The exhibition Sea of dreams: The lure of Port Phillip Bay 1830-1914 is at the gallery until February 19.

The exhibition divides 114 rare, important and exceptional works into five separate, yet interlinked, categories: immigration, early settlements, defending our shores, trade and commerce and leisure.

Together, they create a stirring pictorial narrative of the hopes and dreams; dramas of passage and arrival and the disappointments and successes of the inhabitants, travellers and settlers along its shores.

Beginning with rarely seen gems from the 1830s of the earliest engagements between the Australian indigenous inhabitants and the newly arrived Europeans by artists such as

Robert Russell, the exhibition traces the waves of emigration, settlement and the nuances of a changing and developing society.

MPRG director Jane Alexander said the exhibit was "a couple of years in the making".

"The first idea was to look at half the bay [the peninsula to Melbourne] and then we thought why not the whole of the bay.

"We couldn't see any other project which had brought together paintings and drawings from that period. Some are iconic works and others are by unknown artists that have fascinating content."

Ms Alexander praised the hard work of the MPRG team assisting her, including senior curator Rodney James who played a key role in pulling the exhibit together.

MPRG is at Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington. Details: Call 5975 4395 or visit mprg.mornpen.vic.gov.au.