The Queenscliffe Historical Museum is a regional cultural history museum in the town of Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. The museum is part of the Museum Accreditation Program (MAP).
The Queenscliffe Historical Museum is a regional cultural history museum in the town of Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. The museum is part of the Museum Accreditation Program (MAP).
The museum opened in 1974, [1] specifically to house socially historical materials peculiar to the Borough of Queenscliffe (which includes Queenscliff, Point Lonsdale and Swan Island). The museum is home to many thousands of items including photographs, documents, paintings, newspapers, toys, and also a display of shipwreck relics recognised by Heritage Victoria.
A proposal and request for funding for the Queenscliff Cultural Hub that would combine the museum, Queenscliff Library, and Visitor Centre [2] has been submitted.
The museum is managed by volunteers, including their president who was awarded an OAM in 2017 [3]
The main permanent exhibits include [4]
Monthly Talks are held on the fourth Friday of every month, currently held at the Point Lonsdale Community Hall, Bowen Rd, Point Lonsdale . [5] Topics range from significant people, places and events in the Borough of Queenscliffe and are presented by local historians.
History Week is in conjunction with the Royal Historical Society of Victoria the Queenscliffe Historical Museum participates in History Week. Events throughout the week in October range from guided tours, guest speakers and film showings [6]
The museum's archive can be accessed by the public. The database houses thousands of documents, photographs and records of people, buildings and events.
Port Phillip or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, narrow channel known as The Rip, and is completely surrounded by localities of Victoria's two largest cities — metropolitan Greater Melbourne in the bay's main eastern portion north of the Mornington Peninsula, and the city of Greater Geelong in the much smaller western portion north of the Bellarine Peninsula. Geographically, the bay covers 1,930 km2 (750 sq mi) and the shore stretches roughly 264 km (164 mi), with the volume of water around 25 km3 (6.0 cu mi). Most of the bay is navigable, although it is extremely shallow for its size — the deepest portion is only 24 m (79 ft) and half the bay is shallower than 8 m (26 ft). Its waters and coast are home to seals, whales, dolphins, corals and many kinds of seabirds and migratory waders.
The City of Greater Geelong is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of 1,248 square kilometres (482 sq mi) and, had a population of 271,057 as of the 2021 Australian census. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the Greater Geelong urban area, while other significant settlements within the LGA include Anakie, Balliang, Barwon Heads, Batesford, Ceres, Clifton Springs, Drysdale, Lara, Ocean Grove, Portarlington and St Leonards. It was formed in 1993 from the amalgamation of the Rural City of Bellarine, Shire of Corio, City of Geelong, City of Geelong West, City of Newtown, City of South Barwon, and parts of Shire of Barrabool and Shire of Bannockburn.
The Borough of Queenscliffe is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the southern part of the state. It is the smallest local government area in Victoria, covering an area of 10.83 square kilometres (4.18 sq mi) and, in June 2018, had a population of 2,982. It includes only two settlements, which are Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale. 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.
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 2016 census, Queenscliff had a population of 1,315.
"The Rip", also known as "The Heads", is the narrow waterway entrance connecting the Bass Strait to the bay of Port Phillip in southern Victoria, Australia, and is the only route of maritime transport into Port Phillip and thus seaport access into Melbourne and Geelong, Victoria's two largest cities. Because of large tidal flows through the relatively narrow channel from the bay to the ocean, and a high rocky seabed, The Rip is a dangerous stretch of water and has claimed numerous ships and many lives. Geographically, it is the roughly triangular area of water between the land points of Point Nepean on the Mornington Peninsula, Shortlands Bluff and Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula, with these three forming The Heads.
Point Lonsdale is a coastal township on the Bellarine Peninsula, near Queenscliff, Victoria, Australia. The town is divided between the Borough of Queenscliffe and the City of Greater Geelong. Point Lonsdale is also one of the headlands which, with Point Nepean, frame The Rip, the entrance to Port Phillip. The headland is dominated by the Point Lonsdale Lighthouse. At the 2016 census, Point Lonsdale had a population of 2,684. The population grows rapidly over the summer months through to the Easter period due to its popularity as a holiday destination.
South Geelong railway station is located on the Warrnambool line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the southern Geelong suburb of South Geelong, and it opened on 1 November 1883.
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 Bay from Bass Strait. The peninsula itself was originally occupied by Indigenous Australian clans of the Wathaurong nation, prior to European settlement in the early 19th century. Early European settlements were initially centred on wheat and grain agriculture, before the area became a popular tourist destination with most visitors arriving by paddle steamer on Port Phillip in the late 19th century.
Bellarine Highway is a main arterial highway that runs east from Geelong in Victoria along the Bellarine Peninsula to Queenscliff. The highway also provides the main route to Barwon Heads and Ocean Grove, localities along the southern coast of the peninsula.
Swan Island is a 1.4 km2 sand barrier island which, with Duck Island and the Edwards Point spit, separate Swan Bay from Port Phillip in Victoria, Australia. It lies close to and north of the town of Queenscliff at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula, and is an official bounded locality of the Borough of Queenscliffe.
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 Phillip Heads. Its garrison included volunteer artillery, engineers, infantry and naval militia, and it was manned as a coastal defence installation continuously from 1883 to 1946. The other fortifications and armaments around the Heads were completed by 1891, and together made Port Phillip one of the most heavily defended harbours in the British Empire.
Queenscliff railway station was the terminus of the Queenscliff branch line in Victoria, Australia, which left the main Warrnambool line near South Geelong station. The Queenscliff station was opened on 21 May 1879. The current station building was constructed in 1881 and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Jack Kenneth Loney was an amateur Australian maritime historian who published over one hundred books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles. He was a schoolteacher and principal until his retirement. He became interested in maritime history after preparing several general history booklets covering the Otway region of western Victoria, Australia.
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. It stands at the eastern end of the Bellarine Peninsula, on the western side of the entrance to Port Phillip from Bass Strait, on a headland overlooking the "Rip", a stretch of water considered one of the ten most treacherous navigable passages in the world, and the only seaborne approach to Melbourne. It is operated by Victorian Ports Corporation (Melbourne).
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. It stands inside the entrance to Port Phillip from Bass Strait, on the lower slope of the Queenscliff Peninsula overlooking the ’Rip”, a stretch of water considered one of the ten most treacherous navigable passages in the world. It is operated by the Port of Melbourne Corporation.
HMVS Lonsdale was a second-class torpedo boat constructed for the Victorian Naval Forces and later operated by the Commonwealth Naval Forces and the Royal Australian Navy. She was sunk on mud flats on Swan Island in Port Phillip Bay in 1912 after being stripped of equipment and machinery. Having been commissioned in 1884, and then officially joining the Commonwealth Naval forces in 1901, the boat was the oldest ship in the Royal Navy, and is the oldest Royal Australian Navy ship still in existence.
The Queenscliffe Maritime Museum is a regional maritime museum in the town of Queenscliff at the entrance from Bass Strait to the bay of Port Phillip in Victoria, south-eastern Australia. It lies within walking distance of the Searoad ferry terminal. It covers the maritime history of the Borough of Queenscliffe, southern Port Phillip and the connection with Bass Strait.
The Geelong Maritime Museum is a volunteer-run Community group or not-for-profit historical museum located at 'The Stables', Osborne House, Swinburn Street, North Geelong Victoria, Australia since 1993. The Museum was founded in about 1989, with ex Royal Navy Ldg. Tel, Robert Henry (Bob) Appleton OAM as the foundation Honorary Curator. The Museum collects and displays historic artefacts and documents related to the Maritime History of geelong and Victoria, and the history of the Victorian and Australian Navy's.
The Geelong Library and Heritage Centre is a regional library, archive and resource facility in the city of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. Geelong Free Library was begun in 1858. The Geelong Historical Records Centre was established in 1979 as a depository for significant historical records and archives from the district. The centre is a Place of Deposit, as part of the Public Record Office Victoria network of community archives designated for the preservation of Victoria's history. It is described as ...the largest regional archive in Victoria.