Phillip Island

The island is Millowl to the Bunurong, one of the peoples of the Kulin nations, whose country takes in Western Port and the coast on both sides of it. Middens and other sites record long use of the shellfish beds and the shearwater colonies. George Bass reached Western Port in 1798, and the island was named after Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales. In 1801 an expedition planted wheat and other crops on the small island in the bay that became Churchill Island, among the first European crops grown in what is now Victoria. Sealers worked the coast in the same period.

Farming followed from the 1840s, with sheep and cattle on the cleared grassland. The main township was surveyed in 1865 and named Cowes after the seaport on the Isle of Wight, and a ferry from Stony Point reached its new jetty from 1870. Visitors came by steamer to guesthouses at Cowes from the late 19th century, and the first bridge from San Remo opened in November 1940; the present concrete bridge replaced it at the start of the 1970s.

Motor racing and penguins built the modern economy. Road races were held on island roads from 1928, a purpose-built circuit opened in 1952, and the Australian motorcycle Grand Prix has been run at the circuit since 1997, moving to Adelaide from 2027. People had watched penguins at Summerland since the 1920s; from 1985 the state bought back and removed the housing estate built across the colony, and in the 1990s the reserves were brought under a single not-for-profit manager.

Phillip Island has two populations and two moods: a settled year-round community of about fourteen thousand, and the holiday crowd that arrives each summer and on long weekends. Much of local life is organised around that cycle — businesses that make their year in ten weeks, football and netball clubs that play through the quiet winter, surf life saving clubs that patrol from spring to autumn, and volunteer brigades and wildlife rescue groups staffed by residents.

Wildlife protection is close to a civic religion here, and the etiquette is unusually strict for an Australian holiday town: photography restrictions at the Penguin Parade, no feeding, dogs banned from many beaches and reserves, and reduced speed limits at the western end. Visitors who break the rules are corrected readily. The Bunurong connection to Millowl is acknowledged at the reserves, and traditional owners are involved in land management.

Surfing is the other strong thread, with a board-riding culture on the southern beaches going back decades and contests through the warmer months. Motorcycle racing has brought tens of thousands of fans each October, and a large crowd of riders to the roads, though the Grand Prix moves to Adelaide from 2027. English names — Cowes was named after the seaport on the Isle of Wight — sit alongside Aboriginal and pastoral ones, and whale watching from the Nobbies fills part of the winter, when humpback and southern right whales pass along the coast.

About fourteen thousand people live on the island all year, and the summer population rises to around forty thousand. Cowes is the service centre, with the supermarkets, medical clinics, secondary school and council offices; Newhaven, Rhyll, Ventnor and the beach settlements are largely residential. San Remo, across the bridge, functions as part of the same community.

Tourism is the largest employer, in accommodation, cafés, tours and the nature parks, and much of that work is seasonal and part-time. Farming continues on the island's interior — beef, sheep and some grapes — and San Remo keeps a working fishing fleet. Many residents commute to Wonthaggi or further up the highway for work, and a growing number of people who have moved from Melbourne work remotely.

Growth is the recurring local argument. Retirees and remote workers have pushed house prices up, short-stay letting has taken houses out of the long-term rental market, and the staff who run the tourist economy struggle to find somewhere to live. Traffic across the single bridge, the capacity of water and sewerage services, coastal erosion and the pressure of visitor numbers on penguin and shearwater colonies all feature in council debates. Wildlife killed on the roads is a constant concern, and residents are used to seeing carers carrying injured animals away.

Seafood is the island's strength. The co-operative beside the jetty at San Remo sells what the local boats land — flathead, whiting, gummy shark sold as flake, calamari and, in season, southern rock lobster — and fried fish eaten on the foreshore with the pelicans watching is close to a local ritual. Restaurants in Cowes and Rhyll lean the same way, with oysters and mussels from Victorian waters and simply grilled fish.

The land food comes from the Bass Coast and Gippsland behind it: beef and lamb from the island's own paddocks, dairy from the green country inland, berries and vegetables from market gardens, and farmers' markets in the district selling cheese, bread and preserves. Small vineyards on the island make cool-climate wine in tiny quantities, and craft brewers have opened along the coast.

Holiday food is much as it is anywhere on the Victorian coast: bakery pies and sausage rolls, fish and chips in paper, ice creams on the main street, coffee taken seriously even in a small town, and a pub meal of parma or steak. The pelican feeding at the San Remo jetty each midday is a fixture of its own, and barbecue plates in the foreshore reserves get constant use on summer evenings.