From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side
of Cape Otway, along
the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway
Shire. The town has a population of 1777.
It now makes an income from tourism, though it is smaller and
quieter than other tourist destinations such as Lorne. It is
also host to the annual Apollo Bay Music Festival and the Great
Ocean Sports Festival.
History
1936 Stamp- Cable to Tasmania depicting
Amphitrite
Apollo Bay was part of the traditional lands of the Gadubanud or King Parrot
people of the Cape Otway coast.[2]
In the 1840s the Henty brothers
established a whaling
station at Point Bunbury on the western end of the bay.
The bay was named by a Captain Loutit in 1845 when he sheltered
his vessel, the Apollo, here from a storm.
The first settlers were timber cutters in the 1850s who
subsequently established sawmills[3].
Farmers later moved into the area and a small settlement on Apollo
Bay named Middleton developed. A Post Office of that name (with a
fortnightly mail delivery) opened on May 1, 1873 (relocated to the
township of Krambruk in 1881 and renamed Apollo Bay in 1898).[4]
During this period almost all access to the area was by sea.
The township of Krambruk (later to be renamed Apollo Bay) was
established in 1877, and a school was open by 1880.
With the upgrade of the road to the town in 1927 and the
completion of the Great Ocean Road in 1932, the town
became a tourist destination and an important fishing port.
In 1936 a submarine telegraph and
telephone cable from Apollo Bay to Stanley provided the first connection
to Tasmania from the
mainland. The Apollo Bay Telegraph station closed in 1963 and is
now a museum.
On July 10, 1932 the coastal steamer Casino sank while
attempting to berth at the town jetty. Ten lives were lost. Earlier
shipwrecks have occurred along the Cape Otway coastline.
Events and Festivals in
Apollo Bay
Events and festivals held in Apollo Bay include
- The Apollo Bay Music Festival (first held in 1993).[5] A
poster for the festival of 1999 by Jeff Ragus was featured on a postage stamp
issued by Australia Post in 2006.
- Great Ocean Sports Festival[6]
- Apollo Bay and Otway District Show [7]
Sporting Clubs in Apollo
Bay
Marriner’s Falls, Apollo Bay, 1935
Apollo Bay Surf Lifesaving
Club
The Apollo Bay Surf Lifesaving Club was established in 1952 as a
result of a meeting held on the foreshore by interested townspeople
and Surf Lifesaving Victoria officials. The Apollo Bay SLSC became
the ninth club to be affiliated with Surf Lifesaving Victoria. It
is now affiliated with the new amalgamation between two Victorian
lifesaving organisations: Life Saving Victoria. ([1])
Apollo
Bay Sailing Club
The Apollo Bay Sailing Club aims to provide a wide range of
opportunities in sailing to a diverse range of abilities and age
groups.
Other
clubs
Other clubs in Apollo Bay include Apollo Bay Golf Club on Nelson
Street- [8](website) and Apollo Bay
Pony Club - (website).
The town has an Australian Rules
football team competing in the Colac & District
Football League.[9]
People born or raised in
Apollo Bay
- Neil
Melville - He is an actor born in Sydney, but spent his childhood in Apollo
Bay.
- Sid O'Neil, Ted O'Neil, Michael Fitzgerald - They are members
of the rock band The
Vasco Era.
References
- ^ Australian Bureau of
Statistics (25 October 2007). "Apollo Bay (State
Suburb)". 2006 Census QuickStats. http://www.censusdata.abs.gov.au/ABSNavigation/prenav/LocationSearch?collection=Census&period=2006&areacode=SSC25025&producttype=QuickStats&breadcrumb=PL&action=401. Retrieved
2007-10-01.
- ^
Ian D. Clark, pp119-123, Scars on the Landscape. A Register of
Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859, Aboriginal
Studies Press, 1995 ISBN 0855752815
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald, 2005-02-17 Travel- Apollo
Bay, http://www.smh.com.au/news/victoria/apollo-bay/2005/02/17/1108500206175.html=====, retrieved
2008-08-14
- ^ Premier Postal History, Post Office
List, https://www.premierpostal.com/cgi-bin/wsProd.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&country=, retrieved
2008-04-11
- ^
www.apollobaymusicfestival.com
- ^
www.gosportsfestival.com.au
- ^
www.apollobay.org.au
- ^ Golf Select, Apollo Bay, http://www.golfselect.com.au/armchair/courseView.aspx?course_id=905, retrieved
2009-05-11
- ^
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