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Port Fairy - Cities, Towns and Localities |
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Port Fairy is an old sea-side fishing and farming
village located on the
Great Ocean Road, the south-west coast of Victoria.
As well as the scenic Great Ocean Road, you can get to Port Fairy by the
Princes Highway, providing a more direct route from Melbourne.
It is a
great place to make base, with added attractions of nearby towns, as
well as vineyards, The Grampians and Mount Ecles National Park.
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When a
sealer named Captain James Wishart in the 1820s, found shelter in a bay
from a fierce southern storm he named the area Port Fairy, after his
small cutter called The Fairy. By the early 1830s other sealers and
whalers from Tasmania were found fishing regularly on the southern coast
of Victoria. IN 1835 a ship builder and entrepreneur from Launceston
named John Griffiths, was to set up a permanent whaling station just off
the coast, on what is now known as Griffiths Island. Others came to
settle on the mainland including John Cox of Clarendon also from
Tasmania, who built the first store on the banks of the Moyne River in
1839.
In 1843 a Sydney solicitor, James
Atkinson, was to receive a grant of land, that totalled 5,120 acres, west
of the Moyne River. This was known as a Special Survey, where the
government of New South Wales encouraged development and settlement of
the Port Phillip district of New South Wales. Atkinson now owned the
area which encompassed the fledgling town of Port Fairy. He was to
change the name of the town to Belfast, after his native city in
Ireland, surveyed and planned the township, encouraged prominent
businessmen and others to settle here, and embarked on a project to
encourage migration from England, Ireland and Scotland. Many families
came directly to the area, whilst others landed at Portland Bay, Geelong
or Port Phillip and travelled overland to Port Fairy. James Atkinson
died in 1865, but his estate was to hold title to the Survey until 1885
when the Great Land Sale was held, and all remaining lots were sold. The
town reverted to the original name of Port Fairy by a special Act of
Parliament in 1887.
Source: The Port
Fairy Historical Society Inc For up-to-date attractions and
other information drop into the local tourist visitor centre. For Port Fairy accommodation
click here. |
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Port
Fairy Folk Festival
PO Box 176, PORT FAIRY VIC 3284 Ph: +61
3 5568 2227 Fax: +61 3 5568 1819
Held annually in March is the Port
Fairy Folk Festival, offering the best of
international and national
artists over four days of folk, blues, bluegrass,
jazz, Celtic, country, rock, contemporary and other world music.
There is the Children's Folk Circus and the Free Festival of the
Streets, as well as market stalls, buskers and
street events.
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My Port
Fairy
Ph: 03 5568 3002 Fax: 03 5568
3004
This site offers historic, what's on, attractions, speciality
shops, eco and more. There is also an online
map.
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Port Fairy on the
Great Ocean Road
by the WordsWorth communicating 198 Princes Hwy, PORT FAIRY
VIC 3284
Ph: +61 3 5568 2478
Mobile: 0411 384 802
Includes accommodation, business index, community groups, around town,
history, things to do and more.
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The Port
Fairy Historical Society Inc
The site
offers an insight into the local history.
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