Portsea - Fast Facts

Portsea
Excellent and famous beach on the Mornington Peninsula
Portsea is a popular, but rather exclusive, seaside holiday resort of some 550 people located 6 metres above sea-level and 93 km south of Melbourne. Visitors can take the scenic route along the Nepean Highway or hasten their journey via the Mornington Peninsula Freeway which will take them as far as Rosebud.

The Mornington Peninsula juts out from the mainland to form the eastern arm of a pincer movement which almost completely encircles Port Phillip Bay. The narrow pointing fingertip of the peninsula, known as Point Nepean, reaches to within three kilometres of Point Lonsdale at the tip of the western arm. It is between these two headlands that all ships entering Port Phillip Bay must pass. Just east of Point Nepean is Portsea, the westernmost settlement of the Mornington Peninsula.

Although Portsea faces northwards onto the calm waters of Port Phillip Bay the peninsula is so thin at this point that the residential area almost reaches to the southern side of the promontory which faces Bass Strait. This brings some variety and choice to the lives of locals and visitors. The bayside is characterised by calm waters and gently sloping crescent-shaped beaches backed by venerable English trees and presided over by the 1927 Portsea Hotel. By comparison, the small sandy surf beaches along the ocean shore are turbulent and windy and are used for surfing and iron-man competitions. They are regularly broken up by rugged stony headlands and backed by cliffs and steep dunes bound by dense coastal scrub.

Gracious 19th-century mansions and gardens and a profusion of tennis courts demonstrate Portsea's long-standing and on-going popularity as a resort for the wealthy Melbourne establishment. However, stone implements and middens are indications of thousands of years of occupation by the Bunurong Aborigines.

Tourist Information
Tourist information can be obtained from the excellent Dromana Information Centre, tel: (1800) 804 009 or (03) 5987 3078. The Sorrento Information Centre is nearer to hand and so may have more details, tel: (03) 5984 5678.