11 FEBRUARY 2016: GREAT OCEAN ROAD 1:PORT FAIRY

'In the face of almost insurmountable odds, the Great Ocean Road has materialised from a dream or 'wild-cat scheme', as many dubbed it, into concrete reality.' : ('The Age', 1932)

'Perhaps one of the greatest benefits to the men working on the road was that they were able to stay together after the war.': (Julie Squires)

The Great Ocean Road was first planned towards the end of World War One as part of a scheme to provide work for returned soldiers building roads in sparsely populated areas. Besides being dedicated as a memorial, it was also envisaged that the road would connect isolated settlements on the coast and become a vital transport link for the timber industry and tourism.
Surveying started in 1918, and construction by 3,000 returned servicemen began on 19 September 1919. The soldiers were paid 10 shillings and sixpence for 8 hours per day, also working a half-day on Saturdays. They used tents for accommodation and made use of a communal dining marquee and kitchen, food costing up to 10 shillings a week. Construction was done by hand and was at times perilous, several workers being killed on the job. Despite these difficulties, workers had access to a piano, gramophone, games, newspapers and magazines at the camps. An unexpected bonus came in 1924 with the steamboat Casino becoming stranded near Cape Patton, forcing it to jettison 500 barrels of beer and 120 cases of spirits. The workers obtained the cargo resulting in an unscheduled two-week-long drinking break!
The 243 kms. road between Nelson and Torquay was completed and officially opened in November 1932.

Port Fairy:

We'd allocated 3 days to travel the Great Ocean Road, the plan being that we would not be driving too long each day, so our first overnight destination was to be Port Fairy, chosen initially by Lin for its magical-sounding name.

Probably in 1828 a Captain Wishart, on a sailing expedition in his cutter 'Fairy', became caught in a storm and found shelter for the night in a little bay. At daybreak, he found that he was at the mouth of an excellent river. He named the bay 'Port Fairy', in honour of his tiny ship. A bay whaling station was established on the island at the mouth of the river. So many whales were harpooned in the bay and dragged up onto the island for processing that the supply was exhausted by the mid 1840s and the station closed. In 1843 a town was established and named 'Belfast', but in 1887 the town residents petitioned the Government to rename it Port Fairy. By this time investors had abandoned Port Fairy in favour of other towns and this economic down turn resulted in the preservation of many 19th century houses and buildings ( more than 50 of the town's buildings are National-Trust classified). 

Griffith Island:

Named after John Griffiths who in 1835 had purchased the whaling station.
After checking in to the Seacombe House Comfort Inn (originally dating from 1847) , we decided to get our bearings by walking the causeway to low-lying windswept Griffith Island with its lighthouse (manned until 1956, with two bluestone keepers' cottages then standing by the causeway to the lighthouse) and abundance of wildlife,

....not least a colony of mutton birds (short-tailed shearwaters).

Griffith Island Lighthouse stands 11 metres tall.

The lighthouse was built in the era of sailing ships to allow seamen to locate the bay on what was one of the most treacherous stretches of coastline on earth. More than 200 ships were torn asunder long this Shipwreck Coast between Cape Otway and Port Fairy, 17 alone in the bay and its surrounding waters. The bulk of these disasters were due to ships being driven ashore on East Beach when strong south-easterly winds caused them to drag their anchors.