At noon on Monday, January 24, 1836 the summer silence of Western Port was broken by the rattle of anchor chains and shouts of command. The 300-ton barque'Norval', under Captain Coltish, wasanchoring off Sandy Point.

She carried a cargo of sheep for the Port Phillip Association and aboard her was Joseph Tice Gellibrand, de facto leader of the Association now that it was clear that the ailing Batman was not a fit leader.
Coltish had been unable to bring his ship into Port Phillip because of a great storm in which the tossing of the ship had killed 114 of the 1124 sheep aboard. Coltish was able to persuade Gellibrand that the sheep could be driven overland to Hobson's Bay, so it was agreed that they would be unloaded at Sandy Point. This change of plan was to have disastrous results.
For some unknown reason Coltish then decided that the sheep could be landed on Phillip Island and again Gellibrand agreed.
During the morning of the 25th the sheep were unloaded by small boat close to Rhyll. By noon they were all ashore. The three shepherds with the flock could find only 800 by nightfall, though 1009 had been landed.
During the night the shepherds moved the dwindling flock closer to where the "Norval" was anchored, fearing attacks by Aborigines.
This was against Gellibrand's direct orders. By morning all the sheep had disappeared. It was late in the day before the flock was found again. The sheep had been drinking salt water and another 280 were dead.
It was then decided that Mudie and the other shepherds would try to collect all the sheep near the old settlement at Rhyll, and that Gellibrand would take a party overland to the Yarra for help. The day was hot and sultry so the party waited for the cool of the evening before they slipped across the bay in a small sailing-boat from the now-departed 'Norval'.
At 5pm they were able to make a start but they went ashore on a small sandbar about a mile from Sandy Point and the eight settlers had to wait for the tide to float them off on the morning tide.
They had left with only one water-bottle each, in the middle of summer and with little knowledge of the land. By 6.30am on the 28th they were ashore. Almost immediately they found the tracks of a large party of aborigines but the natives were not to be the main hazard. All the white men were armed except Gellibrand.
They'd have been wiser to bring fewer arms and more water. Gellibrand was unarmed because he was already too weak to carry a weapon or pack. Before noon he was overcome by the heat.
The party halted while Gellibrand recovered and during this pause at least one member of the party drank the last of his water. Ignoring the danger of becoming lost he wandered off in search of more. The sun was blazing down and the whole Peninsula was in the grip of a merciless summer drought.
Leake, the man looking for water, was tremendously lucky. He could easily have died, but instead he found a party of Aborigines with a small soak they'd protected from the sun with a canopy of branches. He brought up the rest of the party and they built a blanket shelter to keep off the afternoon sun. In the evening they moved off, refreshed and with a new water supply, hoping to reach Port Phillip before full dark.
At 10pm, still deep in the scrub, they decided to camp. They were too tired to light a fire or cook a meal. It was a dry camp. In the morning the heatwave was as fierce as ever. The men moved off without breakfast, and already short of water again. Soon they realised they were heading too far to the north and turned further west.
They found a small, brackish creek which led them out onto the beach near Dromana. It was 8am. Though the heat was already intense the scorching northerly had backed to the west and great black clouds were massing on the western horizon. The bay was tossing and becoming restless.
The men rested for half an hour, then headed north along the beach. After about eight kilometres they found a creek with a good flow of fresh water, where they rested again and filled their water bottles.
The party was working northward past what is now Mornington when the rain began to fall. At first it was a welcome relief from the heat but then it became so heavy that the men were forced to shelter under their blanket tent again, now thoroughly cold and miserable. The rain continued until 2am but the morning was dry, will a chill wind blowing off the sea. They measured out the last of their water and moved off.
Tragedy nearly met the party at this stage. Some way north of Frankston the men moved onto slightly higher land east of the beach, thinking they were near the Yarra. At noon Gellibrand and young Leake lay down and declared they could go no further. They were urged to make just one more effort and finally struggled through the scrub back down to the beach. There they found water, a quart per person.
At 4pm they were able to continue and by dark they were near Brighton. They found a bark-stripper's hut and the wheel ruts of a cart so they knew they weren't last nearing the settlement. They huddled down to sleep that night, wrapped in rain-soaked blankets, with no fire and very little water.
On the next morning, January 31, they continued along the beach to the mouth of the Yarra. Gellibrand could walk no further. Four of the men went on to the settlement for help. Soon a boat came down the river to pick them up and the ordeal was over.
On February 7 the 'Enterprise' arrived from George Town and Gellibrand arranged with Fawkner that the schooner should go to Western Port to pick up Mudie and the sheep that might have survived. The drama was not yet at an end.
Mudie and his two assistants had been able to hold onto only 78 of the original 1125 sheep. This was bad, but worse was to come. While the sheep were being loaded onto the Enterprise a small boat was capsized and Mudie and two others were drowned.
Only a year later Gellibrand and Hesse were also dead. They disappeared under mysterious circumstances. It is strange that this epic struggle up the Peninsula should not be better known. While it might have been foolhardy to attempt the walk during a summer heatwave and with no proper map, it was a striking feat of determination and endurance.