[1] Queenscliff is a seaside resort known for its Victorian era heritage and tourist industry and as one of the endpoints of the Searoad ferry to Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula.

The first European settler in the area was convict escapee William Buckley between 1803 and 1835, who briefly lived in a cave with local Aborigines at Point Lonsdale, above which the lighthouse was later built.

Land sales began in 1853, the same year the name was changed to Queenscliff by Lieutenant Charles La Trobe, in honour of Queen Victoria.

A shipping pilot service was established in 1841 to lead boats through the treacherous Rip, and its two lighthouses, the High and Low Lights, were constructed in 1862–63.

[5] Queenscliff became a tourist destination in the late 19th century, visitors arriving from Melbourne after a two-hour journey on the paddle steamer, Ozone.

[6] The opening of a railway line to Geelong in 1879[7] brought more tourists to the area, and numerous luxury hotels (or coffee palaces) were built to accommodate them.

[9] In 2005, the area previously holding the Fort Barracks was subdivided into residential blocks and renamed Shortlands Beach in honour of the town's prior name.