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Port Phillip (also commonly referred to as Port Phillip Bay or (locally) just The Bay) is a large bay in southern Victoria, Australia; it is the location of Melbourne. Geographically, the bay covers 1930 km2 (476913.4 acre) and the shore stretches roughly 264 km (164 mi). Although it is extremely shallow for its size, most of the bay is navigable. The deepest portion is only 24 m (78.7 ft), and half the region is shallower than 8 m (26.2 ft). The volume of the water in the bay is around 25 km3 (82 ft). The area around Port Phillip was originally part of the Wathaurong (to the west), Wurundjeri (north) and Boonwurrung (south & east) nations territories prior to European settlement, while its waters and coast are home to species of life such as the Australian Fur Seal, whales, dolphins, corals and many species of bird including the waterbird, migratory waders, White-faced Storm-Petrel, Silver Gull, Australian Pelican, Pacific Gull, Australian Gannets and the critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrot. The first Europeans to enter the bay were the crews of the Lady Nelson, commanded by John Murray and, ten weeks later, the HMS Investigator 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 the state's capital city, at the mouth of the Yarra River in 1835 and Geelong in Corio Bay in 1838. Today Port Phillip is the most densely populated catchment in Australia with an estimated 3 million people living around 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. |
