This is a short account of the early European activity in Western Port.
Western Port Bay was 'discovered' by George Bass
(1) on January 5, 1798. Bass had left Sydney (Port Jackson) on December 3, 1897 with the purpose of discovering whether a strait existed between Tasmania (Van Diemen's land) and the mainland. As we know the Strait did exist and it was named after him. Bass named Western Port thusly as it was the most westerly port that was known at the time - as he wrote in his journal -
I have named the place, from its relative situation to every other known harbour on the coast, Western Port. It is a large sheet of water branching our into two arms which end in wide flats of several miles in extent, and it was not until we had been here some days that we found it to be formed by an island and to have two outlets to the sea - an eastern and western passage. (2) The Island he mentioned was Phillip Island, named for Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor, who had arrived with the First Fleet in January 1788.
(3)
Bass navigated around what was to be called Phillip Island, but did not realise that the land mass that became known as French Island (4), was indeed, also an island. They were also unaware of Port Phillip Bay - I wonder what Western Port would have been called if they were. The journey was a remarkable feat of navigation and enterprise, the party was away for eleven weeks, had eked out the original six weeks of supplies they took with them, they sailed 600 miles of uncharted coast line all in an open boat that was only 28 feet, 7 inches (8.7 metres) long. (5)
Western Port on the south coast of New South Wales from Mr. Bass' eye sketch, 1798.
After Bass, the next official European activity was carried out in the Lady Nelson, under Lieutenant James Grant (6) - they arrived at Western Port on March 21, 1801. The crew charted the Bay and planted a garden on Churchill Island, the first garden planted in what was to become the state of Victoria. Grant notes in his journal -
I sowed in it wheat, seeds of different sorts, planted onions and potatoes, with cucumber, pumpkin, and mellon seeds; also threw in several sorts of apple seeds, and some stones of plumbs and peaches, together with a few grains of rice and coffee. (7)
The cairn on Churchill Island commemorating Grant's planting of wheat in 1801, erected by the Victorian Farmer's Union in 1968.(8)
Photographer: John T. Collins, taken November 11, 1984.
State Library of Victoria image H98.250/1690
The Lady Nelson returned in December 1801 under First Lieutenant John Murray (9) and harvested the wheat crop planted by Grant the year before, and on January 5, 1802 they 'discovered' Port Phillip Bay, however did not enter the Bay, instead sailing to King Island. They returned to Western Port a few weeks later and on February 14, became the first European crewed ship to enter Port Philip Bay. (10)
In April 1802, the French Captain Hamelin in the Naturaliste reached Western Port and circumnavigated and mapped French Island. Hamelin was part of a French expedition, under the command of Nicolas Thomas Baudin (11), of the Geographe, whose mission was to map the Australian coast and undertake scientific studies. (12)
The French interest in this region prompted the British Government to establish, in 1803, a settlement in Port Phillip Bay, at what is now Sorrento, under Lieutenant Governor David Collins (13). In Western Port, enterprising sealers had moved in - seals were hunted for their skins and their oil. Sealers also abducted Aboriginal women, to act a sex slaves and to exploit their hunting knowledge. (14).
In 1826, the British sent the Dragon, under the command of Captain Samuel Wright; and the Fly, under the command of Captain F. Wetherall to Western Port, they landed at what is now Rhyll and claimed formal possession on December 3, 1826 and on December 12 they claimed formal possession of a site near Corinella. (15)
Captain Wetherall's 1826 map of Western Port
Image: Western Port Chronology 1798-1839: Exploration to Settlement by Valda Cole
At Corinella, a settlement was soon established - gardens, roads, wells, buildings including Government House, military barracks, storehouse, hospital, blacksmiths, stables etc - most of the labour was supplied by the 21 convicts. This was a short lived settlement and was abandoned in January 1828. (16)
Monument to the early settlement at Corinella (17) It was unveiled in 1972 on behalf of the South Eastern Historical Association and incorporates some of the original convict bricks.
Photographer: John T. Collins, taken February 19, 1985
State Library of Victoria image H94.200/1183
Later on pastoral settlements took place - in 1835 Samuel Anderson and Robert Massie (18) settled on the Bass River. Moving around to the Bay, in 1839 Robert Jamieson and Samuel Rawson settled at the Yallock Station, on the Yallock Creek. Frederick and Charles Manton took up Manton's Old Station in 1840; the Balla Balla run was taken up by Robert Innes Allen in 1839; Thomas Rutherford took up the station (Bourbinandera) based around what was to be known as Rutherford Inlet in 1842; the Lang Waring run was taken up in 1843 by William Willoby. (19) Later on, from around the 1850s, all these large runs were broken up and sold and other European settlers arrived, but that's another story.
French Island an Quail Island are other islands in Western Port and I have written about French Island here and Quail island here.
Acknowledgement: This post is based on the research of Valda Cole and Keith Bowden, the authors of the following two books -
- Western Port Chronology 1798-1839: exploration to settlement by Valda Cole (Shire of Hastings Historical Society, 1984). The book looks at the European activity at Western Port prior to the establishment of Melbourne. Mrs Cole, O.A.M., is also the author of Western Port: Pioneers and Preachers (Hawthorn Press, 1975), the story of the Anglican Church at Western Port.
- The Western Port Settlement and it leading personalities by Keith Bowden (South Eastern Historical Association, 1970). The book looks at the Western Port settlement at Corinella in 1826. It includes a full list of the 21 prisoners with personal details and has information about many of the military personnel.
Footnotes(2) Cole, Valda Western Port Chronology 1798-1839: Exploration to Settlement (Shire of Hastings Historical Society, 1984), p. 3.
(5) Cole, op. cit., chapter 1.
(7) Cole, op. cit., p. 11.
(8) Inscription - This cairn was erected by the Victorian Farmer`s Union to commemorate the first cultivation of wheat in Victoria by Mr. James Grant in 1801 on this land known as Churchill Island.
The Minister of Agriculture the Hon. G. L. Chandler C.M.G., M.L.C. unveiled this cairn on the 4th day of Nov. 1968
(10) Cole, op. cit., chapter 4.
(11) Nicolas Thomas Baudin (1754-1803), Australian Dictionary of Biography entry
(12) Cole, op. cit., chapter 5.
(14) Bowden, Keith The Western Port Settlement and it leading personalities (South Eastern Historical Association, 1970), p. 3.
(15) Bowden, op. cit., chapter 1.
(16) Bowden, op. cit., passim.
(17) The plaque on the cairn. Inscription - This cairn which incorporates original convict made bricks, commemorates the settlement established near here from December 12th 1826 to February 19th 1828 by a party of soldiers and convicts commanded by Captain Samuel Wright. Unveiled on December 10th 1972 by Dr. K. Bowden on behalf of the South Eastern Historical Association and the Shire of Bass.
Photographer: John T. Collins, taken February 19, 1985
State Library of Victoria image H94.200/1184
(18) Samuel Anderson (1803-1863) and Robert Massie (1809-1890). Read Anderson's obituary in
The Argus of August 10, 1863,
here. Read Massie's obituary in the
Riverine Grazier of September 30, 1890, see
here.
The Andersons of Western Port by Thomas Horton and Kenneth Morris (Bass Valley Historical Society, 1983) looks at the life of Samuel Anderson and his brothers Hugh and Thomas.
(19) Settlement dates are from Pastoral Pioneers of Port Phillip by R.V. Billis and A.S. Kenyon (Stockland Press, 1974). Also The Good Country: Cranbourne Shire by Niel Gunson (Shire of Cranbourne, 1968) has information on these early settlers.
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