VICPort & river
Corio
A would-be port on Corio Bay that became a refinery suburb.
1851Land sold at Cowies Creek for a hoped-for port
WHAT STARTED IT
In 1851–52 land at the mouth of Cowies Creek, on the north shore of Corio Bay, was subdivided and sold in the expectation that a port town would grow there. A small township with hotels, a school and a post office emerged, and the name Corio later spread around the bay towards Avalon.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
Geelong Grammar School moved to new buildings at Corio in 1914, and industry spread north from Cowies Creek as the nearer shore filled. Shell’s refinery came on stream in 1954, and from the late 1950s the Housing Commission built five estates of about 2,500 houses nearby.
TURNING POINTS
1851Subdivided land at Cowies Creek is sold in anticipation of a port at the creek mouth.
1913Lord Denman lays the foundation stone of Geelong Grammar School at Corio; the school reopens there with 145 boys early in 1914.
1954Shell’s Geelong refinery comes on stream on 18 March, the first of Australia’s post-war refineries.
1950sThe Housing Commission begins the first of five estates that will bring about 2,500 houses to Corio.
1973Corio Village shopping centre opens to serve the new suburb.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A residential and industrial suburb of about 15,500 people in 2021, with the refinery still dominating the bay shore. Geelong Grammar’s Corio campus and the 1973 Corio Village shopping centre lie on either side of the old highway.