Sorrento - VIC

Sorrento is a coastal town on the Mornington Peninsula, in Victoria, Australia. It is thought that it was named 'Sorrento' after the Italian seaside town of that name.

What is now known as Sorrento Beach is the location chosen by Lieutenant John Murray of HMS Lady Nelson when the first British force entered Port Phillip Bay in February 1802.

When the British returned In 1803 they established a convict settlement, under the command of Lieutenant Governor David Collins, at the headland of Sullivan Bay. The site became the first British settlement in mainland Australia outside of the Sydney region. The settlement grew to around 500 people but was abandoned and subsequently moved to Hobart in Tasmania.

During the Collins Settlement Sorrento saw the first magistrates' court, public hospital, postal service and government printing office to be established in the region. The area developed as a bay side residential area during the late decades of the nineteenth century to become the busy commercial, residential and tourist centre that it is today.

Sorrento is the eastern access port for the passenger and vehicular ferry service that operates across the southern end of Port Phillip Bay to Queenscliff.