Sullivan Bay, Victoria

In 1802, Lieutenant John Murray discovered Port Phillip Bay and claimed it for the British Crown, and Matthew Flinders further explored the area that same year.

In April 1803 HMS Calcutta and the transport ship Ocean sailed from England, via the Cape of Good Hope, carrying officers, a marine detachment, free settlers, and 301 convicts to Port Phillip, and some wives and children.

They reported that the land was poor and there was little fresh water even though the Yarra and Marybyrnong Rivers had been discovered on 2 January 1803 by Charles Grimes' party,[2] months before the arrival of the Sullivans Bay colonists.

On 30 January 1804, Collins and some of the convicts left in Ocean and Lady Nelson for Van Diemens Land (now Tasmania,) where John Bowen had established a settlement at Risdon Cove in 1803.

[4] The Collins Settlement Historic Reserve, comprising about two kilometres (1.2 mi) of coastline, is protected under the Victorian Heritage Register and the Mornington Peninsula Planning Scheme.