Editing Geelong (section)

===Early history and foundation===
[[File:Aerial panorama of Geelong and its heartbeat the home of the Geelong Cats.jpg|thumb|Aerial panorama of Geelong facing the bay. Taken August 2018.]]
The area of Geelong and the [[Bellarine Peninsula]] are the traditional lands of the [[Wadawurrung]] ([[Wathaurong]]) [[Indigenous Australian]] tribe.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Wadawurrung Traditional Owners|url=https://www.wadawurrung.org.au/|access-date=2021-06-01|website=Wadawurrung|language=en}}</ref> The first non-Indigenous person recorded as visiting the region was Lieutenant [[John Murray (Australian explorer)|John Murray]], who commanded the [[brig]] {{HMS|Lady Nelson|1798|6}}.<ref name="story" /> After anchoring outside Port Phillip Heads (the narrow entrance to [[Port Phillip]], onto which both Geelong and [[Melbourne]] now front), on 1 February 1802, he sent a small boat with six men to explore.<ref name="life">{{Cite book|last=Billot|first=C.P.|title=The Life of Our Years|publisher=Lothian Publishing|year=1969|id=National Library of Australia registry number 68-2473 }}</ref> Led by [[John Bowen (colonist)|John Bowen]], they explored the immediate area, returning to ''Lady Nelson'' on 4 February. On reporting favourable findings, ''Lady Nelson'' entered [[Port Phillip]] on 14 February, and did not leave until 12 March. During this time, Murray explored the Geelong area and, whilst on the far side of the bay, claimed the entire area for Britain. He named the bay Port King, after [[Philip Gidley King]],<ref name="life" /> then [[Governor of New South Wales]]. Governor King later renamed the bay Port Phillip after the first governor of New South Wales, [[Arthur Phillip]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~phillip/env2stud.htm |title=Excerpts from the 'Port Phillip Survey 1957–1963'|work=Port Phillip Conservation Council website|access-date=2007-12-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070920091236/http://home.vicnet.net.au/~phillip/env2stud.htm|archive-date=20 September 2007 }}</ref> Arriving not long after Murray was [[Matthew Flinders]], who entered Port Phillip on 27 April 1802.<ref name="story" /> He charted the entire bay, including the Geelong area, believing he was the first to sight the huge expanse of water, but in a rush to reach [[Sydney]] before winter set in, he left Port Phillip on 3 May.

In January 1803, Surveyor-General [[Charles Grimes (surveyor)|Charles Grimes]] arrived at Port Phillip in the [[Sloop-of-war|sloop]] {{HMS|Cumberland|1803|2}} and mapped the area, including the future site of Geelong,<ref name="life" /> but reported the area was unfavourable for settlement and returned to Sydney on 27 February.<ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id=A010443b|title= Grimes, Charles (1772–1858), Online Edition|access-date=2007-12-30}}</ref> In October of the same year, {{HMS|Calcutta|1795|6}} led by Lieutenant Colonel [[David Collins (lieutenant governor)|David Collins]] arrived in the bay to establish the [[Sullivan Bay]] [[penal colony]].<ref name="life" /> Collins was dissatisfied with the area chosen, and sent a small party led by First Lieutenant [[James Hingston Tuckey|J.H. Tuckey]] to investigate alternative sites.<ref>{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id=A010226b|title= Collins, David (1756–1810), Online Edition|access-date=2007-12-30}}</ref> The party spent 22 to 27 October on the north shore of Corio Bay, where the first [[Victorian Aborigines|Aboriginal]] death at the hands of a European in Victoria occurred.<ref name="life" />

The next European visit to the area was by the explorers [[Hamilton Hume]] and [[William Hovell]]. They reached the northern edge of [[Corio Bay]] – the area of Port Phillip that Geelong now fronts – on 16 December 1824,<ref name="hovell">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id=A010517b|title=Hovell, William Hilton (1786–1875), Online Edition|access-date=2007-12-16}}</ref> and it was at this time they reported that the Aboriginals called the area ''Corayo'', the bay being called ''Djillong''.<ref name="story" /> Hume and Hovell had been contracted to travel overland from Sydney to Port Phillip, and having achieved this, they stayed the night and began their return journey two days later on 18 December.<ref name="hovell" />

The [[convict]] [[William Buckley (convict)|William Buckley]] escaped from the [[Sullivan Bay]] settlement in 1803, and lived among the Wadawurrung people for 32 years on the Bellarine Peninsula.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/portphillip/inter/7335.shtml|title=Reminiscences of James Buckley, communicated by him to George Langhorne, 1837 |work=[[State Library of Victoria]]|access-date=2007-12-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071124075602/http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/portphillip/inter/7335.shtml |archive-date=24 November 2007|df=dmy}}</ref> In 1835, [[John Batman]] used [[Indented Head]] as his base camp,<ref name="time">{{cite web|url=http://www.zades.com.au/geelong/gdtime.htm|title=Timeline history|work=Geelong and District Historical Resources website |access-date=2007-07-19|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070626062822/http://www.zades.com.au/geelong/gdtime.htm |archive-date=26 June 2007}}</ref> leaving behind several employees whilst he returned to [[Tasmania]] (then known as [[Van Diemen's Land]]) for more supplies and his family. In this same year, Buckley surrendered to the party led by [[John Helder Wedge]] and was later [[pardon]]ed by Lieutenant-Governor [[Sir George Arthur, 1st Baronet|Sir George Arthur]], and subsequently given the position of [[Interpreting|interpreter]] to the natives.<ref name="buckley">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id=A010158b|title=Buckley, William (1780–1856) |edition=Online |access-date=2007-12-16}}</ref>

[[File:Geelong in 1840.jpg|thumb|Depiction of early Geelong as a small collection of houses and paddocks by the bay]]
In March 1836, three [[Squatting (pastoral)|squatters]], David Fisher, [[James Strachan (Australian politician)|James Strachan]], and George Russell, arrived on ''Caledonia'' and settled the area.<ref name="life" /> Geelong was first surveyed by Assistant Surveyor W. H. Smythe three weeks after Melbourne, and was gazetted as a town on 10 October 1838.<ref name="story" /> There was already a church, hotel, store, wool store, and 82 houses, and the town population was 545.<ref name="story" /> By 1841, the first wool had been sent to England and a regular [[steamboat|steamer]] service was running between Geelong and Melbourne.<ref name="time" /> Captain [[Foster Fyans]] was commissioned as the local Police [[Magistrate]] in 1837 and established himself on the [[Barwon River (Victoria)|Barwon River]] at the site of the area of present-day [[Fyansford]].<ref name="fyans">{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |id=A010389b
|title=Fyans, Foster (1790–1870) |edition=Online
|access-date=2007-12-16}}</ref> Fyans arranged the first muster of the Indigenous population and 275 Aboriginal people were found to be living in the area. Fyans distributed blankets, sugar and flour to these people but soon ordered his soldiers to "click their triggers" at them when a lack of blankets caused anger.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166561196 |title=Victoria's First Four |newspaper=[[The Newcastle Sun]] |issue=5778 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=20 June 1936 |access-date=30 October 2020 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Fyans constructed a [[Breakwater (structure)|breakwater]] to improve the water supply to the city by preventing the salty lower reaches from mixing with fresh water and pooling water.  In 1839, [[Charles Sievwright]], the newly appointed Assistant Protector of Aborigines (for the western district) sets up camp on the Barwon River near Fyans ford.

The [[Geelong Keys]] were discovered around 1845 by Governor [[Charles La Trobe]] on Corio Bay. They were embedded in the stone in such a way that he believed that they had been there for 100–150 years, possibly dropped by [[Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia|Portuguese explorers]].<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/exhibitions/history/xaustcat.html 
 |title=Letter from R.C. Gunn 
 |work=Discovery of keys in the shore formation of Corio Bay, Royal Society of Victoria, [1875] 
 |access-date=2007-12-16 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070901210318/http://www.lib.monash.edu.au/exhibitions/history/xaustcat.html 
 |archive-date=1 September 2007 
 |df=dmy 
}}</ref> In 1849, Fyans was nominated as the inaugural Mayor of the Geelong Town Council<ref name="fyans" /> and renowned fly fishing author [[Alfred Ronalds]] engraved the town seal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ronalds |first=B.F. |title=Alfred Ronalds: Angler, Artisan and Australian Pioneer |publisher=Medlar Press |year=2022}}</ref> An early settler of Geelong, [[Alexander Thomson (pioneer)|Alexander Thomson]], for which the area of Thomson in [[Geelong East]] is named, settled on the Barwon River, and was [[List of mayors of Geelong|Mayor of Geelong]] on five occasions from 1850 to 1858.<ref>{{cite book
|chapter-url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A020478b.htm
|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography |edition=Online
|chapter=Thomson, Alexander (1798–1866)
|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University
|access-date=2007-12-16}}</ref>

The population was 1,370 by 1848.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wells |first1=William Henry |title=A Geographical Dictionary or Gazetteer of the Australian Colonies |date=1848 |publisher=William Henry Wells |location=Sydney |isbn=724099832 |page=170 |edition=Facsimile}}</ref>