The suburb is bounded by the Melbourne to Warrnambool railway line to the west, St Georges Road to the north, Corio Bay to the east, and Cowies Creek to the south.

[6] In the 1920s various other names, related to the industrial expansion in the area, were suggested for the station, including Jelbart, Pivot and Ford.

[7] The mouth of Cowies Creek was excavated to become Corio Quay from 1909,[8] with the creation of Lascelles Wharf to the north in later years.

One of them was "Fordtown", no doubt trying to cash in on the coming of the Ford works, and the name was well enough accepted to appear on a 1923 Army Survey map.

In the post-war years the Shell Oil Company refinery began production in 1956 at the northern end of North Shore.