Williamstown, Victoria

Williamstown Melbourne, Victoria
Nelson Place, in the restaurant precinct
Williamstown
Coordinates	37°51′40″S 144°53′06″E / 37.861°S 144.885°E / -37.861; 144.885Coordinates: 37°51′40″S 144°53′06″E / 37.861°S 144.885°E / -37.861; 144.885
Population	13,203 (2011 census census)
• Density	2,401/km2 (6,220/sq mi)
Postcode(s)	3016
Area	5.5 km2 (2.1 sq mi)
Location	9 km (6 mi) from Melbourne
LGA(s)	City of Hobsons Bay
State electorate(s)	Williamstown
Federal Division(s)	Gellibrand
Suburbs around Williamstown: Williamstown North Newport Port Melbourne Altona Williamstown Port Phillip

Williamstown is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 9 km south-west of Melbourne's central business district in the local government area of the City of Hobsons Bay.

Williamstown is also the main town where the Australian Television Program Blue Heelers was filmed.

Indigenous Australians occupied the area long before maritime activities shaped the modern historical development of Williamstown. The Yalukit-willam clan of the Kulin nation were the first people to call Hobsons Bay home. They roamed the thin coastal strip from Werribee to Williamstown/Hobsons Bay.

The Yalukit-willam were one clan in a language group known as the Bunurong, which included six clans along the coast from the Werribee River, across the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory.

The Yalukit-willam referred to the Williamstown area as "koort-boork-boork", a term meaning "clump of she-oaks", literally "She-oak, She-oak, many."

The head of the Yalikut-willam tribe at the time of the arrival of the first white settlers was Benbow, who became one of John Batman's guides. {}cn}}

The first European to arrive at the place now known as Williamstown was Acting-Lieutenant Robbins, who explored Point Gellibrand with his survey party in 1803. The mouth of the Yarra River was later inspected in May and June 1835 by a party led by John Batman who recognised the potential of the Melbourne town-site for settlement. The site of what became Williamstown they named Port Harwood, after the captain of one of their ships.

In November 1835, Captain Robson Coltish, master of the barque Norval sailed from Launceston, then crossing Bass Strait with a cargo of 500 sheep and 50 Hereford cattle which had been consigned by Dr. Alexander Thomson. After reaching the coastline of Port Phillip, Captain Coltish chose the area now known as Port Gellibrand, as a suitable place to unload his cargo. Within weeks of the first consignment, a stream of vessels began making their way across Bass Strait. Because of the sheltered harbour, many of these new arrivals decided to settle in the immediate area.