Collins Settlement Historic Site

At the beginning of the 19thcentury, the British government decided to establish a settlement at Port Phillip and Sullivan Bay 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.

Heritage Collins Settlement Historic Site, Sullivan Bay, just east of Sorrento, is the place where Lieutenant Colonel David Collins, accompanied by civil officers, marines, free settlers and 229 convicts landed in October 1803.

For centuries before Collins landed, Aborigines used the site on a seasonal basis for collecting shellfish. Shell middens on the cliff tops contain evidence of their activities.