Our region is so rich in history and heritage, unlike the other parts of the state of Victoria which gained its wealth from Gold, the Geelong region worked the land to become one of the world’s biggest wool centre and large manufacturing base. Our seaside towns fought shipwrecks and hardship to become some of Australia’s most beautiful tourist destinations with some of the most spectacular beaches in the world.
European settlers first ran pastoral runs in the area as early as 1842 but it wasn’t until 1887 when the town was subdivided and slowly developed. Timber was the major industry with what is now the Otways being much sought after timber.
Up until 1884 Anglesea was known as Swampy Creek. The name Anglesea comes from the town of the Angleseay in Wales which is an island on the west coast of Great Britain directly across the Irish Chanel from Dublin.
Like much of the Great Ocean Road’s rugged coastline, Apollo Bay has no shortage of tragic ship wrecks. Some of the more memorable include the Casio which actually sank in the harbor, with 10 lives being lost in 1932.
Many a fine vessel has succumb to the treacherous rocky outcrops in the shallows around the Bluff at Barwon Heads. The area is home to many shipwrecks and has taken many a person to a watery grave.
Colac has been built on forestry and farming. Still today both industries are important sources of jobs and income to the town and surrounding townships. Many small railways once operated to bring timber to Colac, today many of the cuttings still remain as bush trails.
The town of Drysdale was named after Miss Anne Drysdale who with Miss Caroline Newcomb owned several acres of land in the area, building a stone house named Coriyule in 1849, which still exists today some 160 years later.
The Wathaurong People were Geelong’s first residents and they originally called the bay “Jillong” and the surrounding land “Corayo”. The name Jillong has a meaning…
The Otways became a major source of timber for the growing colony over 150 years ago. Today timber is still an important industry and much of it is harvested from pine plantations which dot the rolling hills.
The townships of both Lara and Little River came into existence in the 1850s after the Melbourne – Geelong railway was established and the train made regular stops. The road to Melbourne was little more then a bush track that took hours to travel.
Originally called Louttit Bay, after a sea captain who transported wood from the area. The town was renamed Lorne after the Marquis of Lorne who married the daughter of Queen Victoria in 1870.
Melbourne, named after British Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, and was first settled by a group of settlers led by John Batman and John Pascoe Fawkner,…
Originally set up as by an off shoot of an USA Methodist Church, Ocean Grove has become the biggest town on the Bellarine Peninsula and is home to thousands who commute to the Geelong area for work every day, but have a great lifestyle only minutes to the beautiful beaches.
The magnificent Point Lonsdale lighthouse, dates back to 1902 and is the town most prominent landmark. It’s beams radiate 30 kilometres out to sea and saved many vessels from dangerous reefs and the torturous rip over the years.
Portarlington was once a major shipping port before the channel was dredged at the entrance of Corio Bay. Fishing and farming and more recently tourism have played a very important role in the foundation of this lovely bayside township.
Queenscliff has been an important custodian of the entrance of the Port Phillip Heads with its fortress which was once one of the most heavily defended harbors in the entire British Empire. The fort is noted for firing the first Allied shot of World War 1 when it fired across the bow of a German Freighter.
The town of St Leonards took its name from a pastoral station that was in the area, which in turn, took its name from the town St Leonards in Sussex England. While the whole of the peninsula was once called Indented Head.
Even 40 years ago Torquay was a quiet seaside town but today it is a thriving and rapidly growing beach resort with one of the world’s best surfing industries and best beaches right at its doorstop.
Named after Wallington in Hertfordshire, England. Wallington dates back to the 1850s when landholder, Fairfax Fenwick subdivided his property where Wallington now stands. In its heyday it was a popular stopover spot when on the way to Queenscliff or Ocean Grove.
Thomas Chirnside a pastoralist once owned much of the land around Werribee and built the magnificent Italianate style Werribee Park Mansion between 1874 and 1877.
Williamstown has built its heritage around the sea, being on of Melbourne’s busiest ports. Many of the maritime village still exists today with some beautiful architecture and streetscaping complementing the area.
