Portarlington
A popular bayside resort on the Bellarine Peninsula that is known for its good fishing and safe beaches. At one time the town claimed the largest caravan park in the Southern Hemisphere. One of the larger towns of the Bellarine, Portarlington sits on the peninsula's northern side. Portarlington is the quintessential family holiday camping resort with a safe, sandy beach on Port Phillip Bay. It boasts extensive shaded foreshore areas with a kiosk, picnic, barbecue and play facilities. On a clear day, Portarlington offers views over the bay of the Melbourne skyline.
Location: 105km by road from Melbourne and 31km east of Geelong on Port Phillip Bay.
Bay Cycling Classic: Portarlington hosts a full day of events in this world-class criterium series held at select locations around Port Phillip Bay in the New Year.
Portarlington Mussel Festival: Summer food and festivities at Portarlington, the "Mussel Capital of Victoria", in mid January.
Portarlington Triathlon: Described as one of the best courses in Australia, it is Victoria's oldest running triathlon event, and is held in late summer.
Bellarine Agricultural Show: Variety of displays and activities held annually in March on the Portarlington Reserve.
National Celtic Festival: National festival of Celtic folk music, dancing, and cultural activities held all around Portarlington in mid-year.
The fully restored, four storey steam powered flour mill (1857) was constructed from sandstone quarried from an Aboriginal corroboree site nearby and with Baltic Pine floors. The Portarlington Mill is a heritage site that houses a museum.
In Batman Park a cairn marks the spot where John Batman and his fellow Tasmanian adventurers came ashore to camp in 1835. They then moved on to the head of the bay, which they earmarked as the site of a town that was to become Melbourne.
Natural features: Point Richards; Steeles Rock; Grassy Point; Point George; Half Moon Bay; Indented Head; North Red Bluff; Governor Reef; Inner Governor Reef
Built features: Commonwealth Explosives Pier
In 1802, Lieut. Matthew Flinders landed at nearby Indented Head, becoming one of the first European to visit the area. The township of Portarlington was formally surveyed around 1850 and was at that time named Drayton. It was renamed Portarlington in 1851, reportedly in honour of the English peer, Sir Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, however it is also suggested, and perhaps seems more likely, owing to the number of early Irish settlers in the area, that the town was actually named after the town in Ireland bearing the same name, Portarlington, which was itself founded by Sir Henry Bennet in 1666. The newly surveyed township was neatly laid out, with broad streets, and planted with English elms and pines.
A steam-powered flour mill opened in 1857, and after a competing mill in nearby Drysdale was destroyed by fire in 1861 the development of Portarlington began to progress more rapidly. The mill owners built a private jetty and began receiving grain shipments from Geelong, and returning processed flour and bran. Around this time, the Bellarine Peninsula was regarded as the granary of the Victorian colony.
The Portarlington Pier was constructed in 1859, after a petition from local farmers demanding access to a public jetty, and it quickly became an important port of call for the network of steamers plying the Bay, both for goods and passengers. Portarlington's picturesque setting and fine sandy beaches attracted visitors from Geelong and Melbourne, and the regular steamer service secured the town's progress as a popular seaside resort. A public bathing house existed from as early as 1868, and a replacement was built in 1877. Bathing on the open beaches was prohibited in early days "out of respect for public sentiment".
Origin of name: Portarlington was surveyed c.1850 and named Drayton but was renamed in 1851, perhaps in honour of the Earl of Portarlington. Another claim is that it was named after an Irish village, owing to the predominance of Irish settlers in the area.
