Pre-European period
The territory around Port Phillip and the valley of the Yarra River , where the city of Melbourne is now located, was the land of the Kulin tribe. It was a union of several indigenous Australian language groups, whose ancestors lived in the area about 30,000 or 40,000 years ago [1] . During the European exploration of the continent, the indigenous population was about 20,000 people [2] . They were hunter-gatherers from three tribes: Vurunjeri , Bunurong and Vatharong .
This area was a meeting place for the Kulin clans, as well as an important source of food and water [3] . Culina engaged in hunting , fishing and gathering .
Most of the Aborigines who live in Melbourne today are descendants of the aboriginal tribes of other parts of Victoria . However, the scions of Vurundjeri and Bunurong still live here. Also, a huge number of cultural and spiritual objects of Vurundjeri can be found on the streets of Melbourne [4] .
European studies
In 1797, George Bass, in an open whaleboat with a crew of six, became the first European to pass a strait between the mainland of Australia and Tasmania , later named after him. He walked westward along the current coast of Hippsland , Victoria, to the Bay of the West Port . In 1802, John Murray on the ship Lady Nelson entered Port Phillip . Soon he was followed by Matthew Flinders .
In 1803, the Governor General of New South Wales, Charles Grimes, was sent to Port Phillip to survey the area. [5] The Kimberland sailing ship, commanded by Lieutenant Charles Robbins, entered Port Phillip on January 20, 1803 . On January 30, an expedition headed by Grimes landed at Frankston and met about thirty Aborigines. A plaque on the site commemorated the event. February 2, they entered the mouth of the Yarra River . The next day, went up the river Maribirnong . Returning to Yarra, they explored the river for several miles until they reached Dayts Falls on February 8th. In the journal of another member of the expedition, James Flemming , notes were found about finding good soil. Although it was obvious that February was the dry season, Flemming, who was considered “very smart,” thought that there was poor grass cover due to the constant lack of water. He suggested that "the most suitable place for settlement is located near the fresh water of the Yarra River." Grimes returned to Sydney on March 7, 1803 with Flemming's negative opinion of Port Phillip .
Later, in 1803 , the British governor of New South Wales, fearing that the French might occupy the territory near the Bass Strait, sent Colonel David Collins with a party of 300 convicts to establish a settlement in Port Phillip. Collins arrived in Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula in October 1803, but construction was postponed due to the lack of fresh water. [6] In May 1804, Collins moved to Tasmania, founding Hobart there. Among the prisoners in Sorrento was a boy named John Pascoe Fochner , who later returned to settle in the Melbourne area.
In 1824, Hamilton Hume and William Howell went overland from New South Wales, not finding the West Port , their destination. They reached Corio Bay , where they found good pastures. But it was another ten years before Edward Henty, a Tasmanian cattle herder, created an illegal sheep to work on the crown land in Portland, in what is now western Victoria, in 1834.
John Batman, a successful farmer in northern Tasmania, also preferably more pastures. He entered Port Phillip Bay on May 29, 1835 and landed on indented Head. Over the next week, he explored the area around the bay, first in Corio Bay, near the current Geelong site, and then moving up the Yarra and Maribyrnong rivers in the north of the bay. He explored a large area in what is currently in the northern suburb of Melbourne.