Geelong Travel Guide
Geelong accommodation, Geelong activities and attractions, Geelong maps, transportation to and around Geelong - the ALL NEW Jasons Geelong Destination Travel Guide is your complete visitor guide for Geelong.
Geelong, on Corio Bay, is the largest provincial city in
Victoria.
This fertile pocket of land on the edge of Port Phillip Bay was first explored by Hume and Hovell in 1824 on their expedition from
Sydney to
Melbourne, and was opened up in 1835 when John Batman purchased 40,000ha of land from the local Aborigines and started the Port Phillip Association. Settlers soon followed and the area became a rich grazing district, developing a strong tradition in wool selling and storage.
During the gold rush era, Geelong was one of the main gateways to the goldfields, as both a port for those arriving by ship, and as an outlet for supplies.
Today Geelong is a major manufacturing and processing centre, with a large proportion of Victoria's industrial and manufacturing sectors based here. The main industries include car manufacturing, petrochemical refineries, agricultural products and machinery, aluminium refineries and wool.
Population
125,400
Climate
Cool Temperate
Summer: 13 – 25°C
Winter: 5 – 14°C
Rainfall: 550mm/year
Associated Towns
Colac,
Ballarat,
Barwon Heads,
Melbourne,
Point Lonsdale,
Torquay