Description
Phillip Island, located approximately 125 km (78 miles) south-southeast of Melbourne, Victoria, is named after Governor Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales, by explorer and seaman George Bass, who sailed in a whaleboat, arriving from Sydney on 5 January 1798. The island, with a length of 26 km (16 mi) and width of 9 km (5.6 mi), has an area of about 100 km² (40 sq mi) and 97 km (60 mi) of coastline. It is part of the Bass Coast Shire and forms a natural breakwater for the shall
The island's population was 10,387 in the 2016 census, compared to 7,071 in 2001. During the summer, the population swells to 40,000. 60% of the island is farmland devoted to grazing of sheep and cattle.
The earliest inhabitants of the area were the Yalloc Bulluk clan of the Bunurong people, Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation. In the Bunwurrung language, the island is known as Corriong or Millowl. Following reports of the 1798 exploration by George Bass and Matthew Flinders, the area was frequented by sealers from Van Diemen's Land, whose interaction with the Bunurong people was not without conflict. The McHaffie brothers were granted Phillip Island as a squatting run and took possession in 1842. The McHaffies, and later settlers, assisted the
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