Editing French Island (Victoria) (section)

==History==
According to the French Island Community Association, prior to British colonisation, French Island was a hunting ground of the [[Boon wurrung|Bunurong people]]. They lived on the mainland and travelled to French Island to collect shellfish and swan eggs. There are several registered sites on the island that consist of shell middens and stone scatters they left behind.{{source?|date=May 2023}}

In April 1802, a French expedition ship [[French corvette Naturaliste|''Naturaliste'']] under [[Jacques Félix Emmanuel Hamelin|Jacques Hamelin]], part of the [[Baudin expedition to Australia]], explored the area. Hamelin named the island '''''Île de Françoise ''''' (Island of Francoise), which was corrupted as '''French Island'''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7F4WoaVMywC&q=French+Island|title=Terre Napoléon: A History of French Explorations and Projects in Australia|last=Scott|first=Ernest|date=2011-05-05|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9781108030786|pages=191}}</ref>

The first recorded settlers on the island were William and John Gardiner in 1847, who had the first pastoral lease and grazed 8,000 sheep. The first land subdivision was in 1867 when {{convert|4733|acre}} were divided into 14 allotments. The first land sales took place in 1873 with the minimum price £1 per acre. In the 1880s, [[koala]]s were introduced to the island.

During the [[1890s depression in Australia|1890s depression]], the government encouraged settlement of the area and established seven village settlements on French Island under the Village Settlement Scheme. These were called Energy, Star of Hope, Callanan's, Perseverance, Industrial, Kiernan's and Grant Homestead Association. Altogether about 200 people made up these settlements. Tankerton Post Office opened on 3 September 1890 and remained open until 1994. It reopened in 2001 under the name French Island. A Fairhaven post office was also open from 1911 until 1957.<ref>{{Cite web | last = Phoenix Auctions History | title = Post Office List Tankerton |url=http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Tankerton* | access-date = 23 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | last = Phoenix Auctions History | title = Post Office List Fairhaven |url=http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Fairhaven* | access-date = 23 February 2021}}</ref> Four schools were built of which the Perseverance Primary School, established in 1896, is the only one remaining and now caters for only a small number of primary school children.

John Ratford introduced [[chicory]] to the island, after he spent a season learning about it on Phillip Island in 1895. The Chicory industry became the main source of income on the island for over 70 years with extensive chicory planting and some 30 chicory kilns established. The last chicory crop was harvested in the 1980s. The Bayview chicory kiln, the second and now the oldest remaining on the island, was built in 1896-97 and is {{asof|2017|4|lc=y}} a cafe and museum.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.phillip-island-balcony.com/Chicory-Farming-on-Phillip-Island.html | title=Chicory Farming on Phillip Island }}</ref>

McLeod prison farm opened on 17 July 1916 and occupied 222 hectares and operated as a self-sustaining farm. Timber cabins housed the prisoners until 1946 when concrete cells were built. The prison closed in 1975 and was used as a holiday camp facility until 1995. Later it operated as an eco-village until it was bought in 2017 for $4 million by a Chinese-based company with plans to turn it into a major tourism operation.

In 1967, at the request of state Premier [[Henry Bolte]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hall |first1=Stephen |title=How Victoria's N-power future became its past |url=https://www.theage.com.au/national/how-victorias-n-power-future-became-its-past-20050228-gdzon6.html |publisher=The Age}}</ref> the [[State Electricity Commission of Victoria]] proposed the island as the site of the first [[nuclear power plant]] in Australia; these plans were ultimately abandoned. During the 1960s and 1970s [[BHP]], [[LJ Hooker|Hooker Rex]] and the State Electricity Commission paid inflated prices for land, inducing land owners to sell up and move off the island.<ref>[http://www.victorianplaces.com.au/french-island French Island]. Victoria Places. 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2017.</ref>

In July 1997, {{convert|11050|ha}}, about 70%, of the island was declared [[French Island National Park]], and in May 2002 the waters directly north of French Island were declared the [[French Island Marine National Park]].