Sullivan Bay: How Convicts Came to Port Phillip & Van Dieman’s Land

The Port Phillip Expedition of 1803 was the precursor to the expansion of Britain’s colony in New South ‘vVales into south-east Australia. It led to the permanent settlement of Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and, in time, to the creation of the colony of Victoria.

The expedition, led by Lieutenant Colonel David Collins, was despatched by the British Colonial Secretary Lord Hobart after he was warned by Governor l{ing of New South Wales that convicts at Sydney were planning a rebellion, and that the French might be intending to make a settlement somewhere on Bass Strait.

In October 1803 Collins landed at Port Phillip with 300 convicts on the warship Calcutta, intending to establish Hobart. When his site at Sullivan Bay proved unsuitable, Collins transferred his convicts and f ee settlers to the Derwent River in southern Van Diemen’s Land.

Among Collins’ party were men like John Pascoe Fawkner who later left Van Diemen’s Land to found Melbourne. The descendants of others who had also sailed on the Calcutta settled the ·western District and began the ‘golden age’ of pastoral Victoria.

This is the fascinating account of a little-known episode in Australia’s early history.