GREAT OCEAN ROAD TOUR - Key Persons

Loch Ard Gorge is one of the Great Ocean Road's main attractions. It is a location with a beautiful, but tragic history. In 1878 it was the set for Australia's most famous shipwreck. On the night of the disaster the passengers and crew had been having a party. After in excess of two months at sea without sighting land, the following day they expected to sail through the heads of Port Phillip Bay and into the port of Melbourne, where their journey was to end. As it turned out, it certainly was their last night aboard the ship, but not in the circumstances they anticipated. The Captain of the ship had not been in attendance at the party. He was well aware of the perilous nature of this section of coast and was on full alert. He hadn't been able to take navigational readings for a period of some 36 hours, due to a thick mist surrounding the ship. When the mist briefly parted, they found that the ship was only one kilometer away from the shore. With the wind and the tides sweeping the ship towards the cliffs, the Loch Ard was already doomed.