The Wathaurung, Gulidjan, Gadubanud, and Kirrae Whurrong people all originally lived in the diverse Otways region hunting and gathering the rich food sources of the region and taking shelter in the rugged terrain. The traditional owners still play a vital role in the protection of the forests and their heritage in the area. The first European people in the area were whalers and sealers hunted in the area traveling from Warrnambool.
Timber has been the most important resource of the Otways, timber has been logged from the forests for over 150 years and today huge areas of land are set aside for replanting and logging. But logging isn’t the only thing that clears the forest, huge bushfires have been a continual event with huge fires tearing through parts of the Otways on a regular basis. The Ash Wednesday fires of February 1983 were the last horrific fires to seriously damage the Otways, taking out many hectares of forest, killing people, stock and native animals. Today fire conservation including selected burning and clearing is a very important role in the forest to help stop the spread of major fires.
The rugged coastline has been the end of many a ship in the past. Many ships were wrecked on hidden reefs of the coastline. The building of the Cape Otway Lighthouse in 1848 was successful in saving many a vessel from the perils of the Southern Ocean. Cape Otway was named after Captain Albany Otway, a friend of Royal Navy Lieutenant Grant who discovered the cape in his ship the Lady Nelson in 1801.
During the 1880s Beech Forrest was established and soon became a popular with the timber industry due to the large expanse of beech and blackwood trees. The area was home to around 30 timber mills prompting a railway line to be established to Colac in 1902. The Old Beechy Rail Trail is a 45km walking and cycling path following the original narrow gauge railway called the Beechy. This train was used to bring timber from the forests and ran between 1902 and 1962.
Birregurra now a thriving small town with about 700 residents has a beautiful Anglican Church built in the 1870’s from local bluestone and still has many historical buildings which have been used in many film and television shows including the ’Henderson Kids’ which was filmed in the 1980’s. Birregurra is known for its beautiful organic produce including meats and vegetables and its delightful tearooms. Birregurra had an important timber industry up until about 10 years ago when the last mill closed, Now dairy is the lifeblood of the town and produces some beautiful creams and cheeses from the beautiful rolling Barwon Plains.
