Port Phillip (Kulin languages: Narm-Narm
) or
Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria,
Australia. The bay opens into 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, the bay covers and the shore stretches roughly , with the volume of water around . Most of the bay is navigable, although it is extremely shallow for its size — the deepest portion is only and half the bay is shallower than . Its waters and coast are home to
Pinniped,
,
,
and many kinds of
and
bird migration .
Before European settlement, the area around Port Phillip was divided between the territories of the Wathaurong (west), Wurundjeri (north) and Bunurong (south and east) people, all part of the indigeous Kulin nation. The first Europeans to enter the bay were the crews of , commanded by John Murray and, ten weeks later, commanded by Matthew Flinders, in 1802. Subsequent expeditions into 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
History
Prehistory
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
,
and
at what was then the lower reaches of the
Yarra River. The ancient Yarra and its tributaries (the other present-day rivers of 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 Rip, 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 was formed, with evidence of occupation dating at least 40,000 years ago. Settler records indicate an oral tradition with at least 18,000 years of linearity when Boonwurrung Elder Arweet spoke of his ancestors hunting kangaroo and Phalangeriformes where the Bay now lies.
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 recorded in local newspaper reports.
[Historical earthquakes in Victoria, Kevin McCue, Rockhampton, CQU, Queensland. See Fig.1, Map, seismicity of Victoria to 2009, Payne and others. [1]]
An earthquake that occurred in July 1885 was described in a newspaper.[The Earthquake in Victoria The Maitland Mercury, and Hunter River General Advertiser (NSW) : Thu 9 July 1885 Page 2 [2]]
Anthonys Nose is an escarpment landform of Devonian granite on 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.[Victorian resources online
Sites of Geological and Geomorphological Significance on the Coast of Port Phillip Bay (1988) by Neville Rosengren
[3]][ Soil/Landform Mapping Mornington Peninsula Shire]
[Researchgate, Marine Geology of Port Phillip, Victoria. G.R, Holdgate, B.Geurin, M.W. Wallace, and S.J.Gallagher
[5]]
European exploration
In 1800, Lieutenant James Grant was the first known European to pass through Bass Strait from west to east in . 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 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.[ Norman Houghton – 'The Story of Geelong' ] The bay was then known as Narm-Narm by the people of the Kulin nation tribe, and Murray called the bay Port King after the Governor of New South Wales, Philip Gidley King. On 4 September 1805,[Port Phillip Conservation Council: Excerpts from the 'Port Phillip Survey 1957-1963' ] 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 was suddenly interrupted by a violent ambush by a large group of Aboriginal people.
The crew in response shot at 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 aboard the ship at the fleeing Aboriginal people. Murray said 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 also found and entered 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.]
British settlement
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 a convoy of two ships 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 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 a free woman, Hannah Harvey was wedded to convict Richard Garrett.
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 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.
Growth and development of Melbourne
As
Melbourne prospered, its wealthy classes discovered the recreational uses of Port Phillip. Bayside suburbs such as St Kilda and Brighton were established on 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 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.
Geography
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 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
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 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 and occur in the southern section of the bay, and parts of the South Channel require occasional maintenance dredging.
Climate
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 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 (comparable to Nhill or Numurkah), whilst the eastern shores less shielded by the Otways receive as much as . Summer temperatures average around during the day and at night, but occasional northerly winds can push temperatures over , whilst in winter a typical day will range from to .
Port Phillip is often warmer than the surrounding oceans and/or the land mass, particularly in spring and autumn; this can set up a "lake-effect rain", similar to the "lake effect snow" seen in colder climates, where showers are intensified leeward of the bay (particularly in Melbourne's eastern suburbs).
Beaches
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 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 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.
-
Major beaches include: St. Kilda Beach, Brighton Beach, Sandringham Beach, Dromana Beach
Rivers and creeks
-
Rivers: Yarra River, Maribyrnong River, Patterson River, Little River, Werribee River.
-
Creeks: Elwood Canal, Mordialloc Creek, Kananook Creek, Sweetwater Creek, Balcombe Creek, Chinamans Creek, Cowies creek, Hovells Creek, Kororoit Creek.
Islands
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 the marshy shallows of
Swan Bay. Some of the bay's major islands include:
-
Swan Island
-
Mud Islands
-
Duck Island
-
South Channel Fort (artificial)
-
Pope's Eye (artificial)
Surrounding mountains and hills
-
Arthurs Seat 314 m
-
Mount Martha 160 m
-
Mount Eliza
-
Olivers Hill
-
You Yangs 364 m
Surrounding lakes
Ecology
Jellyfish are a familiar sight in Port Phillip, and its waters are home to species such as Australian fur seals, bottlenose dolphins,
,
[ ,][ and southern right whales.][Fitzgerald E., Jefferies R., 2011 Southern Right Whale – Eubalaena australis. Taxonomic Toolkit for marine life of Port Phillip Bay. Museum Victoria. Retrieved on 20 June 2014] Many other species may also migrate off the areas. The smooth toadfish is one of the most common fishes in muddy areas.[ Melbourne's Wildlife (Museum Victoria, 2006), 324.] The bay has many endemic species including the bluedevil fish and fantastic sponge walls on the Lonsdale wall in the heads of the bay. It also hosts Rookery of Australian fur seals. Occasionally, Australian sea lions,[Port Phillip Baykeeper 2011 Stray sea lion lobs in Brighton . Retrieved on 20 June 2014] New Zealand fur seals, subantarctic fur seals, and may come into the bay as well.[Fitzgerald E., Jefferies R., 2011. Class – Otariidae. Taxonomic Toolkit for marine life of Port Phillip Bay, Museum Victoria. Retrieved on 20 June 2014] Certain individual southern elephant seals may frequent the bay as well.
Swan Bay, adjacent to Queenscliff, is an important feeding ground for and bird migration . The Mud Islands, off Sorrento, are an important breeding habitat for white-faced storm petrels, , Australian pelicans and . 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 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 , such as Australasian gannets,[T. M. Pyk, A. Bunce, and F. I. Norman, "The influence of age on reproductive success and diet in Australasian gannets ( Morus serrator) breeding at Pope's Eye, Port Phillip Bay, Victoria", Australian Journal of Zoology, Vol. 55 No. 5, 2007, pp. 267–274.] 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 the natural and heritage features.
Port Phillip's marine water quality is monitored by the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria
Original flora and fauna
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 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 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 , brush kangaroos or wallaby, paddy-melon, (two varieties), great opossum (two varieties), ring tail, Gliding possum, flying mouse, or wild dogs in 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 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, Abalone or venus ear- bait,[ Fish Species NZ, Leatherjacket fish, Scientific Name :Parika scaber] flathead, dog fish,[ Australian Museum, Prickly dogfish, oxynotus bruniensis] sting rays,[Port Phillip Marinelife, Smooth Stingray
Scientific Name :Dasyatis brevicaudata (Hutton, 1875) [13]] shark tailed rays,[The Australian Museum , Shark Ray, Scientific Name: Rhina ancylostoma, Bloch & Schneider, 1801
[14]] and pig fish[The Australian Museum Eastern Pigfish,(Gunther, 1862)
Scientific name: Bodianus unimaculatus
[15]] 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, 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 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 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".
Cetaceans
Small numbers of have become residents in eastern parts of the bay since the late 2000s.[The Dolphin Research Institute, Our Dolphins are Unique . Retrieved on 20 June 2014]
In recent years, the numbers of humpback whale and southern right whales entering the bay of Port Phillip have shown increases.[Fowles S., 2012 Spectators have a whale of a time. Apollos View Accommodation. Retrieved on 20 June 2014] 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.][ January 2014 – Southern Right Whales. ABC News. Retrieved on 20 June 2014][Minear T., 2014 Whale spotted swimming close to shore in Port Phillip Bay off Bonbeach, Chelsea and Aspendale. Herald Sun. Retrieved on 20 June 2014]
Burrunan dolphins
The bay 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.[ Researcher discovers new dolphin species in Victoria, Monash University, 15 September 2011.]
Shellfish reefs
Port Phillip has lost over 95% of native flat oyster and blue mussel reefs since European settlement.
Environmental issues
Like the Yarra River 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.[Ryan, Kellie. Summer deluges leave Port Phillip Bay filthy. Herald Sun. 9 January 2012]
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 the water quality is helping the marine life flourish as well as divide the supervising of the Bay between the government, community and industries.
Shipping
History
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 the Yarra River, which make up today's Port of Melbourne.
Today, the Port of Melbourne has grown to become Australia's busiest commercial port, serving Australia's second largest city and handling an enormous amount of imports and exports into and out of the country. The Port of Geelong also handles a large volume of dry bulk and oil, while nearby Port of Hastings on Western Port handles steel and oil products.
In 2004 the Victorian Government launched the Port Phillip Channel Deepening Project to deepen the existing shipping channels and the lower Yarra to accommodate deeper draft vessels. The lower Yarra sediments were identified as likely to be contaminated with toxic chemicals and heavy metals, and were to be contained within a sealed berm clear of the shipping channels south of the Yarra entrance. The vessel chosen for the dredging is the Queen of the Netherlands. 52 environmental groups, recreational fishing groups, and divers' groups formed the "Blue Wedges" group to oppose the proposed channel deepening and dredging with organised protests carried out, culminating in the group taking action in the Federal Court in January 2008 against the Commonwealth to stop it signing off on the project.
Shipping channels
-
South Channel – Extends from the area of the rip in an easterly direction where it terminates off the coast of Arthurs Seat. Vessels with a draught of 14.0m can be navigated through the channel at all tides. This is the main commercial shipping channel in the south of the bay allowing large ships access between the entrance of the bay and its middle regions.
-
West Channel – Extends from the area of the rip, heads towards the north-west and ends off the coast of St Leonards. The depth varies, in May 1998 there was a minimum of 4.1 metres. Non-commercial vessels are still navigated through the channel; however, it is no longer used for commercial shipping.
-
The Rip – Also referred to as "the heads" for shipping purposes, vessels with a draught of 14.0m can be navigated through the Heads during any height of tide. However, the passage of vessels can be restricted when the current through the rip is too strong. The flow through the Rip can be up to 8 knots dependent on the range of tide and environmental conditions.
-
Melbourne Channels – Extends northwards through Hobsons Bay towards Station Pier and the entrance to the Yarra River. It is dredged to a depth of 15.5 metres and is the main shipping channel through the north of the bay into Melbourne's ports and docks. The channels include:
- Melbourne Channel
- Williamstown Channel
- Port Melbourne Channel
-
Geelong Channels – Begins off the coast of Point Richards and runs in a westerly direction through Outer Harbour and into Corio Bay where it splits in two heading north towards the modern Port of Geelong and south towards Cunningham Pier. The main Geelong channels are dredged to 12.3m. The City Channel while once used for wool exports is no longer used for commercial shipping. The channels include:
- Point Richards Shipping Channel
- Wilson Spit Shipping Channel
- Hopetoun Shipping Channel
- City Channel
- Corio Channel
Shipping and cargo docks
-
Bulk Grain Pier
-
Corio Quay
-
Cunningham Pier
-
Gellibrand Pier
-
Lascelles Wharf
-
Point Henry Pier
-
Point Wilson Pier
-
Princes Pier
-
Refinery Pier
-
Station Pier
-
Webb Dock
Ferries
-
Searoad Ferries operates a vehicular ferry service across the mouth of the bay between Queenscliff and Sorrento using two roll-on roll-off vessels.
- Between: Sorrento Pier, Sorrento
- And: The Cut Pier, Queenscliff
-
Port Phillip Ferries run twice daily fast ferry services between Melbourne Docklands and Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula and Docklands and Geelong. In 2017 they commissioned a new Incat ferry Bellarine Express. In 2019 it was joined by another Incat ferry of the same design Geelong Flyer which runs the service to Geelong.
-
Ferries also run from St Kilda to Williamstown, Victoria across Hobsons Bay. These ferries, like the many recreational cruises, mostly operate for tourists and run around the bay in various locations.
-
Spirit of Tasmania Ferry (passenger and vehicles)
- Between: Spirit of Tasmania Quay, Geelong
- And: Devonport, Tasmania
Other features
Flagship
-
Enterprize (1997) – Is Melbourne's Flagship, a replica of the Enterprize (1830), the tall ship that brought the first European settlers to Melbourne. She sails around Port Phillip throughout the year, visiting ports at Geelong, Williamstown, Portarlington, Rye and Blairgowrie.
Lighthouses
-
Eastern Lighthouse
-
Queenscliff High Light (1843, 1862) – Queenscliff
-
Queenscliff Low Light (1863) – Queenscliff
-
Point Lonsdale Lighthouse (1902) – Point Lonsdale
-
Port Melbourne Lighthouses (1924) – Port Melbourne
-
South Channel Pile Light (1874) – Port Phillip
-
West Channel Pile Light (1881) – Port Phillip
-
Williamstown Lighthouse (1840, 1849, 1934) – Williamstown
Shipwrecks
Some of the more significant and historic in the bay include:
-
– sunk 600 metres northeast of Pope's Eye (1841)
-
Clarence – sunk after running aground (1850)
-
Will O' the Wisp – sunk after running onto the sandbank William Sand, West Channel (1853)
-
Mountain Maid – sunk off Swan Island after a collision with SS Queen (1856)
-
Joanna – sunk after going around on the West Bank (1857)
-
– sunk after a collision with Penola (1865)
-
Eliza Ramsden – sunk near the South Channel (1875)
-
Wauchope – beached at Portsea after she caught fire and part of her cargo exploded (1919)
-
– scuttled off Indented Head (1925)
-
HMVS Cerberus – scuttled in Half Moon Bay, Black Rock (1926)
-
HMAS J3 – scuttled in Swan Bay (1926)
-
HMAS J7 – scuttled off Hampton Beach (1926)
-
– the first ship to survive hitting Corsair Rock (1955)
Tourism
The bay is one of Victoria's most popular tourist destinations. Many residents of Melbourne holiday on the shorelines of the bay, particularly the Bellarine (South west, near Geelong) and Mornington (south east of Melbourne) Peninsulas, most annually, either camping in tents, caravan or villas in , sharing rental houses or staying in holiday homes.
Recreation and sport
Port Phillip's mostly flat topography and moderate waves make perfect conditions for recreational human swimming, kitesurfing, windsurfing, sailing, boating, snorkeling, scuba diving, stand up paddle boarding (SUP) and other sports.
Port Phillip is home to 36 . It also hosts the Melbourne to Hobart and Melbourne to Launceston Yacht Races. Port Phillip is also home to a number of , including large marinas at St. Kilda, Brighton and Geelong. For the 1956 Summer Olympics, it hosted the sailing events.[ 1956 Summer Olympics official report. pp. 46-7.]
Dozens of Surf Lifesaving dot Port Phillip, especially on the east coast from Altona to Frankston. These clubs provide volunteer lifesaving services and conduct sporting carnivals.
Port Phillip is also known as a temperate water scuba diving destination. The shore dives from beaches and piers around the Bay provide a wide variety of experiences on day and night dives. Boat diving in Port Phillip provides access to a remarkable variety of diving environments including wrecks, reefs, drift dives, scallop dives, seal dives and wall dives. Of particular interest are the five scuttled J-Class World War 1 submarines and the Ships' Graveyard off Torquay. With 3 Marine Sanctuaries and easily accessible piers, Port Phillip is also popular for recreational snorkeling.
There are also a number of bike paths, including the Bayside Trail and the Hobsons Bay Coastal Trail.
See also
External links
