About Queenscliff & Point Lonsdale

Queenscliff is not officially on the Great Ocean Road but it is never the less the first town to visit on this stretch of coast, and if you happen to come by boat across the heads of Port Phillip Bay, it is the place where you will disembark.

Here you can experience the lifestyle of the rich and famous. Stooped in history this beautiful town has magnificent hotels and a number of highly rated B and B's and guest houses. Queenscliff is one of those delightful seaside resorts which is both a popular beachside destination and a sophisticated retreat characterised by elegant hotels, guesthouses, galleries, some substantial public buildings, chic restaurants, cafes, a fine golf course, ferries, wide streets faced by terraced houses and both bay and surf beaches. 

In the 1880's, Melbourne's most affluent would arrive on paddle steamers for a luxury seaside retreat. Today, travellers on every type of budget flock to Queenscliff for fine dining, the grandeur of beautifully restored hotels, luxurious Bed and Breakfasts and the stunning natural features. Queenscliff is located on an isthmus at the south-eastern tip of the Bellarine Peninsula. It sits just inside the entrance to Port Phillip Bay, 103 km south of Melbourne and 30 km from Geelong. 

The Queenscliff area was originally inhabited by the Wathawurung Aborigines who, in 1803, befriended a white man, William Buckley, an escaped convict. Buckley married a woman of the tribe, had a daughter by her and lived in the area for 32 years before rejoining European civilization. As Queenscliff overlooks the shipping channel to Melbourne and Geelong it became the base for the pilots to guide boats through the heads, the treacherous ‘Rip’, responsible for many shipwrecks. Queenscliff quickly developed a role as a garrison town and strategic defence post with the installation of three cannons during the Crimean War. Volunteers manned them from 1860 and a fort was constructed in the 1880s amidst scares of a Russian invasion. Fishermen began to move to Queenscliff in the1860’s and a sizeable fishing fleet soon developed as demand had been greatly increased by the massive influx of immigrants associated with the goldrushes. It has a strong fishing fleet today with a great variety of seafood and venues for you to eat from top restaurants to fish and chips.