Town snapshot – Point Lonsdale

The size of Point Lonsdale is about 14.3sqkm and has 12 parks covering nearly 11.9 per cent of total area.

The population of Point Lonsdale in 2016 was 2,691 and by the 2021 Census the population was recorded at 3,788 showing a population growth of 40% in the area during that time.

Once predominately a holiday and weekend destination, the town’s population base has been transformed from its historic absentee owner majority to a more permanent resident population, who absolutely love it, as can been seen by one of the state’s highest average length of ownership at 14 years.

Point Lonsdale’s first recorded European inhabitant was an escaped convict, William Buckley, who lived among Aborigines in the area from 1803 to 1836.

Buckley’s cave, his supposed occasional shelter, is near the lighthouse on the actual point named after Port Phillip’s police magistrate, Captain William Lonsdale.

In 1863, a lighthouse was constructed at Point Lonsdale after it was realised that the lighthouses at Queenscliff, further inside the bay, were not enough to guide ships.

In 1876, land sales began at Point Lonsdale, but it took the opening of a railway in 1879 from Geelong to Queenscliff to spur on development.

In 1883, the Point Lonsdale bowls, tennis and croquet club was formed, and two years later the Terminus guesthouse opened which was the first of several.

 

Around 1920 the Lonsdale Golf Club was formed, and a Surf Life Saving Club was established in 1947.

Unlike Queenscliff, Point Lonsdale has had room to physically grow, and housing has followed the golf club across the municipal boundary.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Point Lonsdale is 50-59 years with households in Point Lonsdale likely to be repaying on average $2,000 per month on mortgage repayments, and in general, people in Point Lonsdale work in a professional occupation.

TIDBIT:

The original jetty was constructed in 1890, welcoming passengers from bay steamers

Population: 3,788

Male: 46.3%

Female: 53.7%

Median age: 61

5 year population change: 40%

House median sales price: $1,190,000

Change in median price: (5yrs) 34.2%

Median asking rent per week: $615

Average length of ownership: 14 years

Owner occupiers: 81%

Renters: 19%

House median value:

January 2025: $1,398,000

January 2024: $1,492,000

January 2023: $1,641,000

January 2022: $1,638,000

January 2021: $1,135,500

House sales per annum:

Period ending January 2025: 70

Period ending January 2024: 59

Land median sale price:

January 2025: $775,000

January 2024: $789,000

Land sales per annum:

Period ending January 2025: 9

Period ending January 2024: 8