Port Albert, Victoria: Travel guide and things to do

Port Albert, located 238 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, was one of Victoria's earliest settled ports. Although the area is often mentioned in Aboriginal myths, it remained undiscovered by Europeans until 1841. In the first two months of that year, the site of the future township was visited by three separate exploration parties, marking an appropriately enthusiastic start to a town that would make a dramatic rise to prominence in the ensuing decades.

On January 2nd, 1841, the Clonmel foundered off the coast and the survivors' favourable reports attracted a group of speculators known as the 'Gippsland Company'. They arrived two weeks after explorer, Angus McMillan, who was searching for a port from which to ship cattle to Van Dieman's Land. Three months later, in May, the first settlers arrived.

The initial site of the township, known as 'Seabank' or 'Old Port', was abandoned and the new township of 'New Leith' was established 3 kms to the south. The name Port Albert was soon adopted, in honour of the Queen's consort.

Port Albert's early commercial development was largely carried out by John and Robert Turnbull. It soon became the principal town and administrative centre of Gippsland and a port for the region's trade with Melbourne and Van Dieman's Land. Its initial prosperity was based upon its proximity to the cattle trade between Gippsland and the future Tasmania. A 250-metre timber jetty, constructed to facilitate the growing traffic, today makes a pleasant place for an afternoon walk.

Port Albert was ideally situated to benefit from the extra trade generated by the discovery of gold at Walhalla and Omeo in the 1850s. The fishing industry emerged the following decade. However, the settlement began to decline in importance as the interior of Gippsland was opened up. This process was greatly accelerated by the coming of the railways in the 1870s and 1880s, which also provided an alternative trade link with Melbourne. More than two-thirds of the population disappeared between 1891 and 1933. Today, the town continues to function as a supply port for Wilsons Promontory.

Articles concerning the early history of the port were written by a local official, George Dunderdale, and collected in The Book of the Bush (1898). His house still stands on the road to Tarraville. One local story concerns the discovery of a dress and a towel in a canoe in 1841. They were supposed to belong to a Scottish woman who had survived a shipwreck. It was rumoured that she was being held by aborigines and local natives confirmed that a white woman was living with a tribe nearby. Although search parties did find a group of local Aborigines in possession of a manufactured item featuring the image of Brittania the actual woman was never found. True or not, the story probably reflects the fears of the pioneers and it was certainly used as a justification for the maltreatment of Aborigines. Early settler Angus McLean was one of a number of writers who used the tale as the basis of literary fiction in Lindigo, The White Woman (1866).

Local sources also suggest that escaped convicts from Van Dieman's Land made their home in the area.

Things to see

Historic Buildings
Port Albert's early importance is reflected in the number of substantial buildings dating from the 1850s and 1860s. The rugged Port Albert Hotel, licensed in 1842, claims to be the oldest pub continually in operation in Victoria. Opposite the Yacht Club, with a view of the jetty, the hotel was originally constructed from prefabricated timber, though the current brick structure dates from 1858. An old weatherboard section at the front of the building was ruined by fire in 1893. Between the hotel and the wharf is the former Bond Store (1852), which held goods awaiting the payment of customs duties.