young boy were "immense droves of kangaroos , brush kangaroos or wallaby , paddy-melon , bandicoots (two varieties), great opossum (two varieties), ring tail, flying squirrel , flying mouse , dingoes or wild dogs in
12412-423: Was badly hit by the depression of 1841–44, and overproduction of wheat and overinvestment in infrastructure almost bankrupted it. Conflict with Indigenous traditional landowners also reduced the protections they had been promised. In 1842, the settlement became a Crown colony administered by the governor and an appointed Legislative Council. The economy recovered from 1845, supported by wheat farming, sheep grazing and
12528-493: Was described in a newspaper. "The earth-quake appears to have been confined to the southern portion of the colony, and principally to those places bordering on Bass's Straits and Port Phillip Bay. Telegrams to the Argus from Cowes, Flinders, Kangaroo Grounds, Mornington, Queenscliff, Eltham, Lilydale, Shoreham, and Cape Schanck, all mention the earthquake." Anthonys Nose is an escarpment landform of Devonian granite on
12644-452: Was formed, with evidence of occupation dating at least 40,000 years ago. Settler records indicate an oral history with at least 18,000 years of linearity when Boonwurrung Elder Ningerranarro spoke of his ancestors hunting kangaroo and possum where the Bay now lies. Large piles of semi-fossilised seashells known as middens can still be seen in places around the shoreline, marking the spots where Aboriginal people held feasts. They made
12760-490: Was later re-branded as 'GeelongPort'. The shores of Corio Bay have been a popular playground for Geelong residents. Since the 1930s Eastern Beach has been a popular swimming location. Boating is also popular, with a number of public boat ramps and piers provided. The bay is also the home of the Royal Geelong Yacht Club that was established in 1859, and the adjacent Bay City Marina that was constructed in
12876-657: Was named the Hopetoun Channel after Lord Hopetoun who opened it on December 20, 1893. Management of the channels and port was the responsibility of the Geelong Harbour Trust that was formed in December 1905. In 1981, the Port of Geelong Authority took over from the trust. The authority was privatised by the State Government in mid 1996, being sold to TNT Logistics for $ 49.6 million. It
12992-527: Was occupied by traditional landowners . Its publication meant that from then, all people found occupying land without the authority of the government would be considered illegal trespassers. In 1836, Port Phillip was officially recognised as a district of New South Wales and opened for settlement. The main settlement of Melbourne was established in 1837 as a planned town on the instructions of Governor Bourke. Squatters and settlers from Van Diemen's Land and New South Wales soon arrived in large numbers, and by 1850
13108-424: Was suddenly interrupted by a violent ambush by a large group of Aboriginal people. "They were all clothed in opossum skins and in each basket a certain quantity of gum was found. ... if we may judge from the number of their fires and other marks this part of the country is not thin of inhabitants. Their spears are of various kinds and all of them more dangerous than any I have yet seen." The crew in response shot at
13224-410: Was the pressing need to find a solution to the penal management problem, or whether broader imperial goals — such as trade, securing new supplies of timber and flax for the navy, and the desirability of strategic ports in the region — were paramount. Leading historians in the debate have included Sir Ernest Scott , Geoffrey Blainey , and Alan Frost . The decision to settle was taken when it seemed
13340-632: Was to be planned with a generous provision of churches, parks and schools. Land was to be sold at a uniform price and the proceeds used to secure an adequate supply of labour through selective assisted migration. Various religious, personal and commercial freedoms were guaranteed, and the Letters Patent enabling the South Australia Act 1834 included a guarantee of the rights of "any Aboriginal Natives" and their descendants to lands they "now actually occupied or enjoyed". The colony
13456-489: Was to found a free colony based on private investment at little cost to the British government. Power was divided between the Crown and a Board of Commissioners of Colonisation, responsible to about 300 shareholders. Settlement was to be controlled to promote a balance between land, capital and labour. Convict labour was banned in the hope of making the colony more attractive to "respectable" families and promote an even balance between male and female settlers. The city of Adelaide
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