| San Remo Victoria |
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Bridge connecting San Remo with the adjacent town of Newhaven |
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San Remo
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| Population: | 1017 (2006)[1] |
| Postcode: | 3925 |
| Location: | |
| LGA: | Bass Coast Shire |
| State District: | Bass |
| Federal Division: | Flinders |
San Remo is a town in southern Victoria, Australia in the Gippsland region. Formed as a fishing village, its economy is now more largely based around tourism. It is also notable as the town on the mainland end of the bridge to Phillip Island. At the 2006 census, San Remo had a population of 1017.
It is located at the western tip of the Anderson Peninsula, 122 km south-east of Melbourne via the South Gippsland Highway, opposite Newhaven on Phillip Island.
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The area around what is now San Remo was occupied for many hundreds of years by the Bunurong people, sealers frequented the area before the Europeans settled the area in 1835. It was Samuel Anderson a Scottish immigrant who in 1835 established the third permanent settlement in Victoria at Bass. An early pioneer and explorer 'Anderson Inlet" at Inverloch was named after him. Descendents of the Anderson family remain around San Remo to this day.[2]
In 1797 George Bass, a naval surgeon and explorer, took a voyage in an open whaleboat to explore the coastline. It was later explored on foot in 1826 by William Hovell. Around 1840 a deepwater port was established at Griffiths Point in order to provide exports of wattle bark, farm produce and cattle, and then later coal starting in the 1870s. A township grew around this port, and brought in tourists. In 1888 the township was named San Remo after the resort town in Italy. The Post Office opened on 14 August 1873 and was renamed San Remo in 1888.[3]
Early in the 20th Century, commercial fishing of the King George whiting came to the area, the produce being sent to Melbourne markets via railway. Since 2006 San Remo has a tidal power test facility. Installed Nereus tidal turbines dispatch power directly to national grid [1]. In 2008 a monument to those local professional fisherman lost at sea was erected. A cairn with the names of those lost at sea with a navigation light atop is a main feature. Today there is a fishing co-operative near the bridge that supplies good fresh fish, particularly the King George whiting for which the area is known.
The San Remo Channel Challenge is held in February and the San Remo Festival in March.
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