⚠ NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Use official charts and tide tables. This page is a planning aid only. Navigate with the current official chart, the Victorian port managers' notices to mariners, official tide tables and local advice.

Corner Inlet & Port Welshpool

Official Victorian sources for this areaGippsland Ports: Port of Corner Inlet & Port Albert Gippsland Ports notices to mariners Gippsland Ports: live waves, tides and weather (Lakes Entrance, Port Welshpool)Bureau of Meteorology: Victorian tide tablesFree official pages and PDFs from the Victorian port managers. Read the current notices before you go. Not for navigation.

Directional light entrance · Lewis Channel · Franklin Channel anchorage · Bentley HarbourLast checked: 28 October 2026Report a correction

Corner Inlet is the big, shallow bay tucked in behind the north-east corner of Wilsons Promontory. It's the first real shelter west of Lakes Entrance, with a lit entrance channel, a sheltered anchorage in Franklin Channel and a boat harbour at Port Welshpool. But the entrance runs between sandbanks that break, and NGA says not to attempt it without local knowledge.

Map of Port Welshpool with markers for the Long Jetty, Port Welshpool Pier and the Lewis Channel. — Port Welshpool. Navy: jetties; blue: Lewis Channel. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. **Not a chart. Not for navigation.**
1Port Welshpool Long Jetty · OSM.
2Port Welshpool Pier · OSM.
3Lewis Channel · OSM (Nominatim).

At a glance


What it is	Large tidal inlet with a working port, Port Welshpool
Entrance channel	Takes up to 6 m draught at low water; strong cross-tides and heavy swell (Gippsland Ports)
Leading light	White sector of the Lighthouse Point directional light (NGA)
Anchorages	Franklin Channel; Bentley Harbour for small vessels (NGA)
Port manager	Gippsland Ports; rules in VOZR Schedule 132

Getting in

⚠ Call marine rescue before you cross. Conditions on bars and entrances change quickly and our notes can't keep up. Before crossing, call Port Welshpool Coast Guard (flotilla VF20, 82 Lewis Street, Port Welshpool), or the port manager, for current conditions and a radio check, and tell someone ashore when you're through.

Marine Radio Victoria monitors VHF 16 (67 is the alternative) 24 hours a day, out to 20 nm off the Victorian coast
Emergency: VHF 16 or Triple Zero (000)

Unit checked against the Victorian Government list of marine search and rescue units on 28 October 2026: www.vic.gov.au/marine-search-and-rescue-unit-locations.

The approach. NGA says the entrance channel runs between sandbanks and is approached from the east, between the outer ends of the banks. The white sector of the Lighthouse Point directional light leads in, but it can be hard to pick out in poor visibility or late-afternoon sun. The sea sometimes breaks on the banks either side but rarely in the approach itself, which in heavy weather can be found between the lines of breakers. On the north-east bank, the sea breaks heavily over its western 3 miles. NGA's soundings in the approach are from 1985.

Depths today. Gippsland Ports says the entrance channel takes boats of up to 6 m draught at low water, with strong cross-tidal streams and heavy swell.

Lewis Channel to Port Welshpool. At low tide, Lewis Channel takes up to 5 m draught as far as the closed Shipping Pier (the Long Jetty). Only boats of 3 m draught or less should go on to Port Welshpool harbour. NGA says the channel is marked by lit and unlit beacons, with lit buoys above the pier, and that the boat harbour is bounded by a breakwater on the west and Port Welshpool Jetty on the east.

Anchorages

Franklin Channel. Gippsland Ports recommends it as a safe anchorage. NGA gives anchorage in 11 to 26 m south of the sandy ridge on its north side. A designated swing mooring area has been set up in the channel (Gippsland Ports NTM 83 of 2026), so keep clear of it.
Bentley Harbour. NGA says small vessels get good anchorage in its narrow part, sheltered from all winds. It's entered with 8 m, shoaling to 3 m in the narrowest part.
Rabbit Island. Outside the inlet, NGA gives good anchorage in 8.2 to 9.1 m about 1 mile NE of Rabbit Island, in all but south-east or east gales.
No anchoring in Barry Beach Channel (Gippsland Ports).

Tides and hazards

Water levels and tidal streams change a lot with wind direction and duration in this high-wind area. Gippsland Ports publishes real-time levels from its Port Welshpool tide gauge. Barry Beach and the Port Anthony Marine Terminal support the Bass Strait oil and gas fields. Three special mark buoys marking the Port Anthony berth pocket have been reported missing, so take extra care near that berth, especially at night (Gippsland Ports NTM 082(T) of 2026). Inside the inlet, many side channels (Doughboy, Bennison, Chinamans Gutter) are unmarked and tide-limited.

Facilities

Fuel. By prior appointment with the local fuel distributor (Gippsland Ports).
Jetties. OpenStreetMap shows Port Welshpool Pier and the Long Jetty.

Victorian rules in brief

Heightened risk. On vessels up to 12 m underway, the Victorian Recreational Boating Safety Handbook counts these among the times of heightened risk: crossing an ocean bar, boating in a Designated Hazardous Area (Port Phillip Heads is one), boating from an hour after sunset to an hour before sunrise, in restricted visibility, or where a gale, storm force or severe weather warning is current. Lifejacket rules are tighter then; check the handbook's tables for your boat.
Warnings. The Bureau of Meteorology issues strong wind (26 to 33 kn), gale (34 to 47 kn) and storm force (48 kn and over) warnings. Safe Transport Victoria strongly advises small craft not to go out when one is current.
Radio. Marine Radio Victoria monitors VHF 16 (67 alternative) 24/7 out to 20 nm, gives forecasts twice daily, and broadcasts current warnings on VHF 67 at 48 minutes past every even hour (the first at 00:47), eastern standard time (handbook).

Ashore

What's within about a 15-minute walk (1.2 km) of each marina, ramp or landing on this page, measured along streets and footpaths in OpenStreetMap. Addresses are from OpenStreetMap where it has one; where it doesn't, we show the name and distance only. Listings as fetched from OpenStreetMap on 28 October 2026; check opening hours before you walk.

From Port Welshpool Pier (marina)

Name	Type	Walk	Street address (OSM)
Entertainment
Port Welshpool and District Maritime Museum	Museum	700 m	15 Turnbull Street
Supermarkets and provisioning
Port Welshpool General Store	Convenience store	290 m	–

No marine stores or chandlers are mapped in OpenStreetMap within the walk.

Places, types, addresses and walking distances: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), fetched 28 October 2026.

About this page

These are free planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources. They are not for navigation. Use the official chart, the current notices to mariners from the Victorian port managers, official tide tables and local advice. Spotted something out of date? Please use Report a correction below.

Official links

Check these before you go. They beat anything on this page.

Sources & credits

Written in our own words from the Gippsland Ports Port of Corner Inlet & Port Albert page and current Gippsland Ports notices, NGA Pub. 127 Sailing Directions (Enroute) South and East Coasts of Australia, 16th edition (2025, corrected to 30 July 2026), the Victorian Recreational Boating Safety Handbook (Safe Transport Victoria, 2024 edition), the vic.gov.au Marine Search and Rescue unit list and OpenStreetMap, all read on 28 October 2026. NGA Pub. 127 Sector 2 (2.31 to 2.34); some of its depths date from a 1985 survey.

Parks Victoria. Facts from the Parks Victoria notices to mariners, the Port Phillip and Western Port Recreational Boating Guides, the boating and swimming zones pages and the Gabo Island, Refuge Cove and Wilsons Promontory pages, restated and summarised in our own words. Parks Victoria web content is CC BY 4.0 unless marked otherwise; the boating guides and notices are linked, not reproduced. Not endorsed by Parks Victoria.

Gippsland Ports. Facts from Gippsland Ports notices to mariners, navigation warnings, local navigation notices and port pages, cited for fact only and linked, not reproduced. The current notices prevail.

Ports Victoria. Notices to mariners for the ports of Melbourne, Geelong and Hastings, cited for fact only.

Safe Transport Victoria. Facts from the Victorian Recreational Boating Safety Handbook (2024 edition), restated in our own words and linked, not reproduced. The handbook and the Marine Safety Act 2010 and its regulations prevail.

Bureau of Meteorology. Tide, tidal stream and forecast pages are linked, not reproduced; the Port Phillip Heads slack-water guidance is summarised.

NGA. Background from NGA Pub. 127, Sailing Directions (Enroute) South and East Coasts of Australia, U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a US Government work in the public domain. Parts of it are old; where a page leans on it, we say so. Not endorsed by NGA.

Victorian Government. Marine search and rescue units from the vic.gov.au unit list, checked on the date shown in the rescue box.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Tell us what you found in the channels. Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.
Last checked: 28 October 2026.

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