Sullivan Bay, Victoria

Sullivan Bay lies 60 km due south of Melbourne on Port Phillip Bay, one km east of Sorrento, Victoria. It was established as a short lived convict settlement in 1803 by Lieutenant David Collins. The site was chosen because of its strategic location near the entrance of the Bay. The settlement is significant because it was the first attempt to settle Europeans permanently in what is now Victoria and is a key link in the expansion of the colony of New South Wales into Tasmania and Victoria, and the control of Bass Strait as a trade route.In the early 1800s the British government decided to establish a settlement on the shores of Port Phillip Bay in order to protect British interests and a lucrative sealing industry in Bass Strait. David Collins, the former judge advocate in Sydney was appointed lieutenant Governor of the Sullivan Bay settlement.

Overview

In April 1803, two vessels, the transport ship 'Ocean' and the HMS Calcutta, were sent, from England via the Cape of Good Hope, carrying officers, a marine detachment, free settlers and convicts to Sullivan Bay near the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. They arrived on the 10 October 1803 with Collins naming the bay after the Under-Secretary for War and the Colonies, John Sullivan.

The settlement of 467 people, of whom 299 were convicts, arrived in October 1803. Of these, 43 were women and 33 were children, including six convicts 12 years and under.

The seven months at Sullivan Bay witnessed the first European birth, christening, funeral, marriage service, school lesson, stonemasonry, postal service, public hospital, magistrate's court, water supply and printing press in what is now Victoria.

During the brief occupation of the area by the English in 1803-1804 a number of convicts escaped. One of these was William Buckley who lived in the area around Geelong for 33 years before meeting with John Batman's party in 1835. An eleven year old John Pascoe Fawkner, who later became a founder of Melbourne in 1835, was also present accompanied by his convicted father and mother.

The new colonists quickly discovered that water was scarce, and suitable timber could not be found. The treacherous entrance to the bay made the site unsuitable for whaling and with few marines, the settlement was vulnerable to attack. Collins decided to abandon the settlement and move to Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania) in January 1804 where John Bowenhad established a settlement at Risdon Cove in 1803. They were moved as two parties, the second group leaving on 20 May, just over seven months after the settlement had been established.

Little evidence of the settlement exists. Four graves on the eastern headland, and parts of barrels, leg irons, bottles and other pieces are all that remain.

The Collins Settlement Historic Reserve is protected under the Victorian Heritage Register and the Mornington Peninsula Planning Scheme.

Further reading

*Marjorie Tipping. "Convicts unbound : the story of the Calcutta convicts and their settlement in Australia" South Yarra, Vic. Viking O'Neil, 1988

*Crook, William Pascoe, (1983), "An Account of the Settlement at Sullivan Bay, Port Phillip 1803",(ed John Currey) The Colony Press, Melbourne.
*Bonwick, James, (1883), "Port Phillip Settlement", Samson, Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington Publishing, London.
*Angell, B, (1984), "Voyage to Port Phillip 1803", Neapean Historical Society, Sorrento.

*Cotter, Richard (2001) "No place for a colony: Sullivan Bay, Sorrento & the Collins Settlement".

*Coutts, J. F. (1981) "Victoria's first official settlement: Sullivan Bay, Port Phillip". Victoria Archaeological Survey, Ministry for Conservation.