Shipwrecks on Warrnambool sea shore

A VISIT to Victoria's historic and unforgiving coast by the Great Ocean Road brings a chance to stay in a lighthouse to learn more about the shipwrecks in the area.

flagstaff lighthouse jan 17 escape

THERE'S a storm blowing in from the Southern Ocean and we're tucked up in Lighthouse Lodge listening to the squall outside.

An unruly wind is whistling around the historic Warrnambool cottage, the lingering rumble of distant thunder accompanies bolts of lightning, and the deluge is so heavy we can hardly hear each other talking over the thud of raindrops on the tin roof.

In any other part of Australia, the sounds of a storm would be an entertaining diversion, but on Victoria's Shipwreck Coast it's a reminder of the unforgiving conditions that claimed so many lives between 1834 and 1914, when dozens of ships were lost to the east and west of here, trying to find the narrow shipping route into Port Phillip Bay.

Safe and sound in Lighthouse Lodge - the old Warrnambool harbourmaster's house built in the shadows of the Lady Bay Lighthouse near the summit of Flagstaff Hill - we imagine the town's chief mariner heading out on stormy nights to check ships caught in the bad weather.

It was a foul night, just like this, almost 140 years ago, that the clipper Loch Ard became lost in a storm and sank at nearby Mutton Bird Island, taking 53 people to the bottom and making local legends out of Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearce who were its only survivors.

Tom, 19, and a member of the ship's crew, found land first by scrambling on to the hull of an overturned lifeboat but he waded back into the churning water when he heard the cries of a female passenger to find 18-year-old Eva clinging to a spar.

The pair washed into a protected ravine, the Great Ocean Rd landmark that became known as Loch Ard Gorge, where Tom hid Eva in a cave and went to search for more survivors before returning to the freezing Irishwoman and rubbing brandy on her legs to keep her warm.

When the sun rose, Tom walked a few kilometres inland to Glenample Homestead to raise the alarm, and it didn't take long before the district was buzzing with the drama. A display at Glenample Homestead tells the tale of the Loch Ard and visitors to the property - which was built by pioneering pastoralist Hugh Gibson from local sandstone in 1869 - can see where Eva and Tom spent several days recovering from the ordeal.

Loch Ard Gorge is now a popular stop for those driving the Great Ocean Rd, not far from what remains of the Twelve Apostles, and plaques beside the paths lining the steep cliffs mark the route of the Shipwreck Walk.

But the most significant tribute to the Loch Ard is back in Warrnambool, and only a short stroll from Lighthouse Lodge, where a sound-and-light show called Shipwrecked is shown at the Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village every evening.

Shipwrecked starts with a stroll through the dark streets of re-created 19th-century buildings, following a guide carrying a storm lantern who pauses along the way to start telling the tale of the doomed ship.

Those who visit Flagstaff Hill during the day can explore the Grand Circle Gallery, a museum documenting the Shipwreck Coast's notorious nautical history, and there's a display of treasures recovered from the Loch Ard, including the oversized porcelain peacock that washed up on the beach not long after Eva and Tom.

More than 50 vessels were lost along Victoria's Shipwreck Coast within a few decades after a schooner called the Henry was forced ashore near Portland in 1834, and those keen to see the locations where foul weather and bad judgment sent boats to the bottom can do a self-guided tour of the Historic Shipwreck Trail.

But following this circuit on the sunny morning after a fierce Southern Ocean squall - when there isn't a cloud in the sky above the beaches between Princetown and the South Australian border - the abrupt cliffs and jagged rocks that caused early seafarers to shudder with fear seem much less foreboding.

-- The writer was a guest of Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village.

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WARRNAMBOOL

Getting there

It is a three-hour drive from Melbourne via the Princes Highway, or a six-hour journey along the Great Ocean Rd, and an eight-hour drive from Adelaide (visitwarrnambool.com.au).

Doing there

Lighthouse Lodge (www.lighthouselodge.com.au) was built in 1911 for the town's harbourmaster and his family but was recently renovated to become an inviting, three-bedroom cottage  - each room has an ensuite and the property has views of Lady Bay  - where self-catering visitors can reserve a single room or the whole house.

The Flagstaff Hill Maritime Village website (www.flagstaffhill.com) has information on the Shipwrecked sound-and-light show, the Grand Circle Gallery and the open-air museum, and it's also one place to print the Historic Shipwreck Trail map to do a self-guided tour of Victoria's western coast.

To learn more about driving the Great Ocean Rd  and exploring the Port Campbell National Park and the Twelve Apostles Marine National Park  see the Parks Victoria website (parkweb.vic.gov.au) or the Visit Victoria page (visitvictoria.com).