Williamstown
Originally Melbourne's first sea port, Williamstown is today a popular and fashionable suburban maritime village, playing host to both locals and visitors to Melbourne who embrace the change of scenery and slow down in pace it offers. Surrounded on three sides by the calm waters Port Phillip Bay, its northern and eastern coastline are dotted with piers, gardens and remnants of Williamstown s maritime history that includes numerous colonial-era shipyards and slipways.Location: south of the Melbourne city centre.
Getting There: By car, 15 minutes from Melbourne via the West Gate Fwy.
By train, to Williamstown station from Flinders Street Station (30 minutes) on the Williamstown line.
By ferry or Yarra River cruise from Southbank ferry wharves (1 hour).
In the past decade Williamstown has received a face lift and become a major tourism drawcard. It retains the coherence and charm of a maritime village, due, in no small part, to the many historic buildings. A proliferation of cafes and restaurants are a major feature of Nelson Place which runs adjacent the foreshore while boats, yachts and dinghies decorate the shoreline and ships sail through the estuary en route to the Port of Melbourne. The former maritime industry buildings on Nelson Place, which runs parallel to the foreshore and form its main street, house an interesting array of cafes, restaurants, galleries and shops, and overlook a ribbon of bayside beach sand where children are often seen playing in the shallows.
Williamstown hosts a number of events including the annual Williamstown Festival and a popular monthly craft market. Cruises on the Yarra River and the bay depart regularly from Gem Pier. Jawbone Marine Sanctuary is close by.
Click on or tap a heading to read the description. Click or tap again to hide the description.
Williamstown Maritime Museum is located on the HMAS Castlemaine which is moored at Gem Pier. The former World War II minesweeper, HMAS Castlemaine, was built in Williamstown in 1942 so it appropriate that she has returned there after being de-commissioned. Painstakingly refurbished, she is open for public inspection. On display is a 4 inch gun, the bridge complete with wheel, compasses, radar screen and more.
More >>
The Seaworks Maritime Discovery Centre celebrates the heritage of the site and the town of Williamstown itself, with an impressive collection of artifacts and literature. The Seaworks Maritime Precinct and Seaworks itself was formerly the site of the Melbourne Harbour Trust.
Website >>
Point Gellibrand is one of the most important sites in the history of the state of Victoria, as it was here that Victoria s first permanent non indigenous settlement and seaport was established in 1835. It was John Batman, Melbourne's founder, who stepped ashore and named the area Point Gellibrand in honour of his close friend, London barrister, Joseph Tice Gellibrand. While battling wild weather, illnesses and the occasional murder, the colony thrived; creating Australia's first telegraph station and government owned railway alongside the evolution of the state's navy and military.
More >>
Located near Point Gellibrand at the southernmost tip of Williamstown, Fort Gellibrand is of historical importance to the State of Victoria for its association with the development of defence strategies for the colony in the nineteenth century and for its association with the convict hulk period of the penal system in the colony. The Point Gellibrand shore batteries were first developed as part of an immediate defensive system for the city and port of Melbourne, prior to the establishment of batteries at the Port Phillip heads.
The fort site contains the only remaining visible physical evidence of the system of four battery positions at Point Gellibrand from this period. The batteries at the fort were upgraded in the 1870s and 1880s, and the fort remained an integral part of the defensive system for Port Philip up until the late 1880s and 1890s. Today, the Fort is home to a reserve commando regiment of the Australian Army, the 2 Commando Company of the 1st Commando Regiment. Though closed to public access, historic fortifications, including a number of guns, are visible from outside the fort's preimeter.
Williamstown's wide, sandy beach is 880m long and faces almost due south, receiving waves during strong southerlies that are sometimes large enough to surf. The most popular break to surf is called "hunchback". It is a large but inconsistent right hand point/beach break just off the rock pier that works best with low tides and strong southerly winds. The beach is fronted by an attached bar that widens to the west. At low tide, it can be a 100 metres wade before you can swim off the bar.
A foreshore reserve is located at the eastern end and contains the Anglers Club, the pier, a car park, a park and a picnic area. Williamstown Swimming and Life Saving Club is located at the western end where the bar is relatively shallow and it is safest to swim. Close to both Williamstown and Williamstown Beach railway stations, this is a very accessible and popular beach.
Constructed on The Esplanade at Williamstown Beach in 1936, the Williamstown Dressing Pavilion is an architecturally significant early example of European Modernism applied to the design of a pavilion structure by two then relatively unknown architects Arnold Bridge and Alan Bogle.
Scienceworks is located in an old Pumping Station 5 km from Melbourne CBD, Scienceworks is maze of a hands-on interactive displays than make learning about science fun. It includes the Melbourne Planetarium. The historic Spotswood Pumping Station is open for guided or self-guided tours daily. See the large steam pumping engines powered by compressed air. Experience the true magnificence of the giant pumps, gleaming and dripping with oil as the flywheel turns and the pistons pump.
More >>
The Melbourne Planetarium is the first in the Southern Hemisphere to use the Digistar II - a computer graphics system especially designed for planetariums. Combined with the domed ceiling, reclining chairs, an array of slide and video projectors, and stereo surround sound etc. Location: 2 Booker Street Spotswood. Ph : (03) 9392 4800
Website >>
Operated by the Australian Railway Historical Society Victoria, the Newport Railway Museum has on display the largest collection of Victorian Railways steam locomotives. There are many different locomotives, ranging from the diminutive F class up to the H class, the largest locomotive to operate in Victoria.
More >>
Aboriginal people occupied the area long before maritime activities shaped the modern historical development of Williamstown. The Yalukit-willam clan of the Kulin nation were the first people to call Hobsons Bay home. They roamed the thin coastal strip from Werribee to Williamstown/Hobsons Bay. The first European to arrive at the place now known as Williamstown was Acting-Lieutenant Robbins, who explored Point Gellibrand with his survey party in 1803.
More >>
Williamstown Heritage Walk >>
