Moolap is a residential and industrial suburb of Geelong, Victoria

Victoria (Australia)

Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. The name Moolap is derived from an Aboriginal

Indigenous Australians

Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....

 word for nearby Point Henry, moo-laa, thought to mean 'men gathering to go fishing'. Moolap in Aboriginal tongue means "Shady Place" .

History

The first Moolap Post Office opened on 1 May 1864 and closed in 1890. A Point Henry Post Office opened on 1 January 1867 which was replaced by Moolap Railway Station in 1887 and by Moolap in 1893. This latter office closed in 1962. A Geelong East office open since 1871 was renamed Moolap West in 1921 and closed in 1951.

In 1888, Richard Cheetham established his saltworks at Moolap - an industry which survived more than 100 years.

Timeline

Some events in the history of Moolap:

Pre-European Settlement the area inhabited by Bengalat balug (Clan) of the Wathaurong Tribe

First European explorers were Lieutenant John Murray (January 1802) and Captain Matthew Flinders (April 1802)

1803 to 1835 - William Buckley the first European living in the area

1854 - Whitehorse Hotel operating on the corner of Queenscliff Road and Whitehorse Road

1855 - Moolap Inn operating on the corner of Moolap Station Road and Bellarine Highway

1855 - Parsonage built on a site near the present State School

1858 - United Methodists Free Church chapel built

1871 - Moolap State School No. 1143 opened

1882 - 16 occupiers using Moolap address

1888 - Cheetham Saltworks established

Point Henry

Point Henry is an industrial peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

 of Geelong, located approximately 5 km east of the Geelong central business district. Only one sealed road leads to Point Henry, being Point Henry Road which leaves the Portarlington Road at Moolap and travels to the Alcoa's Point Henry

Point Henry smelter

The Point Henry aluminium smelter is located near Geelong, Victoria in the suburb of Moolap. The smelter has a production capacity of 185,000 tonnes of aluminium a year. It is operated by Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals Australia, a joint venture between Alcoa and Alumina Limited...

 aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....

 smelter and smaller surrounding industries. A small weather station is also located on the peninsula.