Port Phillip, sometimes referred to as Port Phillip Bay, is a large bay in southern Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, 1,930 km² (476,900 acres) in area, with a coastline length of . The bay is extremely shallow for its size, but mostly navigable. The deepest portion is only 24 m (80 ft), and half the region is shallower than 8 m. Its volume is around 25 km³. The city of Melbourne is located at its northern end, near the mouth of the Yarra River. Port Phillip is home to a vast array of geographic features typically found in bays, such as beaches, points, islands and smaller bays, as well as being the drainage point of many major rivers and creeks in Central Victoria. All features here are listed clockwise from the mouth of the Yarra River.

Beaches

Port Phillip hosts many beaches, most of which are flat, shallow and long, with very small breaks making swimming quite safe. This attracts many tourists, mostly families, to the beaches of Port Phillip during the summer months and school holidays. Water sports such as body boarding and

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...

are difficult or impossible, except in extreme weather conditions. Most sandy beaches are located on the bay's northern, eastern and southern shorelines, while the western shorelines host a few sandy beaches, there mostly exists a greater variety of beaches, swampy wetlands and mangroves. The occasional pebble beach and rocky cliffs can also be found, mostly in the southern reaches. Major beaches include: St Kilda Beach Pier 2009

*St Kilda Beach - St Kilda *Middle Brighton Beach -

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

*Sandringham Beach - Sandringham *Ricketts Point/Watkins Bay - Beaumaris *Mentone Beach - Mentone *Carrum Beach -

Carrum Carrum is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston Local Government Areas of Victoria, local government ar ...

*Seaford Beach - Seaford *Frankston Beach - Frankston *Mothers Beach - Mornington *Safety Beach -

Safety Beach Safety Beach is a seaside town on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Safety Beach recorded a pop ...

*Dromana Beach -

Dromana Dromana is a seaside suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, south of Melbourne's Melbourne city centre, Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula Local gove ...

*Rosebud Beach - Rosebud *Rye Beach -

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...

*Sorrento Front Beach - Sorrento *Portsea Front Beach -

Portsea Portsea may refer to: * Portsea, Victoria, a seaside town in Australia * Portsea Island, an island on the south coast of England contained within the city of Portsmouth * Portsea, Portsmouth Portsea Island is a flat and low-lying natural i ...

*Queenscliff Beach - Queenscliff * Eastern Beach -

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

*Rippleside Beach - Rippleside *Werribee South Beach - Werribee South *Altona Beach - Altona *Seaholme Beach - Seaholme *Williamstown Beach - Williamstown

Landforms

Islands and reefs

*Long Island *Wooleys Reef *Pelican Point Reef *Hovell Pile * South Channel Pile (artificial) *

South Channel Fort South Channel Fort, also known as South Channel Island, is a 0.7 ha artificial island in southern Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, 6 km north-east of the town of Sorrento. It was part of a network of fortifications protecting the narrow e ...

* Mud Islands * Pope's Eye (incomplete fort) * Chinaman's Hat (artificial) * Nepean Reef *Sand Island * Swan Island *Stingaree Island *Mangrove Island *Rabbit Island *Tip Island * Duck Island *West Channel Pile *Mudlands :Great Sand :Middle Ground :South Sand :Popes Eye Bank :Middle Sand :William Sand :West Sand

Points

*Point Ormond *Green Point *Picnic Point ( Sandringham) *Red Bluff *Quiet Corner *Ricketts Point *Table Rock Point *Olivers Hill *Pelican Point *Shnapper Point ( Mornington) *Linley Point *Balcombe Point *Martha Point (

Mount Martha Mount Martha is a suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Mount Martha recorded a popul ...

) * Anthonys Nose (

) *White Cliffs *Eastern Sister *Western Sister *Policemans Point ( Sorrento) *Point King *Point McArthur *Point Franklin (

) *Police Point *Observatory Point *Point Nepean * The Rip *Point Lonsdale *Shortlands Bluff ( Queenscliff) *The Cut *Swan Point ( Swan Island) *Burnt Point *Edwards Point *The Bluff * Indented Head *Point George *Grassy Point *Point Richards ( Portarlington) *Beacon Point *Point Henry *Limeburners Point *

Point Lillias Point Lillias is a narrow peninsula jutting southwards from the northern coast of Corio Bay, north of the city of Geelong, in Victoria, Australia. It was formed by a southward-trending tongue of lava from the volcanic flows of the Werribee Pla ...

* Point Wilson *Kirk Point *Point Cooke *Point Gellibrand ( Williamstown)

Bays

* Hobsons Bay :Greenwich Bay :Beacon Cove *Elwood Bay *Hampton Bay *Half Moon Bay (Black Rock) *Watkins Bay * Beaumaris Bay :Keefers Cove *

Daveys Bay Daveys Bay is a small shallow bay of Port Phillip, located in Victoria, Australia. It is one of several small bays adjoining the town of Mount Eliza and is the closest region of the Shire of Mornington Peninsula to Melbourne Melbourne ( ; ...

*Canadian Bay *Half Moon Bay (Mount Eliza) *Mornington Bay *Marina Cover *Dromana Bay :Pebble Cove :Martha Cove *Capel Sound :Camerons Bight :Sullivan Bay :Sorrento Bay *Collins Bay *Weeroona Bay *Ticonderoga Bay *Nepean Bay :The Bend * The Rip *Lonsdale Bay *Stingaree Bight * Swan Bay (very shallow at low tide) *Salt Lagoon *Hood Bight *Half Moon Bay (Indented Head) *Outer Harbour : Corio Bay ::Stingaree Bay ::Steampacket Quay ::Corio Quay :: Limeburners Bay *The Spit *Campbells Cove *Altona Bay :Shelley Bay

Confluents

* Yarra River -

Newport Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia *Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on the ...

/ Port Melbourne ** Maribyrnong River *Sandridge Lagoon (now filled in) - Port Melbourne *Elster Creek -

Elwood Elwood may refer to any one of the following:: Places ;In Australia *Elwood, Victoria ;In the United States of America *Elwood, Illinois *Elwood, Indiana *Elwood, Kansas * Elwood, Missouri *Elwood, Nebraska * Elwood-Magnolia, New Jersey *Elwood, N ...

*Mordialloc Creek - Mordialloc * Patterson River -

Kananook Creek Seaford is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 36 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Seaford recorded a population of 17,215 at the . History Seafor ...

- Frankston * Sweetwater Creek -

Frankston South Frankston South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 43 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Frankston local government area. Frankston South recorded a population of 18,801 at the ...

*Kackeraboite Creek - Mount Eliza *Ballar Creek - Mount Eliza *Earimil Creek - Mount Eliza *Gunyong Creek - Mount Eliza *Manmangur Creek - Mount Eliza *Caraar Creek - Mornington *Tanti Creek - Mornington *Balcombe Creek -

*Hearn Creek -

*Tassells Creek -

*Dunns Creek -

*Sheepwash Creek -

*Coburn Creek - McCrae *Chinamans Creek - Rosebud West * The Rip *Yarram Creek - Swan Bay *Frederick Mason Creek - St Leonards *St Leonards Creek - St Leonards *

Cowies Creek Cowies Creek is a creek flowing through the northern suburbs of Geelong, Victoria, Australia. It rises in wetlands in Moorabool and debouches at Corio Quay, Corio Bay Corio Bay is one of numerous internal bays in the southwest corner of Austr ...

- North Geelong *Cuthbertson Creek - North Shore *Hovells Creek - Corio * Little River - Point Wilson * Werribee River - Cocoroc/ Werribee South * Skeleton Creek - Point Cook *

Laverton Creek There is more than one place named Laverton: In Australia: *Laverton, Victoria is a suburb of Melbourne *Laverton, Western Australia is a town in the goldfields of Western Australia *Shire of Laverton is a local government area in Western Australia ...

- Altona *Cherry Creek - Seaholme * Kororoit Creek -

Williamstown North Williamstown North is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Williamstown North recorded a population of 1,622 at the . ...

Other features

Portsea Hole The Portsea Hole is a depression in the seafloor of Port Phillip near Portsea in Victoria, Australia. The undefined area of the depression, generally assessed at , is one of six separate areas that comprise the Port Phillip Heads Marine Nationa ...

Marine Parks

Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park The Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park is a marine protected area located in the vicinity of the bay of Port Phillip, between the Bellarine and Mornington Peninsulas, in Victoria, Australia. The marine national park comprises six separate ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Port Phillip, Geography Port Phillip, Geography Port Phillip