Great Ocean Road History
Australia's present-day state of Victoria's southwest coast was inhabited for thousands of years by clans of the Wathaurong and Katabanut tribes; Anglos landed at what became Port Phillip (and a penal colony) with English Lieutenant John Murray in 1802. Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) settlers sailed to Port Phillip in 1835, and a flood of Anglo entrepeneurs followed, populating Melbourne and, sparsely, the coast; eventually, the coastal residents began calling for easy transportation. A railroad idea was rejected and after much debate, construction began on the Great Ocean Road in 1919; almost 3000 Australian soldiers recently returned from World War I worked on the road, which was declared to be a monument to their fallen comrades. The Great Ocean Road was officially opened in 1932.
Next page: learn about the limestone rock formations that define beautiful Port Campbell National Park, and get some local lore (and see a gee-whiz photo of the Great Ocean Road at sunset)...
