The first European to settle in the area was Dr. Alexander Thomson, later mayor of Geelong, who took up a pastoral run in 1836, and subsequent purchases of crown land were managed from his homestead "Kardinia".

[6] In 1850 Alexander Thomson offered 93 allotments for sale, as the township of Belmont, between Mount Pleasant and Roslyn Roads.

However those plans had faded by August 1911, after adjoining land was subdivided and offered for sale as the Belmont Hill Estate.

The years immediately after the First World War witnessed the transformation of the rural farmland in Belmont into a residential area.

Further subdivision occurred in the 1920s, stimulated by the construction of a new bridge over the Barwon River in 1926, and the consequent extension of the Geelong tram system to Roslyn Road in 1927.

[3] Houses erected during the interwar years (and those following World War II) were affordable homes for textile workers, drivers, labourers, clerks, secretaries, teachers and builders.

The CSIRO established a laboratory facility in Belmont in 1948[8] to perform research to support the wool industry.

The first person to fly from the Common was Hans Andersen, a garage owner who flew his home made biplane until he crashed the plane at Lovely Banks.

[10] Pilots involved in World War I, they erected a large hangar and workshops, from which they taught gliding and flying, overhauled aeroplanes and motors, and practised aerial photography.

[11] In 1928, 10,000 Geelong residents turned up at the aerodrome to welcome aviator Bert Hinkler who had just completed a 16-day England-Australia flight.

[12] On 4 August 1937 Percy Pratt took off from the Common and completed the longest towed glider flight in Australia up to that time.

[10] The land returned to grazing use however the aero tie down stations remained, the old aero work shop became a metal working shop (Coghlan and Russell) and the Common was still being used by crop dusters and other biplanes up until the early 1960s when pilots would make sweeps low down to herd cattle away from the landing approach.

This shed later became the first home of the Bellarine railway group and was the site of filming for a Sullivans episode showing old World War II steam trains.

[14] Further rolling stock was acquired throughout the 1970s, and plans were drawn up for a major track extension though the Common, and then along the Barwon River to Buckleys Falls.

However, by the mid-1970s, regular flooding of the Common had dampened enthusiasm, and the imminent construction of the Princes Highway bypass of Belmont would cut the railway line in half.

[17] The older populated areas of the suburb are located on top of a hill centred upon High and Regent Streets, overlooking the river and the rest of Geelong.

The area near Reynolds Road and High Street are much flatter, and were developed during the post war period.

Shannon Avenue which provided a northerly connection to the rest of Geelong, and Barrabool Road which runs west to Highton and Wandana Heights.

[20] A motor bus service to Belmont commenced on 15 January 1914, using 12 horsepower (8.9 kW) double-decker buses capable of travelling at 12 mph (19 km/h).

Today Belmont is served by a number of bus routes which link the suburb with the city, Highton, Grovedale, Waurn Ponds and Deakin University.

The services are operated by CDC Geelong and McHarry's Buslines, under contract to Public Transport Victoria.

Bus services to Torquay also stop in Belmont to pick up passengers, as do V/Line road coaches to Lorne and Apollo Bay.

The shopping strip was upgraded in 2006, with power lines being put underground and the extensive planting of street trees.

Belmont has a number of children's playgrounds throughout the suburb, the major one being the Barwon Valley Fun Park.