Victor Harbor

History

Victor Harbor lies in the traditional lands of the Ramindjeri clan of the Ngarrindjeri people. Matthew Flinders in visited the bay on 8 April 1802, while on the first circumnavigation of the continent, mapping the unsurveyed southern Australian coast from the west. He encountered Nicolas Baudin in near the Murray Mouth several kilometres to the east of the present day location of Victor Harbor. Baudin was surveying the coast from the east for Napoleonic France. Although their countries were at war, each captain was given documents by the other nation's government, stating that the ships were on scientific missions, and were therefore not to be regarded as ships of war. Together, the ships returned to the bay and sheltered, while the captains compared notes. Flinders named the bay Encounter Bay after the meeting. In 1837, Captain Richard Crozier who was en route from Sydney to the Swan River Colony in command of , anchored just off Granite Island and named the sheltered waters in the lee of the island 'Victor Harbor' after his ship. At about the same time, two whaling stations were established, one at Rosetta Head, popularly known as "the Bluff", and the other near the point opposite Granite Island. Whale oil became South Australia's first export. From 1839, the whaling station was managed for a time by Captain John Hart, a later Premier of South Australia. The last whale was caught off Port Victor in 1872. The town of Port Victor was laid out on the shores of Victor Harbor in 1863 when the horse-drawn tramway from Goolwa was extended to the harbour. The municipality of the town of Victor Harbor was proclaimed on 7 May 1914, with Oliver Alexander Baaner appointed the first mayor. The township of Victor Harbor was proclaimed in 1914 with the spelling "Harbor".…