Town by town snapshot: Point Lonsdale

The size of Point Lonsdale is approximately 14.3 square kilometres.

The population of Point Lonsdale in 2011 was 2,467 people and by the 2016 Census the population was 2,691 showing a population growth of 9.1 per cent in the area during that time.

Point Lonsdale is part of Queenscliffe borough and postdates the town of Queenscliff by about 20 years.

Point Lonsdale’s first European inhabitant was thought to be 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. The present lighthouse dates from 1902, it was followed by a Presbyterian church (1904) and a State primary school (1905). In the 1920 the Lonsdale golf club was formed on land immediately west of Queenscliffe borough’s boundary a surf life saving club was formed in 1947.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Point Lonsdale is 60-69 years with households in Point Lonsdale being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying $1,800 – $2,399 per month on mortgage repayments and in general, people in Point Lonsdale work in a professional occupation. In 2011, 77.5 per cent of the homes in Point Lonsdale were owner-occupied compared with 79 per cent in 2016.