A Small Boat on Port Phillip in 1802.
by Russell Kenery
On a grey July morning in 1801, the three-masted survey ship HMS Investigator sailed from Spithead under the command of 27-year old Commander Matthew Flinders. Eight months later, Investigator was in the Bass Strait when Flinders noticed an inlet he thought was Western Port, discovered four years earlier by George Bass during his epic whaleboat voyage out of Sydney.
Investigator was hove-to near a rocky point (Point Nepean), and Flinders went aloft onto the foretop to assess the inlet. In the entrance, he saw the unusual and dangerous currents of “The Rip.” Flinders wrote,
“On the west side of the rocky point, there was a small opening with breaking water across it … and I bore away to have a clearer view. A large extent of water presently became visible within side … the entrance seemed very narrow, and there were strong rippling like breakers in it. I was induced to steer in at half-past one, the ship being close upon the wind and every man ready for tacking at a moment’s warning.”
Inside the bay, the water shallowed sharply, and the flood tide set Investigator upon a shoal. When the crew kedged her head around the sails filled, and she floated off. They then anchored off today’s Portsea. When Flinders realised they were not in Western Port, he presumed he’d discovered an excellent harbour, but he was wrong again. Flinders later wrote,
“The extensive harbour we had thus unexpectedly found I supposed must be Western Port, but this was not Western Port, as we found next morning. Then I congratulated myself on having made a new and useful discovery, but here again, I was in error. As I afterward learned, this place had already been discovered ten weeks before by Lt. John Murray, in command of the Lady Nelson. He had given it the name Port Phillip.”
On 28 April 1802, Flinders decided to climb the 1,000 ft “Bluff Hill” (Arthur’s Seat) on the eastern shore, nine miles north. Because of Investigator’s 14 ft draft, Flinders decided to take the ship’s 29 ft cutter; a utility boat usually used to go from ship to shore. It was a pulling boat with rowers sitting in pairs on the thwarts but also had a lugsail rig to sail favourable winds. The boat party included topographical artist William Westall and naturalist Robert Brown. One oarsman was Midshipman John Franklin, later Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin, Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, and doomed explorer of the Northwest Passage.
Flinders steered east, across Capel Sound, and went ashore near “Anthony’s Nose” (Dromana), where the ridgeline of the bluff meets the shore. When the party climbed to the top of the heavily wooded hillside, they were astonished. Flinders wrote in his journal,
“To my surprise, I found the expanse so extensive that its boundary to the northward could not be distinguished, even at this elevation. The western shore extended from the entrance ten or eleven miles in a northern direction to the extremity of what, from its appearance, I called Indented Head. Beyond it was a wide branch leading to the westward, and I suspected it might have a communication with the sea, for it was almost incredible that such a vast piece of water should not have such an outlet than that through which we had come. Afterward, I walked back a little way back upon the ridge. From thence, another considerable piece of water was seen, at the distance of three or four leagues … it appeared in communication with the sea to the south. I did not doubt it being Mr. Bass’ Western Port.”
The wide waterway on the western shore interested Flinders, and he named a headland near it “Indented Head.” The ridges of the You Yangs, standing out on a flat plain like the Pyramids of Giza, were also particularly interesting as a survey point. While Flinders took bearings, artist William Westall sketched the first European illustration of the Port Phillip region.
William Westall’s rudimentary sketch from Arthur’s Seat.
It seemed inconceivable to Flinders that such a massive expanse of water had only one narrow passage, so he decided to take the time to explore the broad branch on the western shore and climb the distant You Yangs.
After overnighting back on Investigator, the boat party set off again. This time, Flinders steered northeast, rounded Martha’s Point, to the northernmost headland he had surveyed from Arthurs Seat - Schnapper Point (Mornington).
Arthurs Seat from Schnapper Point
From Schnapper Point, the shoreline continued eastward, then curved northwest to a horizon of only sea and sky; they had no idea Port Phillip is 35 times larger than Port Jackson. Flinders didn’t have the time to explore the bay further north, so he decided to sail across to the western shore and camp at Indented Head.
They coasted up the shoreline in the morning, and then near Point Richards (Portarlington), three aborigines appeared on the beach. These were Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and when Flinders went to them and gingerly offered gifts in friendship, the locals offered to share their food. Flinders and Westall walked onto higher ground, and they saw the wide waterway was a bay (Corio Bay). Flinders measured the height of the You Yangs as 1,200 ft - an excellent vantage point. The boat party rowed northwest across Corio Bay, sounding all the way, and had to scout the marshy shore to find a dry campsite, near today’s Kirk Point.
Matthew Flinders’ track to the You Yangs.
At first light on 1 May, Flinders and three companions walked off across the flat plain towards the distant You Yangs, passing north of today’s Avalon Airport. They summited (Flinders Peak) at 10 am, and Flinders took bearings on Mt Dandenong and Mt Macedon, and Westall sketched the area’s topography and the vastness of Port Phillip Bay. Flinders wrote in his journal,
“I left the ship’s name on a scroll of paper, deposited in a small pile of stones upon the top of the peak; and at three in the afternoon reached the tent, much fatigued, having walked more than twenty miles without finding a drop of water.”
After the exhausted men recovered, the boat was packed and they were able to sail a favourable breeze back to the Indented Head campsite. That evening, they saw distant campfires and kept a watch out but were left undisturbed. They set off down the western shore at dawn and coasted into a broad, shallow sheet of water (Swan Bay, Queenscliff). They caught three swans from the flocks swanning around, then sailed across to Investigator anchored on the eastern shore near Point Nepean.
Matthew Flinders’ rough chart of Port Phillip.
Flinders believed Port Phillip would surely become a settlement and wrote,
“Were a settlement to be made at Port Phillip, as doubtless there will be some time hereafter, the entrance could be easily defended. It is capable of receiving and sheltering a larger fleet of ships than ever yet went to sea, and the region has a pleasing and in many parts a fertile appearance.”
On 3 May, with a westerly breeze and ebb tide Investigator backed, filled, and tacked out through The Rip at dawn. They stood offshore to enable Westall to draw the entrance, and Flinders wrote,
“When the entrance was cleared, and five miles distant, Mr. Westall took a view of it, which will be a useful assistance in finding this extensive, but obscure port.”
Investigator then bore away eastward to clear Cape Schanck and six days later sailed into Port Jackson.
Although Murray “discovered” Port Phillip, his 25-day investigation was limited to the southernmost area, from Point Nepean to Sorrento and across to Queenscliff. Ten weeks later, Flinders spent only six very effective days surveying the region. That’s why Matthew Flinders is regarded equally with John Murray regarding the European history of Port Phillip.
Many Thanks to Russell Kenery for the reseach and writing of this wonderful piece of Port Phillip’s early history