Lara is a residential rural suburb, 15 km north-east of Geelong, inland from the Princes Freeway to Melbourne. The explorers Hume and Hovell arrived at Lara on December 16, 1824, believing that they had reached Westernport Bay. They recorded that the Aboriginals described the bay as Jullong and land as Corago, suggesting origins for the names of Geelong and Corio.