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| Apollo Bay, Vic. | |
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| Apollo Bay township from Marriners Lookout. The shopping centre is on the right stretching along the Great Ocean Road. |
 Apollo Bay is a small township in south-western Victoria on the eastern side of Cape Otway, at the mouth of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road. Permanent population is 1,777 (2006 census), estimated to increase to 15,000 in the tourist season. Location is 38° 45'S, 143° 34'E. Average maximum temperature is 22 degrees celsius in summer and 13 degrees celsius in winter. Coldest month is July with minimum temperature of 7 degrees. Mean annual rainfall is 1050 millimetres, most rain fall in August, least rain falls in February. In the 1840s the Henty brothers established a shore-whaling station at the western end of the bay which was named in 1845 by Captain Loutit when his ship, Apollo, sheltered there. The area was first settled by timber getters in the 1850s and sawmills operated in the hills above the town from 1852. The lower behind the town remain clear of timber contrasting with heavily timbered hills further afield. The rainforest provided hardwoods widely used in the new colony - blue gum, grey gum ash and silvertop messmate - which was initially floated out to ships in the bay. Farmers followed the timber cutters and a small settlement, named Middleton, developed with a post office opened on 1 May 1873. The township of Krambruk was established in 1877 and the post-office was moved from Middleton in 1881. In 1898 Krambruk was re-named Apollo Bay. Farming and fishing replaced timber getting as the main industries from about 1900.
SS Casino regularly made this run and had been operating for nearly fifty years in 1932 when, while trying to come alongside in Apollo Bay in a strong swell, she was dumped on the seabed by several large waves and began taking water; the master tried to beach her but Casino rolled over and sank soon after with the loss of ten passengers and crew. The Belfast and Koroit Steam Navigation Company refused to allow their ships into Apollo Bay after that loss. |
| Apollo Bay - page 2 | ||
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A bitumen road was built through the Otway Ranges to Colac in 1927 but completion of the Great Ocean Road in 1932 finally provided Apollo Bay with good road communications and it became a tourist destination and fishing port. Having reasonable road communications available was fortunate now that the port was judged too dangerous to use.
Reasonable road access from Apollo Bay to Melbourne allowed fishermen access to Melbourne markets and the fishing industry expanded. The Fishermen's Co-operative, built in 1955, sent frozen barracouta by road to the Melbourne Fish Market. In succeeding years, species caught have changed and about half the catch (by weight and value) is abalone. Second largest catch is rock-lobsters for the Asian live market while three boats net sharks. The current fishing fleet contains 11 boats. The Fishermen's Co-operative sells lobsters, local fish, oysters and prawns directly to the public. Apollo Bay is one of the few usable harbours in Victoria west of Port Phillip. The present harbour is artificial; it was built in the 1950s and immediately began silting up requiring the stationing of a purpose-built dredge (the Gannet) at Apollo Bay to keep the harbour mouth open. Weather on this stretch of Bass Strait with unpredictable strong winds and seas combine with the harsh coastline to discourage yachting so few passing yachts call at Apollo Bay which remains predominantly a fishing port. Launching ramps are available for towed boats (recreational and professional) but the harbour has limited facilities for blue water recreational boating. Old timber marina jetties in the harbour have been replaced with a marina made of modern material as part of an upgrade prepared by the local council. In 1936 a submarine telephone and telegraph cable was laid from Apollo Bay to Stanley in Tasmania. This replaced a telegraph cable laid from Cape Otway to Tasmania via King Island in 1859, which failed permanently shortly after commissioning. The Apollo Bay telegraph station closed in 1963. Apollo Bay has developed an economy based primarily on tourism with some fishing and dairy, beef and sheep farming. The shopping centre is dominated by tourist oriented businesses and there is a wide range of tourist accommodation in the townships, with bed and breakfasts and self-contained rental cottages outside the town and holiday resorts in the surrounding hills. The Apollo Bay Music Festival and the Great Ocean Sports Festival are major annual tourist events bringing hundreds or thousands of visitors into Apollo Bay. There appears to be a trend to retirees settling in Apollo Bay with new construction residences in evidence exhibiting a variety of design approaches without the standardised architecture of project packages. There is a report that one quarter of residents of Apollo Bay are over sixty years of age but the number and diversity of visitors makes it hard to confirm this claim in a brief visit. Apollo Bay is a pleasant place to stay for travellers and is nicely placed as a base for visiting nearby destinations such as Cape Otway and the Otway Ranges (including the Otway Fly tree-top walk). |
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| Hills behind Apollo Bay township were originally forested but the timber was cleared by the first settlers and are now used for grazing. |
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Information. ¶ Visit the Great Ocean Road - Apollo Bay at http://visitgreatoceanroad.org.au/great-ocean-road/destinations/the-otways/apollo-bay - accessed on 02 April 2010 ¶ 'Around Apollo Bay/Lorne on realestate.com.au" at http://www.realestate.com.au/doc/locality/au-vic-apollobaylorne.htm#population - accessed on 3 April 2010 ¶ Bureau of Meteorology Climate Statistics for Australia - Apollo Bay - at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_090001.shtml ¶ Victorian Heritage Database - S.S. CASINO, VHR Number S108, at http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/shipwrecks/heritage/108 - accessed on 15 April 2010 |
| Apollo Bay - page 3 | ||
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| 3 April 2010 |
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