Shipwreck Coast
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The Shipwreck Coast of Victoria, Australia stretches from Moonlight Head to Cape Otway, a distance of approximately 130km. This coastline is accessible via the Great Ocean Road, and is home to the limestone formations called The Twelve Apostles.
Explorer Matthew Flinders said of the Shipwreck Coast, "I have seldom seen a more fearful section of coastline."
During the 19th century Bass Strait was a major shipping channel for supply ships and those carrying convicts or immigrants to the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales. Unfortunately this rugged and inhospitable coast, with its thick fogs, rough seas, and lack of lighthouses, made it difficult and dangerous to traverse, and claimed a great many ships. The most famous of these was the Loch Ard, for which the Loch Ard Gorge is named.
Ships wrecked on the Shipwreck Coast include:
- Mahogany Ship (date unknown, probably early 1520s)
- Unnamed whaleboat (1836)
- Thistle (1837)
- Children (1839)
- Lydia (1843)
- Socrates (1843)
- Enterprise (1850)
- Essington (1852)
- Freedom (1853)
- Schomberg (1855)
- John Scott (1858)
- Golden Spring (1863)
- Marie Gabrielle (1869)
- Young Australian (1877)
- Loch Ard (1878)
- Napier (1878)
- Alexandra (1882)
- Yarra (1882)
- Edinburgh Castle (1888)
- Fiji (1891)
- Newfield (1892)
- Freetrader (1894)
- La Bella (1905)
- Falls of Halladale (1908)
- Antares (1914)
- Casino (1932)
Over 50 shipwrecks are commemorated in a Historic Shipwreck Trail beginning at Port Fairy.
