A beautiful boundless Bay
It's surprisingly shallow, almost an inland sea, and it has only a narrow 3 and 1/2 kilometre-wide entrance.
Every year millions of people enjoy its vast coastline, world-class swimming beaches and coastal parks. Long before the network of roads grew around the perimeter, people crossed the Bay by steam and sail. Now they sail, and dive, for recreation.
I can't imagine not living close to this vast expanse of sea. Photos almost always show it to be blue, but that's a trick of the light on a summer's afternoon for the Bay is really a deep grey. There are 254 shades of grey and the slow moving waters shift from a pale ash colour into a saturated cyan swirl then a warm yellowish tinge with flashes of silver. Each one moves, swirls and rolls over to the next. Just beautiful! I dare you not to be calmed by sitting and watching the play of light over the slow moving waters.
Just a submerged flood plain.
Melbourne, on the Bay
In Melbourne, the capital city of Victoria and my home town, Port Phillip is familiarly known as 'the Bay'. Its piers, jetties, islands and marine reserves are used all year round, the city is built along its gentle curves for best advantage.The bay is huge, roughly the shape of a distorted diamond, seven kilometres from the Rip to the city of Melbourne, and eighty kilometres across from east to west.
I love the bay. It's certainly no Sydney Harbour, but there's a serene beauty in its grey vastness.
My childhood memories are full of going out on the bay with my father.
He taught me to row the dinghy, and my job was to secure it when we reached the boat offshore. I learned to fish here, with a line made from a coca cola bottle and October was the busiest month - when the schnapper ran in immense shoals though the bay.
In Springtime the schnapper still run in the bay. As do flathead, whiting, bream, gummy sharks, squid and garfish -- but the mussels I used to scrape from the jetties have all gone.
St Kilda on the Bay
St Kilda is on the southern side of Melbourne, a short tram ride from the CBD.
The suburb takes its name from a ship called The Lady of St Kilda, which visited Melbourne in July 1841, five years after the founding of Melbourne. The ship itself was named for the island of St Kilda in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.
The Aboriginal people of the Kulin lived here until the Europeans, with their fashionable great stone mansions and palatial hotels, drove them out. You can still see the shellfish middens along the foreshore and turn up axes which were most likely sharpened on the sandstone cliffs behind the main beach.
Corroborees were held at an historic tree which still stands at St Kilda Junction.
More on the Bay
- Ecocentre
- The Port Phillip EcoCentre is a place where environmental solutions are hatched and nurtured.
- St Kilda Today
- Daily pictures of St Kilda, the bayside and nearby places
Penguins of St Kilda
Neil Blake, Baykeeper and Penguin researcher, tends one of his charges
St Kilda is home to a colony of Little Penguins, about 1200 of the birds taking up residence on the Breakwater. A remarkable feat, given the close proximity (5 kilometres) to the urban centre of Melbourne.
The St Kilda Breakwater was constructed for the 1956 Olympic Games to provide a safe harbour for yachts.
The first breeding record of a pair was recorded in 1974, making the St Kilda Breakwater the only confirmed breeding site for the penguin that is directly attached to the mainland.
Little penguins spend most of their time in the waters of the bay feeding on pilchards, anchovies and other small fish. At night they return quickly to the safety and protection of their burrows within the breakwater.
Baykeeper Neil Blake, with a group of volunteers, has been researching this colony since 1986.
Penguins are not the only animals to have colonised the breakwater. Native water rats (rakali) can sometimes be seen among the rocks or swimming in the shallows. The breakwater is also an important roosting platform for many sea-birds, such as cormorants and gulls, that feed in the surrounding waters.
Voice of the Baykeeper
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Hola Amigos!
Shipwrecks in the Bay
The bay itself is relatively safe, with few navigational obstacles -- it's the entrance that causes trouble.
The Rip is flanked by reefs to the west and to the east, with less than one kilometre of water between them. There's also a deep trough, one hundred metres deep, across the entrance, which creates turmoil as the tide surges into the bay, and more turmoil as the tide retreats. The end result is a short stretch of sea that is one of the most dangerous in the world.
There are almost 200 sunken ships in the waters of Port Phillip Bay.
The Steamer, Kakariki, going down in 1937
In 1904 the 6901 ton steamship Australia struck Corsair Rock and was totally wrecked off Point Nepean on the east of the Rip.
And the 3316 steamship Time was wrecked on the same rock in 1949.
The 415 ton three-masted barque Eliza Ramsden struck Corsair Rock in 1875 but managed to enter the bay before sinking.
To the west, on the other side of the entrance, a dozen ships of significant size were wrecked on the Lonsdale reef including the 2033 ton barque George Roper, magnificent 2237 ton barque Holyhead, and the 1071 ton barque Gange.
But there are many ships lost without trace around the Rip. The sea still has many secrets.
Port Phillip Sea Pilots
HMAS Canberra arrives in Port Phillip Bay assisted by Tugs
Because of the narrow entrance of the Rip, all vessels need to be navigated with extreme caution. Large ships require expert local guidance to enter and exit.
This is where the Port Phillip Sea Pilots are indispensable.
The pilots are experienced and qualified seamen possessing extensive local knowledge of the channels, the different depths of water, the shifting currents and all the dangers within and around the port.
All our pilots are expert sailors and experienced ship handlers.
Ships Graveyard
During the period 1913 to 1999 a total of 46 obsolete vessels have been systematically and purposely scuttled in the Victorian Ships' Graveyard.
These vessels range in size from 50 tons to 3347 tons and include sailing ships, steam ships, barges, submarines, dredges, tugboats, a Paddle Steamer, and an Australian Navy Patrol Boat.
The Graveyard covers a 20-kilometre stretch of the Victorian coastline.
Guide to Melbourne
Melbourne (City Guide)
Amazon Price: (as of 07/11/2009)
With sections covering `City Life', `Arts',' Food', `History', `Neighbourhoods', and, most importantly for the traveler, things to do such as `Eating', `Drinking', `Sleeping', `Walking Tours', `Entertainment', `Sports, Health, & Fitness', `Shopping', and `Excursions'.
Aboroginal Inhabitants of Port Phillip
The Aboriginal people were in occupation of the area long before the bay was formed, having arrived about 40,000 years ago.Large piles of semi-fossilised sea-shells, known as middens, can still be seen in places around the shoreline, marking the spots where Aboriginal people held feasts.
They made a good living from the abundant sea-life, which included penguins and seals. In the cold season they wore possum-skin cloaks and elaborate feathered head-dresses. All of the indigenous peoples in Australia shared an intimate understanding of, and relationship with, the land. It's still the basis of their spiritual life.
They understood and cared for their different environments, and adapted to them.
There was no need for what the Europeans perceived as 'civilisation' - large buildings. The Aboriginal peoples lived in harmony with the land and lived well from its bounty.Sketch : Pellampellamwallah, an Aboriginal woman of the Coorong.
She has all her food gathering equipment with her: a net bag, a sedge basket and digging stick. She is carrying live coals between two pieces of bark.
Artist : GF Angas, 1844.
Come and see for yourself
Visitors are beguiled by Sydney with its deep water harbour and iconic landmarks but I prefer the quietness of Port Phillip, the boundless horizon it offers me, the deep rolling waves and the daily sight of great ships being guided safely to port by colourful bustling little tugs.
It's a vista for reflection. And for counting your blessings.
10% of my income goes to continue the work of Fred Hollows in treating avoidable blindness and improving indigenous health.
Photo : Khim Rath, who can now see after a successful cataract operation, Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia.
Blindness is a significant public health issue in Cambodia. Over 160,000 people are blind and an additional 20,000 become blind each year. The main cause of blindness is cataract, which can be treated by a simple 15 minute operation at an average cost of $25 (AUD$35).
Thanks for dropping by
Thanks very much for dropping by to read about Port Phillip Bay. You're more than welcome to leave a note in the guest book above and, if you're a member of Squidoo, you can also rate this lens :)It's all much appreciated, Susanna
For more pages like this, my lens collection is at Susanna's Lensography
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About Susanna Duffy
My Bio
G'day from Melbourne, Australia where I write about King Arthur, Mythology, Legendary Beasts, Ancient Rome, Books, Fairy Creatures, Australiana and Adventures in my Kitchen. And now I'm an Angel (Please bear with me as I test the new wings). I'm also the GroupLeader of these vibrant communities -
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