Be inspired by the rich and intruiging history of the Cape Otway Lightstation, those who lived and worked there and the surrounding area.
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The Cape Otway Telegraph Station was built in 1859 to facilitate a submarine telegraph cable, the first attempt to connect the Australian mainland with Tasmania. The cable length was 388 kms, coming ashore at Parker River, 6kms away. The building housed the telegraph...
Shortly after daybreak on November 9th, 1940, 37 members of the crew of the American freighter CITY OF RAYVILLE, who were wet and cold after sheltering in lifeboats in the choppy water of Bass Strait for more than 12 hours, stepped ashore at the tiny Victorian fishing...
The following Tale is an extract taken from a daily History Talk given by Guide Hugh about migration. The first immigrants here were obviously convicts but contrary to popular opinion, there weren't a huge number of convict ships. During the whole convict era there...
Despite being 'home' to more than 170 staff and their families throughout the ages, Cape Otway Lightstation only housed a very small community at any given time. For most of its operational life, the Lighthouse was staffed by a Head Keeper and two Assistant Keepers;...
As with any isolated community, disputes and differences due to personal opinion arose. Head Keeper for 30 years (1848-78), Henry Bayles Ford saw many Assistant Keepers come and go. The turnover of staff perhaps not always helped by his autocratic manner. As a former...
Incredibly remote and extremely difficult to access, why was Cape Otway chosen as the best site for a lighthouse? When the emigrant ship Cataraqui founded on jagged rocks about 140 meters from the shores of King Island on the 4th of August 1845, authorities decided it...
The 'Squatters Station' was the term given by Head Lighthouse Keeper Henry Bayles Ford for those who lived at Glenaire Station. The lives of those at the Cape Otway Lightstation were often intertwined with those at the 'squatters station'. Tom Riches for example was...
The Eric the Red was a wooden, three masted ship built in Maine, USA. She left New York in June 1880 destined for Melbourne and Sydney carrying the exhibits for the Melbourne Exhibition, 3000 tons of general cargo, two passengers and a crew of twenty four. Eighty five...
A daring feat! The first ever 'road trip' to Cape Otway Lighthouse! The first motor car to reach Cape Otway Lighthouse was a Model-T Ford driven by Bill Gratton Wilson in February 1932. Getting a motor car to the Lightstation in those days was no easy feat, but Bill,...
