Port Phillip

Port Phillip
Port Phillip Bay
The Melbourne skyline, seen across Port Phillip.
Port Phillip
Map of the Port Phillip area
Coordinates	38°09′S 144°52′E / 38.150°S 144.867°E / -38.150; 144.867
Type	Saline, Permanent, Natural
Primary inflows	Yarra River, Patterson River, Werribee River, Little River, Kororoit Creek
Primary outflows	Bass Strait
Basin countries	Australia
Surface area	1,930 km2 (750 sq mi)
Average depth	8 m (26 ft)
Max. depth	24 m (79 ft)
Water volume	25 km3 (6.0 cu mi)
Shore length1	264 km (164 mi)
Surface elevation	0 m (0 ft)
Islands	Swan Island, Duck Island, Mud Islands
Settlements	Melbourne, Geelong, Frankston, Mornington, Queenscliff, Sorrento
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Port Phillip (Kulin: Narm-Narm^[1]) 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 (known as the Corio Bay) 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.

Before European settlement, the area around Port Phillip was divided between the territories of the Wathaurong (west), Wurundjeri (north) and Boonwurrung (south and east) people, all part of the indigeous Kulin nation. The first Europeans to enter the bay were the crews of HMS Lady Nelson, commanded by John Murray and, ten weeks later, HMS Investigator commanded by Matthew Flinders, in 1802. Subsequent expeditions into the bay took place in 1803 to establish the first settlement in Victoria, near Sorrento, but was abandoned in 1804. Thirty years later, settlers from Tasmania returned to establish Melbourne (now Victoria's capital city) at the mouth of the Yarra River in 1835, and Geelong at Corio Bay in 1838. Today, Port Phillip is the most densely populated catchment in Australia^[2] with an estimated 5.5 million people living around the bay; Melbourne's suburbs extend around much of the northern and eastern shorelines, and the city of Geelong sprawls around Corio Bay in the bay's western arm.