Queenscliff, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Queenscliff is a small town on the Bellarine Peninsula
in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip
. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe
. At the 2006 census
, Queenscliff had a population of 1,416.
Queenscliff is a former 1880s seaside resort
now known for its Victorian era
heritage and tourist industry and as one of the endpoints of the Searoad ferry
to Sorrento
on the Mornington Peninsula
.
tribe, a member of the Kulin
nation.
European explorers first arrived in 1802, Lieutenant John Murray
in January and Captain Matthew Flinders
in April. The first European settler in the area was convict escapee William Buckley
between 1803 and 1835, latterly in a cave beneath the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse
, with the local Aborigines
.
Permanent settlement began in 1836 when squatters arrived in the area known as Whale Head. The name was changed to Shortland's Bluff in honour of Lieutenant John Shortland
, who assisted in the surveying of Port Phillip
. Land sales began in 1853, the same year the name was changed to Queenscliff by Lieutenant Charles La Trobe
, in honour of Queen Victoria
.
The Post Office opened on 1 May 1853 as Shortland's Bluff and was renamed Queenscliff in 1854.
Originally a fishing
village
, Queenscliff soon became an important cargo
port
, servicing steamships trading in Port Philip. A shipping pilot service was established in 1841, and its two lighthouses, the High and Low Light
s, were constructed in 1862-63. Queenscliff also played an important military
role. Fort Queenscliff
was built between 1879 and 1889, and operated as the command centre for a network of forts around the port.
destination in the late 19th century, with visitors arriving from Melbourne
after a two-hour journey on the paddle steamer
, Ozone
. The opening of a railway line to Geelong in 1879 brought increasing tourists to the area, and numerous luxury hotels (or coffee palace
s) were built to accommodate them. The Palace Hotel was built in 1879 (later renamed Esplanade Hotel), the Baillieu Hotel was built in 1881 (later renamed Ozone Hotel), the Vue Grande Hotel was built in 1883, and the Queenscliff Hotel was built in 1887.
In 2005, the area previously holding the Fort Barracks was subdivided into residential blocks, and renamed Shortlands Beach, in honour of the town's prior name. The proposed redevelopment drew fierce criticism from some sectors of the community, who feared loss of an important heritage site. The original fort remains on site.
Queenscliff is also home to the Queenscliff Music Festival
, a popular annual music festival, held on the last weekend of November, which attracts both local and international acts and is an important part of the town's tourist industry.
is the town's Australian rules football
club which participates in the Bellarine Football League
.
Golfers play at the course of the Queenscliff Golf Club at Swan Island.
took place here in late 2000.
is the only road connecting it to Port Lonsdale and Geelong running west.
It is best known as being one of the endpoints of the Searoad ferry
to Sorrento
on the Mornington Peninsula
. It is also the terminus of the Bellarine Peninsula Railway
.
It was once connected by railway, however the Bellarine Peninsula Railway
now runs as a tourist railway only.
Cycling is popular along the former railway - Bellarine Rail Trail
.
Queenscliff has also been considered as the future site of the proposed Port Phillip Bay Bridge
.
Bellarine Peninsula
The Bellarine Peninsula is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington Peninsula separates Port Phillip from Bass Strait...
in southern Victoria, Australia, south of Swan Bay at the entrance to Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip 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 and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
. It is the administrative centre for the Borough of Queenscliffe
Borough of Queenscliffe
The Borough of Queenscliffe is a municipality in Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the south coast, south-east of Geelong on the Bellarine Peninsula south of Swan Bay and next to the Port Phillip Heads, the entrance to Port Phillip Bay from Bass Strait.The Borough has an area of...
. At the 2006 census
Census in Australia
The Australian census is administered once every five years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The most recent census was conducted on 9 August 2011; the next will be conducted in 2016. Prior to the introduction of regular censuses in 1961, they had also been run in 1901, 1911, 1921, 1933,...
, Queenscliff had a population of 1,416.
Queenscliff is a former 1880s seaside resort
Seaside resort
A seaside resort is a resort, or resort town, located on the coast. Where a beach is the primary focus for tourists, it may be called a beach resort.- Overview :...
now known for its Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
heritage and tourist industry and as one of the endpoints of the Searoad ferry
Searoad ferry
Searoad Ferries is an Australian company that operates a roll-on/roll-off vehicle and passenger ferry service between the heads of Port Phillip, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
to Sorrento
Sorrento, Victoria
Sorrento is a township in Victoria, Australia, located on the shores of Port Phillip on the Mornington Peninsula, about one and a half hours south of Melbourne...
on the Mornington Peninsula
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...
.
History
Prior to European settlement, it was inhabited by the Bengalat Bulag clan of the WautharongWautharong
Wathaurong, also called the Wada wurrung, are an Indigenous Australian tribe living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula. They are part of the Kulin alliance. The Wathaurong language was spoken by 25 clans south of the Werribee River and the Bellarine Peninsula to Streatham...
tribe, a member of the Kulin
Kulin
The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their...
nation.
European explorers first arrived in 1802, Lieutenant John Murray
John Murray (Australian explorer)
John Murray was a seaman and explorer of Australia. He was the first European to discover Port Phillip, the bay on which the cities of Melbourne and Geelong are situated....
in January and Captain Matthew Flinders
Matthew Flinders
Captain Matthew Flinders RN was one of the most successful navigators and cartographers of his age. In a career that spanned just over twenty years, he sailed with Captain William Bligh, circumnavigated Australia and encouraged the use of that name for the continent, which had previously been...
in April. The first European settler in the area was convict escapee William Buckley
William Buckley (convict)
William Buckley was an English convict who was transported to Australia, escaped, was given up for dead and lived in an Aboriginal community for many years....
between 1803 and 1835, latterly in a cave beneath the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse
Point Lonsdale Lighthouse
Point Lonsdale Lighthouse, also known as the Point Lonsdale Signal Station, is close to the township of Point Lonsdale in the Borough of Queenscliffe, Victoria, Australia...
, with the local Aborigines
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....
.
Permanent settlement began in 1836 when squatters arrived in the area known as Whale Head. The name was changed to Shortland's Bluff in honour of Lieutenant John Shortland
John Shortland
John Shortland was a naval officer, the eldest son of John Shortland. Shortland joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman and went to Quebec in a transport commanded by his father. From 1783 to 1787 he served in the West Indies. In 1787 he was master's mate in the Sirius when the First Fleet sailed...
, who assisted in the surveying of Port Phillip
Port Phillip
Port Phillip Port Phillip 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 and the shore stretches roughly . Although it is extremely shallow for...
. Land sales began in 1853, the same year the name was changed to Queenscliff by Lieutenant Charles La Trobe
Charles La Trobe
Charles Joseph La Trobe was the first lieutenant-governor of the colony of Victoria .-Early life:La Trobe was born in London, the son of Christian Ignatius Latrobe, a family of Huguenot origin...
, in honour of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
.
The Post Office opened on 1 May 1853 as Shortland's Bluff and was renamed Queenscliff in 1854.
Originally a fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
village
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
, Queenscliff soon became an important cargo
Cargo
Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport.-Marine:...
port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
, servicing steamships trading in Port Philip. A shipping pilot service was established in 1841, and its two lighthouses, the High and Low Light
Queenscliff Low Light
The Queenscliff Low Light, also known as the Queenscliff White Lighthouse, is a lighthouse in the township of Queenscliff in the Borough of Queenscliffe, Victoria, Australia, at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula...
s, were constructed in 1862-63. Queenscliff also played an important military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
role. Fort Queenscliff
Fort Queenscliff
Fort Queenscliff, in Victoria, Australia, dates from 1860 when an open battery was constructed on Shortland's Bluff to defend the entrance to Port Phillip. The Fort, which underwent major redevelopment in the late 1870s and 1880s, became the headquarters for an extensive chain of forts around Port...
was built between 1879 and 1889, and operated as the command centre for a network of forts around the port.
1880s Seaside Resort Boom
Queenscliff became a touristTourism
Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
destination in the late 19th century, with visitors arriving from Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
after a two-hour journey on the paddle steamer
Paddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
, Ozone
Ozone (paddle steamer)
The Ozone was a ship built in 1886 near Glasgow, in Scotland. She could exceed 17 kts and is regarded as one of the finest paddle steamers ever built....
. The opening of a railway line to Geelong in 1879 brought increasing tourists to the area, and numerous luxury hotels (or coffee palace
Coffee Palace
The term Coffee Palace was primarily used in Australia to describe the temperance hotels which were built during the period of the 1880s although there are references to the term also being used, to a lesser extent, in the United Kingdom...
s) were built to accommodate them. The Palace Hotel was built in 1879 (later renamed Esplanade Hotel), the Baillieu Hotel was built in 1881 (later renamed Ozone Hotel), the Vue Grande Hotel was built in 1883, and the Queenscliff Hotel was built in 1887.
Decline
The advent of the car saw Queenscliff drop in popularity as a tourist destination, as tourists were no longer dependent on its role as a transport hub. The railway ceased weekly passenger services in 1950, and was closed in 1976.Revival
The 1980s saw a return in the town's tourist popularity.In 2005, the area previously holding the Fort Barracks was subdivided into residential blocks, and renamed Shortlands Beach, in honour of the town's prior name. The proposed redevelopment drew fierce criticism from some sectors of the community, who feared loss of an important heritage site. The original fort remains on site.
Arts and Culture
Festivals
The Queenscliff Seafood Feast, a culinary festival using fresh seafood donated by local fishermen, is held annually on Good Friday to raise funds for the Royal Children's Hospital.Queenscliff is also home to the Queenscliff Music Festival
Queenscliff Music Festival
Queenscliff Music Festival is a live music festival held in the town of Queenscliff, located on the Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria, Australia. The festival began in 1997 and is held annually on the last weekend of November.- External links :* * *...
, a popular annual music festival, held on the last weekend of November, which attracts both local and international acts and is an important part of the town's tourist industry.
Museums
Queenscliff has three museums, the Queenscliffe Historical Museum, Queenscliffe Maritime Museum, and the Fort Queenscliff Museum.Sport
The Queenscliff Football ClubQueenscliff Football Club
The Queenscliff Football Club is an Australian rules football club that plays in the Bellarine Football League and situated in the township of Queenscliff, on the Bellarine peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
is the town's Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...
club which participates in the Bellarine Football League
Bellarine Football League
The Bellarine Football League is an Australian rules football competition based in the Bellarine Peninsula region of Victoria, Australia, formed in 1971.Six of the eight founding clubs played in the Polwarth Football league the year before....
.
Golfers play at the course of the Queenscliff Golf Club at Swan Island.
Media
The final elimination on the second season of The MoleThe Mole (Australia season 2)
The second season of the Australian version of The Mole originally aired from 21 February 2001 to 25 April 2001. It took place in Victoria and was hosted by Grant Bowler.-Show Details:...
took place here in late 2000.
Transport
As it is located on a peninsula, the Bellarine HighwayBellarine Highway
The Bellarine Highway runs east from Geelong in Victoria along the Bellarine Peninsula to Queenscliff. Previously assigned State Route 91, it was later designated as B110...
is the only road connecting it to Port Lonsdale and Geelong running west.
It is best known as being one of the endpoints of the Searoad ferry
Searoad ferry
Searoad Ferries is an Australian company that operates a roll-on/roll-off vehicle and passenger ferry service between the heads of Port Phillip, near Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
to Sorrento
Sorrento, Victoria
Sorrento is a township in Victoria, Australia, located on the shores of Port Phillip on the Mornington Peninsula, about one and a half hours south of Melbourne...
on the Mornington Peninsula
Mornington Peninsula
The Mornington Peninsula is a peninsula located south-east of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. It is surrounded by Port Phillip to the west, Western Port to the east and Bass Strait to the south, and is connected to the mainland in the north. Geographically, the peninsula begins its protrusion...
. It is also the terminus of the Bellarine Peninsula Railway
Bellarine Peninsula Railway
The Bellarine Railway is a volunteer-operated steam-driven tourist railway located in Victoria, Australia. It operates on a 16 km section of a formerly disused branch line on the Bellarine Peninsula between the coastal town of Queenscliff and Drysdale, near Geelong.- History as a working...
.
It was once connected by railway, however the Bellarine Peninsula Railway
Bellarine Peninsula Railway
The Bellarine Railway is a volunteer-operated steam-driven tourist railway located in Victoria, Australia. It operates on a 16 km section of a formerly disused branch line on the Bellarine Peninsula between the coastal town of Queenscliff and Drysdale, near Geelong.- History as a working...
now runs as a tourist railway only.
Cycling is popular along the former railway - Bellarine Rail Trail
Bellarine Rail Trail
The Bellarine Rail Trail is a 32 km walking and cycling track on the Bellarine Peninsula, in Victoria, Australia, that follows the route of the former South Geelong to Queenscliff branch line...
.
Queenscliff has also been considered as the future site of the proposed Port Phillip Bay Bridge
Port Phillip Bay Bridge
Port Phillip Bay Bridge, Victoria, Australia is a proposal of linking Queenscliff and Sorrento via a bridge and therefore eliminating the need of a ferry as the only way of transport across the waterway....
.