The National Wool Museum tells the story of Australia's wool industry, for which Geelong was a major export point, combined with contemporary exhibitions about the city. The displays showcase the Australian wool story - from the sheep's back to the clothes rack, and from the birth of the industry in the 1840s to its place in the world today.

The National Wool Museum was established in 1988 as part of the Australian Bicentennial Celebrations. It is housed in the former Denny Lascelles wool store in 26 Moorabool Street, Geelong.



One of the most popular parts of a visit to the Museum is seeing the grand centrepiece in action - the 1910 Axminster Jacquard carpet loom. Regular demonstrations are provided by skilled carpet weavers who produce the Museum s own Manor House Rug, available for purchase through the Museum Shop. Located in Gallery Two, the 1940s Komet Sock Knitter can make a pair of socks before your eyes, with a range of socks made in the Museum also available for purchase in the Shop.

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday 9:30am to 5pm
Saturday to Sunday 10am to 5pm
Shop: Daily 9am to 5pm
Closed: Christmas Day, Boxing Day and Good Friday

Phone 03 5272 4701

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Located on the site of Australia's first naval college at Osborne House and its first permanent submarine base, Geelong Maritime Museum houses an excellent display relating to nautical development and technology as well as naval and marine artefacts. The courtyard of the stables of Osborne House, which houses the museum, is the perfect spot for a picnic lunch.

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. Displays at the museum include scale models of ships that either visited Geelong or called the port home and relics of the trade and navigation, as well as uniforms, weaponry and other naval artefacts. Exhibitions also presents the HMVS Cerberus Gun Turret and the helm of the HMVS Nelson.

Ph: 03 5277 3808

Open Sunday to Friday, 10.00am to 3.30pm.

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Geelong's beautiful waterfront carousel is truly one of the jewels of Geelong; it is one of the 'must see' attractions for any visitor to the city. The pavilion houses an extremely rare and beautiful Armitage Herschell Carousel dating back to 1892. Magnificently restored to its original glory, the carousel is complete with 36 horses and two delightful chariots. The historic carousel is one of the few left in the world, and it is not hard to see that ours is regarded by many as the best still in use.

The carousel tells the story of King Arthur and Camelot. The beautiful paintings form branches which hold the canopy like a giant tree, with panels showing the tales of the story. The horses and chariots circle the story and along with the whimsical carnival music give the pavilion a fairy-tale like atmosphere. Originally the carousel was powered by steam, but in its restored form it now runs on electric power.

Alongside the carousel is a pipe organ which is another historic and magnificent piece of detailed craftsmanship. The organ has also been painstakingly restored using many of the original items and exact authentic replicas of original pieces. The organ plays collection of colourful Dixieland melodies and gives the pavilion a cheerful atmosphere.

Located within Eastern Park on the eastern outskirts of the central business district, Geelong Botanical Gardens were established in 1851 and are the fourth oldest botanic garden in Australia. The location was first set aside as a public space in 1850, taking up the whole of today's Eastern Park. The botanic gardens were later isolated to a fenced-off area in the centre of the park.

The gardens were renovated in 2002, with a new section for arid-climate and local native plants opened. It features a dramatic entrance with Queensland Bottle Trees (Brachychiton rupestris), combining architectural plants with modern garden sculptures. Trees in the Botanic Gardens and Eastern Park are some of the finest examples in Victoria. 36 trees are listed on the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) Register of Significant Trees.

The gardens are also home to some of the city's heritage buildings. The Cabmans Shelter and the Ladies Kiosk are great features. The fountains which used to be in Market Square are now part of the fabric of the garden.

Admission - Free

Daylight Savings Opening Hours: 8:00am - 7:00pm

All other times: 8:00am - 5:00pm

The Tea House: 11:00am to 3:00pm. During warmer months teahouse hours may be extended. Please call 0413 706 535 to confirm.

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Bellarine Railway operates on a 16 km section of a formerly disused 3'6" gauge branch line on the Bellarine Peninsula between the coastal town of Queenscliff and Drysdale, near Geelong. The Bellarine Railway has a current fleet of ten heritage steam locomotives, and a number of these are operational at any one time. Visitors have the opportunity to ride behind locomotives from each Australian state, and sometimes in unique combinations such as a Tasmanian locomotive, teamed with a Western Australian locomotive hauling a train of heritage carriages from Tasmania and Queensland. Passengers travel in comfortable leather seats as the train traverses rural farmland on its way to Queenscliff and skirts the foreshore around Swan Bay during the 16 km trip.

Trains run every Sunday of the year and several days a week during school holidays. Contact: (03) 5258 2069. More >>

Geelong is surrounded by many kilometres of developed farmland and is noted for its many wineries and nearby surf beaches along the Great Ocean Road. During clear weather, the Melbourne skyline is visible from areas of Geelong when viewed across Port Phillip.

The Barwon River flows through the city to the south before entering Bass Strait at Barwon Heads. Geelong is well-connected by roads to all of south-west Victoria. It is connected to other cities such as to Melbourne by the M1, to Warrnambool by the A1, Ballarat by the A300 and to Hamilton by the B140. The city is a gateway to many renowned tourist attractions, namely the scenic Great Ocean Road, the Shipwreck Coast and the Bellarine Peninsula.

Prior to white settlement in the early 1800s, the area of Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula was originally occupied by Aboriginal tribes, notably the Wathaurong people.

Brief history: The first non-aboriginal person recorded as visiting the Geelong region was Lt. John Murray, who commanded the brig Lady Nelson. After anchoring outside Port Phillip Heads (The narrow entrance to Port Phillip, onto which both Geelong and Melbourne now front) on 1st February 1802, he sent a small boat with six men to explore. Led by John Bowen they explored the immediate area, returning to the Lady Nelson on 4 February. On reporting favourable findings, the Lady Nelson entered Port Phillip on 14 February, and did not leave until 12th March. During this time, Murray explored the Geelong area and, whilst on the far side of the bay, claimed the entire area for England. He named Port Phillip Bay, Port King, after Philip Gidley King, then Governor of New South Wales. Governor King later renamed the bay Port Phillip Bay after the first governor of Australia, Arthur Phillip.

Hot on Murray's heels was Matthew Flinders, who entered Port Phillip Bay on 27th April 1802. He charted the entire bay, including the Geelong area, believing he was the first to sight the huge expanse of water, but in a rush to reach Sydney before winter set in he left Port Phillip on 3 May. In December 1802, Surveyor-General Grimes and Lt. Charles Robbins walked around Port Phillip Bay, but finding no fresh water in the Geelong area reported it as uninhabitable. Staying close to the bay, they had completely missed the Barwon River, which, flowing into the ocean and not the bay, passes through present day Geelong on the inland side of a ridge.

The next visit to the Geelong area, apart from a short-lived settlement at Sorrento, on the far side of the bay (1803/4) was by the explorers Hamilton Hume and William Hovell. They reached Corio Bay - the area of Port Phillip Bay that Geelong now fronts - on 16th December 1824, and it was at this time they reported that the Aborigines called the area Corayo, the bay being called Jillong. Hume and Hovell had been contracted to travel overland from Sydney to Port Phillip, and having achieved this they stayed the night and begun their return journey the following day. William Buckley, an escaped convict from the Sullivans Bay settlement, lived among the Wautharong people for 32 years in the Bellarine Peninsula.

In 1835, John Batman used Indented Head as his base camp, leaving behind several employees whilst he returned to Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land) for more supplies and his family. In the same year, Buckley stumbled into the camp and was later pardoned. He was subsequently given the position of interpreter to the natives and as a guide for Captain Foster Fyans.

In March 1836, three squatters, David Fisher, James Strachan and George Russell arrived on the Caledonia and settled the area. By 1838, when Geelong (By this time the Aboriginal names for the land and water had been swapped) was first surveyed by Assistant Surveyor, W. H. Smythe three weeks after Melbourne, the population was 545. There was already a church, hotel, store and wool store; and by 1841, the first wool had been sent to England. A regular steamer service was also running between Geelong and Melbourne.

Captain Foster Fyans was commissioned as the local Police Magistrate and established himself on the Barwon River at the site of the area of present-day Fyansford. Fyans constructed a breakwater to improve the water supply to the city by preventing the salty lower reaches from mixing with fresh water and pooling water. This structure gave its name to the area now known as Breakwater, today an eastern industrial and residential suburb of Geelong.

In 1851, gold was discovered in nearby Ballarat, causing the Geelong population to grow from 8,000 to 22,000 during 1851 - 1853. The first issue of the Geelong Advertiser newspaper is published in 1840. HM Prison Geelong, built using convict labour was opened in 1864. In 1866 Graham Berry started a newspaper, the Geelong Register, as a rival to the established Geelong Advertiser. When this proved unsuccessful, he bought the Advertiser and made himself editor of the now merged papers. Using the paper as a platform, he was elected for West Geelong in 1869. In 1877 he switched to Geelong, which he represented until 1886.

The town of Geelong officially became a city on 8th December 1910. Electric trams began operation in 1912, travelling along Pakington St, Geelong West and the city centre until their demise in 1956. Between 1922 and 1925 Geelong's industrial growth began: three woollen mills, fertilizer plants and the Ford Motor Company's vehicle plant at Norlane.

In 1938 one of the last Port Phillip Bay steamers, Edina, made its final trip to Geelong, ending a romantic period of seaside excursions and contests for the fastest trip. Government housing was constructed in the northern suburbs of Norlane, North Shore and Corio during the 1950s to provide accommodation for many low income workers at nearby Ford Motor Company, International Harvester, Pivot Phosphate and Jackson's Abbatoirs factories. On the eve of the second world war the International Harvester works were opened beside Ford at North Shore, and a grain elevator terminal was built at nearby Corio Quay. During 1952, the banks of the Barwon River burst, flooding nearby Belmont Common.

Avalon Airport is located approximately 15 kilometres to the north-east of the city of Geelong. The airport is designed to cater for jet aircraft, and comprises a single runway. It was originally constructed in 1953, to cater for the production of military aircraft. In 1959, Qantas established a training base at the site, and the runway was extended to cater for jet aircraft, becoming, for some years, the longest in the Southern Hemisphere. It continued to be used to build military aircraft until the 1980s, and for aircraft maintenance until 1996. Qantas aircraft servicing has moved from Kingsford Smith International Airport in Sydney.

The world-renowned Geelong Grammar School, whose alumni include Charles, the Prince of Wales, Rupert Murdoch, Kerry Packer, many former Australian Prime Ministers, Lord Broers (former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge), Alexander Downer (Minister of Foreign Affairs), John Fairfax (Media Proprietor), and former Victorian Governor John Landy. The School attracts visitors to the Geelong region and students and staff from the world over.

Deakin University is located in Waurn Ponds and also has a campus located on the waterfront of Corio Bay in the Geelong CBD. The campus at Waurn Ponds will be home to Victoria's first and only regional medical school, opening its doors in 2008. Also located in Geelong are the Gordon Institute of TAFE, the Marcus Oldham Farm Management College, the Reformed Theological College, the International Fibre Centre, the Geelong College, and the Kardinia International College.

Climate: Average maximum temperature in Geelong peaks at 24.7 degrees Celsius during February to a minimum of 13.3 degrees C. July maximum temperatures average 13.9 degrees C, the minimum temperature averages 5.1 degrees C. The highest maximum temperature recorded is 44.8 degrees C in January 2003. The lowest recorded maximum is 7.9 degrees C, recorded Aug 2005. Rainfall is generally uniform throughout the year with no distinct wet or dry seasons, although autumn and spring are generally regarded as the most reliable rainy seasons. Average annual rainfall is 551.8 mm.