Phillip Island lies approximately 125 km south-east of Melbourne, connected to the Victorian mainland by a 640-metre concrete bridge linking the gateway town of San Remo on the mainland to Newhaven on the island’s eastern shore. Roughly 26 km long and 9 km wide, the island forms a natural breakwater across the mouth of Western Port Bay and is part of the Bass Coast Shire.
Sixty percent of the island remains farmland devoted to grazing sheep and cattle, but it is the island’s extraordinary wildlife, rugged coastline and unexpected international motorsport pedigree that have made it one of Victoria’s most visited destinations. Permanent residents number around 13,800 — a figure that swells to 40,000 during summer — and the island attracts hundreds of thousands of domestic and international visitors every year. Wildlife conservation is central to Phillip Island’s identity: Phillip Island Nature Parks, an independent organisation established in 1996, manages five key wildlife sites and extensive conservation reserves, and has overseen significant ecological restoration including the acquisition and rehabilitation of the former Summerland housing estate to expand the penguin rookery.
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George Bass was the first European to reach Western Port, arriving by whaleboat on 5 January 1798. In 1802, when Bass’s voyage was mapped in Sydney, Governor King named the island after Arthur Phillip, the first Governor of New South Wales. French expeditions under Baudin (1802) and D’Urville (1826) also explored the island, and French interest in the region prompted British authorities to formally take possession in December 1826 by constructing a small fort near Rhyll. By the early 19th century sealers had established huts on the island’s remote western shores, and in March 1801 Lieutenant James Grant planted the first European farm on the small tidal island now known as Churchill Island — making it the site of Victoria’s first cultivated garden. Pastoral settlement of Phillip Island itself followed through the 1860s and 1870s, with the Phillip Island Road Board formed in 1871. A wooden bridge to the mainland opened in 1940 following years of campaigning, a moment celebrated with a full public holiday on the island.
Victoria's Wildlife & Motorsport Island · Bass Coast Shire
Phillip Island
Points of Interest
Things To Do
Penguin Parade
The nightly Penguin Parade at Summerland Beach on the island’s south-western shore is Victoria’s most visited wildlife attraction — and one of the most genuinely extraordinary natural spectacles in Australia. Each evening at dusk, the world’s largest colony of little penguins (the smallest of all penguin species) returns from a day’s fishing at sea, surfing the shore break and waddling up the sand dunes to their burrows in their hundreds and, on peak nights, their thousands. Viewing platforms and a grandstand allow visitors to watch from above; premium and ranger-guided experiences bring you closer; and the underground viewing tunnels place you at ground level with the penguins filing past on either side. No photography is permitted after dark to protect the birds. Bookings are essential, particularly on weekends and in summer.
The Nobbies & Seal Rocks
At the island’s wild south-western tip, the Nobbies is a headland of wave-cut rock platforms, sea stacks and coastal heath perched above the crashing Bass Strait. A free boardwalk winds over the clifftop to viewing platforms above the blowhole and out toward the horizon, where Seal Rocks — 2 km offshore — is home to roughly 30,000 Australian fur seals, the largest colony in Australia. The seals are visible from the lookout with binoculars, but for a closer encounter, Wildlife Coast Cruises and Wild Oceans Eco Boat Adventures run seasonal boat tours to the colony. The boardwalk path back toward the carpark passes penguin burrows set into the tussock grass — the birds are often visible during daylight hours if you walk quietly.
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit
Motor racing on Phillip Island dates to 1928, when the island hosted its first motorcycle events on public roads. A dedicated sealed circuit was completed in 1956, and the first Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix was held there in 1989. The circuit has since become one of the most beloved in international motorcycle racing — its fast, flowing back straight, the MG corner complex and sweeping views of Bass Strait make it a favourite among riders and spectators alike. It also hosts the World Superbike Championship and V8 Supercars. On non-event days, the circuit is open to visitors for go-karting, guided walking tours of the track, a comprehensive motorsport history display and Australia’s largest slot car racing track.
Koala Conservation Reserve
Koalas are not native to Phillip Island — they were introduced in 1878 — but in the island’s predator-free environment they have thrived in the remnant manna gum forest around Rhyll. The Koala Conservation Reserve protects this population and allows visitors to observe them at close range from elevated treetop boardwalks, with rangers placing directional markers each morning to show where individual animals were spotted. The experience of walking quietly through the manna gums with koalas dozing in the canopy above is one of the island’s most peaceful encounters. Echidnas, wallabies, sugar gliders and a range of native birds share the reserve. Open daily 10am–6pm.
Churchill Island Heritage Farm
Accessible by a narrow bridge just off the Newhaven road, Churchill Island is a small tidal island that carries an outsized historical significance. It was here in March 1801 that Lieutenant James Grant planted the first crops in what would become the colony of Victoria — making Churchill Island the site of the state’s first European farm and first planted garden. Today managed as a living heritage farm by Phillip Island Nature Parks, the island preserves a 19th-century homestead (dating to the 1870s), heritage gardens and working farm demonstrations on weekends and school holidays, including sheep shearing, cow milking, whip cracking and working dogs. The monthly farmers’ market draws producers from across the region and is one of the best on the Bass Coast.
Cape Woolamai
The island’s highest point and most dramatic coastal environment, Cape Woolamai rises from the eastern end of the island’s wild southern shore in ancient pink granite formations that have been sculpted by Bass Strait’s relentless weather over millions of years. A 6.5 km walking circuit leads through coastal heath and banksia scrub to the Pinnacles — a series of spectacular sea cliffs above crashing surf — and to the cape’s high point, from which views extend across Bass Strait in every direction. The beach below is one of four sites in Victoria’s first National Surfing Reserve, established in 2013, with powerful point breaks that have hosted the Rip Curl Pro and current World Surfing League events. Each summer the cape hosts tens of thousands of short-tailed shearwaters (mutton birds) nesting in burrows across the headland, returning nightly in enormous flocks from their annual migration from the Aleutian Islands.
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