Nelson is a small fishing town in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

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 ...

. It is located at the mouth of the Glenelg River and

Discovery Bay Discovery Bay (DB) is a resort town on Lantau Island, Hong Kong. It consists of mixed, primarily residential, development, in particular upmarket residential development and private and public recreational facilities, including garden houses, ...

, a few kilometres from the

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

n border, and west of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. At the 2016 census, Nelson and the surrounding area had a population of 190. In January 1852 the name of Nelson was adopted for the settlement, after the ship '' Lady Nelson'', , cited in Bird (2006) which was used by Lieutenant James Grant in explorations of the area in the early nineteenth century. A punt was built across the river in 1848 by Henry Kellett. A summerhouse was also built in 1848, which later became the town's current hotel. The town site was surveyed and named in 1852 by Lindsay Clarke, and sheep grazing began soon after. Settlement of the township came much later, a Post Office being opened on 17 March 1876. The Portland-Nelson Road is the only main road in and out of Nelson and crosses the Glenelg at Nelson and is the only crossing for over 25 km. The first crossing over the Glenelg was constructed out of wood in 1893. It was replaced by a steel cantilever bridge in 1963. A second concrete cantilever bridge was added in 1997 on the north side of the steel bridge to cater for the demands of road freight travelling through the town.

Traditional ownership

The formally recognised

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

for the area in which Nelson sits are the

Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Their ...

People who are represented by the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation.

Notes

References

* Learmonth, Noel F. (1970). ''Four Towns and a Survey.'' Hawthorn Press: Melbourne

External links

Towns in Victoria (Australia) Coastal towns in Victoria (Australia) Western District (Victoria) Fishing communities in Australia {{BarwonSouthWest-geo-stub