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Collins Settlement Site
2700 - 3148 Point Nepean Road, SORRENTO VIC 3148 - Property No L10051

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National Trust

L10051 Western Sisters

On this page:

Statement of Significance
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Statement of Significance

The Collins Settlement Site is of State, historical, social, political and cultural significance.

The Collins Settlement Site is important as a place. The importance of the role that the Collins settlement site plays in the colonising and settlement of Australia, and how its location and the nature of its landscape informs our understanding of this, is of great significance to all Australians. It is a place of historic, social, cultural and political significance, regardless of physical deposit or evidence.

The Collins Settlement Site is important as the place of first European settlement in Victoria and as a strategic place, chosen to guard and defend sea routes against other nations, important in terms of trade, supply and warfare. It was one of the earliest settlements outside the bounds of Sydney, pre-dating the beginnings of settlement in Tasmania at Hobart.

The Collins Settlement Site is important as a place of contact between Aboriginals and Europeans in Victoria. Prior to and following settlement, the place was a popular Aboriginal camp site, which had been returned to regularly over a period spanning hundreds of years.

The archaeological deposits located on the Collins Settlement Site are of scientific significance and may hold valuable information regarding Aboriginal life and customs in the area, the impact of contact and settlement, and abandonment of the site by Europeans on the Aborigines of the area and details about the European settlement itself.

The Collins Settlement Site is important for educative reasons. The location, history and landscape values of the site can operate or be used to inform our community of its early history in terms of European and Aboriginal occupation, European strategies of colonisation and so on. It could also be used further to erode the myth of Terra Nullus and of peaceable acquisition of Aboriginal lands.

LOCATION:

All public land and freehold land east of the highway, from the pier at Camerons Bight to, and including, the Western Sister. Within this designation, the area running north from Leggett Way along the foreshore reserve to the Western Sister, is identified as the area of primary cultural landscape significance.

Classified: State 30/6/81