Peterborough () is a town on the

Great Ocean Road The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage-listed stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia, between the Victorian towns of Torquay and Allansford. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and dedica ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

, Australia, approximately three hours' drive from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. The town is situated on land to the west side of the mouth of the

Curdies River The Curdies River is a perennial river of the Corangamite catchment, located in the Otways region of the Australian state of Victoria. Location and features Curdies River rises below the settlement of Tandarook in southwest Victoria, east of ...

History

Aboriginal peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

occupied the area for thousands of years before European settlement. In 1845 Dr

Daniel Curdie Daniel Curdie (1810-1884) was an early Australian pioneer who founded the Victorian town of Cobden. He was a doctor of medicine and protector of the local Indigenous people. He helped develop the pastoral industry in the Heytesbury area. Earl ...

made the difficult journey from his homestead at Tandarook to follow the river to its mouth. He named the area Peterborough after his friend Dr Peter Reid of Richmond. The town was believed to have been founded when the schooner '' SS Schomberg'' was wrecked in the middle of the 19th century, though the town was not sufficiently populated to justify a post office until 10 April 1890. It has since become a fishing and holiday village. There are two public

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s and beaches, and a nine-hole golf course at the Peterborough Golf Club on Schomberg Road. At the , Peterborough had a population of 178, which had grown to 247 at the 2016 census. The town is situated near The Twelve Apostles and

London Bridge The name "London Bridge" refers to several historic crossings that have spanned the River Thames between the City of London and Southwark in central London since Roman Britain, Roman times. The current crossing, which opened to traffic in 197 ...

land formations, and is part of the

Shipwreck Coast The Shipwreck Coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia stretches from Cape Otway to Port Fairy, a distance of approximately 130 km. This coastline is accessible via the Great Ocean Road, and is home to the limestone formations c ...

. Many ships have been wrecked in the vicinity, due to

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

cliffs eroding away and leaving patches of harder rock concealed just under the waves quite a distance out to sea. This erosion continues, evidenced by the

formation collapsing in the early 1990s. One of the most famous wrecks was the '' Falls of Halladale'' which was wrecked in 1908 in thick fog, and became a tourist attraction for the next few years as it remained on the reef it was stuck on.

Traditional ownership

The formally recognised

traditional owners Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title rig ...

for the area in which Peterborough sits are groups within the

Eastern Maar The Eastern Maar people are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples whose traditional lands are in the south-western part of the state of Victoria, Australia. It is a name adopted by a number of Aboriginal Victorian groups who identify as Maar ...

people, who are represented by the

Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation The Eastern Maar people are a group of Aboriginal Australian peoples whose traditional lands are in the south-western part of the state of Victoria, Australia. It is a name adopted by a number of Aboriginal Victorian groups who identify as Maar ...

(EMAC).

Trivia

Former Australian Prime Minister

Malcolm Fraser John Malcolm Fraser (; 21 May 1930 – 20 March 2015) was an Australian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Australia from 1975 to 1983. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia, and is the fourth List of ...

owned a property in the town. Fraser was a keen fisherman.

References

External links

Towns in Victoria (state) Coastal towns in Victoria (state) {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub