Enduring Rip

From the beginning the beautiful promontory of Queenscliff played a unique role in colonial history. Its local legend of William Buckley, 'the wild white man', who lived with the Wathaurong people for 32 years, is a seminal story of first contact between Aborigines and Europeans. White settlement in Queenscliff was essential to the navigation of the treacherous heads of Port Phillip Bay. In 1838 the first pilots operated in whale boats from Queenscliff, and by the time gold was discovered in the