MELBOURNE, VIC. — Long before John Batman made his treaty with the Aborigines to lease land at Port Phillip for a new settlement, the British Government instructed Lieutenant-Governor David Collins to establish a settlement on the southern coast.
The purpose was to offset French interests in the region. At that stage, the area was still part of New South Wales.
Two ships, the HMS Calcutta and the Ocean, carried around 300 convicts, 50 marines, 17 free settlers, 12 civil officers, and a missionary and his wife.
On Sunday, October 9, 1803, Collins and his expedition entered Port Phillip Bay. After several days of seeking a suitable site, Collins ordered the Calcutta to land at Sullivan Bay, the site where Sorrento now stands on the Mornington Peninsula.
The Governor of New South Wales at the time, Phillip Gidley King, was unaware of the expedition or of the British Government’s orders.
The settlement was not a success, as fresh water was in short supply.
The local timber was unsuitable for many uses, and the treacherous entrance to Port Phillip Bay made the site unusable as a whaling base.
Hearing of better land and timber in Van Diemen’s Land, Collins moved most of the settlement across Bass Strait.
Unimpressed with Lieutenant Bowen’s choice of a site at Risdon Cove, Collins established Hobart on the Derwent River early in 1804.
