St. Leonards Pier

Heritage listed St Leonards itself started off in 1855 when it was decided that the area could be used as a source of firewood for the city of Melbourne across the bay. Instead of hauling all required goods the long way around the bay by land, it was quicker and easier to ship them across the water. With this a temporary pier was built using two hulks (floating vessels stripped of everything), which was used to receive all goods for the settlement until the more permanent pier was constructed in 1858. The main pier was then the dominant point of access in/out of St Leonards until someone decided to invent cars and roads It is believed that one of the original hulks remains at the bottom underneath the current pier, to which this was confirmed in 2004 when a site survey was performed. St Leonards was also a site of landfall for Mathew Flinders in 1802 and John Batman in 1835. Mathew Flinders was a distinguished English navigator who was the first person to circumnavigate Australia. While John Batman was an Australian Pioneer/Explorer. Today the pier is a popular access point for boating, shore fishing and snorkeling/diving