Welcome to Port Fairy.... LOCAL HISTORY OF THE TOWN The bay on which the town is situated was discovered in the late 1820s when a sealer, Captain James Wishart, sought shelter from a fierce southern storm. His relief in finding such a shelter prompted him to name the area Port Fairy, after his small cutter , ‘The Fairy’. Later sealers and whalers from Tasmania fished the southern coast of Victoria on a regular basis, from the early 1830s. John Griffiths, a ship builder and entrepreneur, from Launceston, set up a permanent whaling station in 1835, on what is now known as Griffiths Island, just off the coast. Gradually the mainland became settled, with John Cox of Clarendon, Tasmania, building the first store on the banks of the Moyne River in 1839.

In 1843 a Sydney solicitor, James Atkinson, received a grant of land, in total 5120 acres [2072 hectares], west of the Moyne River; the price was one pound per acre. This was known as a Special Survey, where the Government of New South Wales encouraged de velopment and settlement of the Port Phillip district of New South Wales. With this event Atkinson owned the area which encompassed the fledgling town of Port Fairy. He changed the name of the town to Belfast, after his native city in Ireland, surveyed an d planned the township, encouraged prominent businessmen and others to settle here, and embarked on a project to encourage migration from England, Ireland and Scotland. Many families did come directly to the area, whilst others landed at Portland Bay, Ge elong or Port Phillip and travelled overland to Port Fairy. James Atkinson died in 1865, but his estate held title to the survey until 1885 when the Great Land Sale was held, and all remaining lots were sold. The town reverted to the original name of Port Fairy by a special Act of Parliament in 1887.