Victoria. The Great Ocean Road. The Bay of Islands. Coast and stacks.
Lorne. Pop 1,000.The Barwon River rises in the hills behind Lorne. Lorne is the best known coastal town along the Great Ocean Road which runs from Torquay to the Twelve Apostles near Port Campbell. The last section from Apollo Bay through the Otway Ranges to Port Campbell was only bituminised and completed in the 1980s. The road hugs the coast at the foot of the rugged rainforest covered Otway Ranges. In the 19th century Lorne was reliant on shipping for goods and service until a road was built across the ranges to Lorne. Worked only began in 1919 to carve a road west from Lorne towards Apollo Bay along the coastline as a Soldiers Memorial and the section from Anglesea to Lorne opened in 1932.
This rugged coast has witnessed 25 shipwrecks but only two between Anglesea and Lorne. Timber cutters arrived to fell the forests here in 1849 but a land survey was not undertaken until 1869 and the village proclaimed in 1871. The coastal village was named to celebrate the marriage of Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne in that year. Lorne quickly became a major tourist destination and early visitors usually arrived by ship. The first of the great guest houses and hotels opened in Lorne in the 1870s. The three storey Grand Pacific near the pier opened in 1879. Access was only via ships landing at the pier although a track had been opened from Deansmarsh to Lorne in 1872. Erskine House Hotel which began in the 1870s expanded into a large structure in 1939 after the opening of the Great Ocean Road. The earliest part was of the hotel was built in 1868 as the Mountjoy family home. They had established a pastoral run here in 1852. Their homestead grew into a guest house by the end of the 19th century and was expanded in 1939 to a design created by Geelong architects Buchan and Laird. It is the largest guest house in Victoria. Other 19th century structures in Lorne include the government school built in 1879 and added to in 1908; the wooden Anglican Church (188 Mountjoy Parade) erected in 1880 and relocated in 1884 when the chancel was added; and the timber framed Presbyterian Church (86 Mountjoy Parade) which was erected in 1892 and is now the Anglican Uniting Church.
Apollo Bay and the Otways. Pop 1,400.A timber cutters settlement emerged around 1850 on the bay named by a ship’s captain after his sloop the Apollo. But the town only grew in the 1880s. It was officially named Apollo Bay in 1892. It has a fishing fleet and timber cutters. Captain Grant named the ranges in 1800 after his friend Albany Otway. The National Park here was declared in 1981. The Otways are known for the soaring Mountain Ash eucalyptus which are often over 100 metres tall. In the coolest and wettest areas of the Otways are pockets of Myrtle Beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii) trees which only grow here and in Tasmania where they need at least 900 mm of rain a year falling throughout the year. But the pockets where they grow can have 1,800 mm of rain a year. They are related to the European Beech trees. The road does not go to Cape Otway and its famous lighthouse but it traverses spectacular forest before reaching the edge of the Park at Horden Vale where rich dairying country begins.
Victoria. The Great Ocean Road. The Bay of Islands. Coast and stacks.
Lorne. Pop 1,000.The Barwon River rises in the hills behind Lorne. Lorne is the best known coastal town along the Great Ocean Road which runs from Torquay to the Twelve Apostles near Port Campbell. The last section from Apollo Bay through the Otway Ranges to Port Campbell was only bituminised and completed in the 1980s. The road hugs the coast at the foot of the rugged rainforest covered Otway Ranges. In the 19th century Lorne was reliant on shipping for goods and service until a road was built across the ranges to Lorne. Worked only began in 1919 to carve a road west from Lorne towards Apollo Bay along the coastline as a Soldiers Memorial and the section from Anglesea to Lorne opened in 1932.
This rugged coast has witnessed 25 shipwrecks but only two between Anglesea and Lorne. Timber cutters arrived to fell the forests here in 1849 but a land survey was not undertaken until 1869 and the village proclaimed in 1871. The coastal village was named to celebrate the marriage of Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne in that year. Lorne quickly became a major tourist destination and early visitors usually arrived by ship. The first of the great guest houses and hotels opened in Lorne in the 1870s. The three storey Grand Pacific near the pier opened in 1879. Access was only via ships landing at the pier although a track had been opened from Deansmarsh to Lorne in 1872. Erskine House Hotel which began in the 1870s expanded into a large structure in 1939 after the opening of the Great Ocean Road. The earliest part was of the hotel was built in 1868 as the Mountjoy family home. They had established a pastoral run here in 1852. Their homestead grew into a guest house by the end of the 19th century and was expanded in 1939 to a design created by Geelong architects Buchan and Laird. It is the largest guest house in Victoria. Other 19th century structures in Lorne include the government school built in 1879 and added to in 1908; the wooden Anglican Church (188 Mountjoy Parade) erected in 1880 and relocated in 1884 when the chancel was added; and the timber framed Presbyterian Church (86 Mountjoy Parade) which was erected in 1892 and is now the Anglican Uniting Church.
Apollo Bay and the Otways. Pop 1,400.A timber cutters settlement emerged around 1850 on the bay named by a ship’s captain after his sloop the Apollo. But the town only grew in the 1880s. It was officially named Apollo Bay in 1892. It has a fishing fleet and timber cutters. Captain Grant named the ranges in 1800 after his friend Albany Otway. The National Park here was declared in 1981. The Otways are known for the soaring Mountain Ash eucalyptus which are often over 100 metres tall. In the coolest and wettest areas of the Otways are pockets of Myrtle Beech (Nothofagus cunninghamii) trees which only grow here and in Tasmania where they need at least 900 mm of rain a year falling throughout the year. But the pockets where they grow can have 1,800 mm of rain a year. They are related to the European Beech trees. The road does not go to Cape Otway and its famous lighthouse but it traverses spectacular forest before reaching the edge of the Park at Horden Vale where rich dairying country begins.