WARRNAMBOOL - POPULATION: 32,500

PETERBOROUGH

MONDAY 4.5.2015: Left Peterborough and on our way stopped at the designated tourist sights. First stop was at the Bay of Martyrs which is part of the Bay of Islands.

BAY OF MARTYRS

Onward to the Bay of Islands. The limestone that once extended through the area of the bay was weakened by water seeping through 'sinkholes' - water filled swampy depressions in the surface clay.

LIMESTONE ROCKSTACKS



Had hoped to have a refreshment at the Boggy Creek Hotel (circa 1893), but unfortunately it was closed. The Whisky Trail Boggy Creek Hotel was where the Customs Detective Inspector John Christie, often in the disguise of a tinsmith took refuge when on his many walks seeking information about whiskey stills in the area.
Booked into the Surfside Holiday Park at Warrnambool which proved to be the most reasonably priced and only five minutes away from our planned activities. We looked and looked and looked for the power box, but alas no success - Carole rings the office. In the meantime Sybil has made a discovery - who knew!
 

Parked in the Information Centre carpark and headed for tea at the Clovelly Restaurant - nice! Onward to "Shipwrecked, a breathtaking world class sound and laser show." "Imagine being on board a 19th century sailing ship as it sinks in the treacherous seas off the coast of Victoria's Great Ocean Road.......and surviving." The Loch Ard disaster is dramatically relived via a spectacular sound and laser show projected on to a 9 metre high aquascreen - excellent night.

On 2 March 1878 the clipper Loch Ard left Gravesend, England for Melbourne under the command of Captain George Gibb. The ship carried 36 crew, 18 passengers and a mixed cargo weighing 2275 tons. On the night of 31 May the passengers and crew held a party on board to celebrate the end of the three month journey. Land was very near, but a thick mist obscured the horizon and the Cape Otway Lighthouse light could not be seen. At 4am the mist lifted, revealing high, pale cliffs. The lookout cried "breakers ahead.....!" For sailing ships following the Great Circle Route from Britain to Melbourne, entering Bass Strait was like 'threading a needle'. The stretch of water between Cape Otway and King Island ('the eye of the needle'), was very hazardous. Cape Otway was the first sight of land in the two or three month voyage for many ships following the Great Circle Route from Britain.

EVA CARMICHEAL

TOM PEARCE

Only two of the 54 people on board the Loch Ard survived, 18 year old Eva Carmicheal, one of a family of eight Irish immigrants and ship's apprentice Tom Pearce. After the ship went down Tom drifted for hours under an upturned lifeboat. When the tide turned at dawn, he was swept, bruised and battered, into the now named Loch Ard Gorge. Shortly after reaching the beach he heard cries from the water and saw Eva clinging to a spar. Tom quickly swam out and struggled for an hour to bring her to the beach. He went in search of help and came upon two stockmen from nearby Glenample Station. The owner, Hugh Gibson, made immediate arrangements to get Eva out of the gorge and back to the safety of the homestead. Ironically, the only other survivor was a priceless Minton earthenware statue, the Loch Ard Peacock, Australia's most valuable shipwreck relic.

Transported from England to Melbourne aboard the Loch Ard for display at Melbourne's Great International Exhibition of 1880, the life-sized Loch Ard Peacock was washed ashore in a packing crate, just days after its namesake ran aground. Warrnambool locals purchased the peacock at auction for $4,600 and it is now insured for $4 million dollars.