Queenscliff Main Street

Queenscliff Vic 3225 (Pop 3 900)

Queenscliff is a delightful Bellarine Peninsula resort town sitting on an isthmus just inside Port Phillip Bay. Located 106 km s-w of Melbourne, it is an eclectic mix of elegant historic buildings and hotels that accommodated 19^th century wealthy Victorians; trendy cafes, restaurants & boutiques and simple old fishermen’s cottages and basic timber buildings of this working town. Originally inhabited by the Wathawurung Aborigines, early pastoralists arrived in 1850s followed by fishermen who established a sizeable fleet. Today fishing still very much maintains the town’s economy together with tourism. Queenscliff markets last Sun each month (Sept-May), Queenscliff Music Festival (Nov).

Tourist Attractions & Info:
Queenscliff Maritime Centre & Museum, Weeroona Pde with thousands of historical artifacts, photographs & documents detailing the area’s martime history and navigational & lighthouse equipment. Open (10.30am-5pm) daily. Historic Queenscliff includes St George the Martyr Church (1863), ‘Roseville’ 42 Mercer St (1864), ‘Warringa’ 80 Mercer St (1865), railway station (1879), Esplanade Hotel (1880s), Ozone Hotel (1881), New Pier (1884), Queenscliff Hotel (1887), former Methodist Church (1888), old post office (1889). Foreshore includes a beach walk to Pilots Jetty and excellent views of Port Phillip Bay, the Dandenong Ranges and the Mornington Peninsula’s Quarantine Station. Fort Queenscliff, Gellibrand St (1860) was only seriously manned in 1880s to forestall an anticipated Russian attack. The fort contains cells, muzzle loading cannons and an underground military museum. Nearby stands the ‘Black Lighthouse” (1863) which together with the ‘White Lighthouse’ (1892) assisted ships through the treacherous entrance (the Rip) to Port Phillip Bay. Hesse Street Lookout over the dangerous Rip, a 3 km stretch of water between Points Lonsdale and Nepean. Marine Discovery Centre, Weeroona Pde features aquariums & touch tanks and is a wealth of marine life information. Open (9am-4pm) weekdays. 

Nearby:
Swan Bay (7 km n-w) sits at the end of the Queenscliff isthmus and offers sheltered waters for fishing and boating together with a waterbird wetland habitat. Point Lonsdale (6 km s-w) quiet holiday resort with great swimming and surfing beaches and cliff top lookout over Port Phillip Bay. Markets 2^nd Sun each month. Harold Holt Marine Reserve includes Mud Island, Pope's Eye, Queenscliff Fort and coastal seabird nesting sites. Lake Victoria (7 km s-w) major waterbird habitat.

Accommodation:
Queenscliff has a couple of motels, 5 hotels, almost a dozen B&Bs, several holiday apartments/cottages and 5 caravan parks. Visitor Information Centre: 55 Hesse St. Tel (03) 5258 4843.