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4 unusual facts about Port Phillip


Flinders Street, Melbourne

It is named for the explorer Matthew Flinders, who was (erroneously) credited with discovering Port Phillip at the time of its naming.

HMAS Una

After World War I, Una was decommissioned and taken to Port Phillip Bay, renamed Akuna and used as a pilot vessel.

Robert Knopwood

He obtained a position as chaplain in the navy, and was appointed to Colonel Collins's expedition which, after the failure of the Port Phillip settlement, landed on the site of Hobart on 19 February 1804.

Tom Hafey

Hafey's passion for fitness still exists today; every morning he wakes up at 5:20 and goes for an 8 km run, followed by 250 push-ups and a swim in Port Phillip Bay, and when he gets home he does 700 crunches and sit-ups.


1835 in Australia

29 December – Mary Gilbert gives birth to her son, James Port Phillip Gilbert, the first European child born in the Port Phillip settlement of Melbourne.

Arthurs Seat, Victoria

It was named by Acting Lieutenant John Murray when he entered Port Phillip in the ship Lady Nelson in February 1802, for an apparent resemblance to the hill of Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh (which was his home city).

Royal Boskalis Westminster

In 2007 the company was engaged in two major contracts in Australia - a €300 million contract to deepen the shipping channels of Port Phillip in Melbourne utilising its dredge the Queen of the Netherlands, and a €50 million contract to expand the harbour at Newcastle

Tasmania Police

Prior to the formation of a unified police force, Tasmania (then called Van Diemen's Land) was policed from 1803 under the administration of Lieutenant Governor David Collins by a small number of superintendents and overseers, and from 1804 by a civilian body known as the "Night Watch", brought by Collins from Port Phillip Bay.

William Hobson

During the next three months, Hobson and his officers thoroughly surveyed Port Phillip, the northern portion of which, by direction of Governor Sir Richard Bourke, was named Hobson's Bay, after him.

William Wedge Darke

At Port Phillip Darke carried out some of the first surveys of the new town of Melbourne and was instrumental in laying out the streets of the new town for sale at the first land auctions.


see also

English Electric diesel engines

Port Phillip Bay pilot ship DE (or MV or TS) Wyuna having three 8RKM and two 4RKM engines, originally having a third 4RKM but this was removed in 1980's and is with the Australian Maritime College.

Frankston High School

The names for each of the houses come from early explorers of Victoria and the Port Phillip region - George Bass, William Collins, Matthew Flinders, and John Murray.

Henry Hopwood

Hopwood migrated to the fledging colony of Port Phillip (Melbourne) where he worked his way north to the Murray River in 1848.

James Agnew

He decided to settle in the west of Port Phillip District (now the Western district of Victoria), but not enjoying the life, went to Melbourne, where he was offered the position of private secretary to John Franklin, then governor of Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania).

Port Phillip Protectorate

The Port Phillip Protectorate was created by the British House of Commons at the instigation of Lord Glenelg.

Schooner Rebecca

John Helder Wedge, who was also a member of the Port Phillip Association, then sailed to Port Phillip on Rebecca to explore the country, landing at Indented Head and then sailing up the Yarra River, which he named.