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When Hamilton Hume and William Hovell arrived at the bay in 1824 they met with the local Wautharong people who referred to the bay as "Jillong" and the surround land "Corayo", but by the time the area was surveyed in the late 1830s the Aboriginal names had been swapped. The names "Corayo" and "Jillong" had since been Anglicised to "Corio" and "Geelong".
Significance
Corio Bay is an important harbour and leisure location in the West and continues to attract development such as the new Tasmania Ferry Terminal.
Physical description
An Admiralty Chart of Geelong Harbour revised in 1954
Victorian Collections acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands
where we live, learn and work.