Victoria (state)
Within ten years of the British settlement at Sydney in 1788, explorers began looking at the coast of Victoria. The first settlement in Victoria was at Sorrento, just inside the entrance to Port Phillip Bay. A small group of 51 soldiers, 308 convicts, 17 free settlers, 12 officials, one missionary and his wife, led by Lieutenant-Governor David Collins set up camp at the end of 1803. They had come from England to set up a colony because the British government was worried that the French may try to claim the area. However they were unable to find water and gave up the settlement within six weeks. They went further south and began the settlement of Hobart, Tasmania. While at Sorrento, a convict named William Buckley escaped. He lived with Aboriginal tribes until meeting with Europeans again when Melbourne was settled in 1835. On 12 December 1826, Captain Samuel Wright, Lieutenant Burchill, explorer William Hovell and 21 convicts tried to start a settlement near Corinella, on Westernport Bay. This was also unsuccessful and the group went back to Sydney on 19 February 1828.