Cape Otway is a cape and a bounded locality of the Colac Otway Shire in southern Victoria,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Great Otway National Park. The cape marks the boundary between the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the world ocean, generally taken to be south of 60th parallel south, 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is the seco ...

on the west and

Bass Strait Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The ...

on the east.

History

Cape Otway was originally inhabited by the Gadubanud people; evidence of their campsites is contained in the

midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...

s throughout the region. The traditional Gadubanud name for the cape is ''Bangurac''. The cape was charted by the British when Lieutenant James Grant sailed through Bass Strait in in December 1800. Grant named it Cape Albany Otway after Captain William Albany Otway. This was later shortened to Cape Otway. The British started to colonise the region in 1837 when Joseph Gellibrand and George Hesse became lost in the Otways on an expedition. It was found that Hesse probably died of exposure, while Gellibrand was initially cared for by a local Aboriginal clan but later killed by members of another clan visiting from the Apollo Bay area. The ship ''Joanna'' was wrecked near the Cape in 1843, with several survivors making a difficult journey by foot along the coast back toward Geelong. Mr Kearnon attempted to establish a livestock property at Moonlight Head in 1845 but his hut was burnt down and his shepherd supposedly killed by the resident Gadubanud people. More detailed exploration occurred in 1846 when a number of surveying expeditions entered the area with the view of placing a lighthouse upon Cape Otway. During these assignments, an Aboriginal man was attacked by colonists with stockwhips, while a surveyor's assistant by the name of James Conroy was killed by the Gadubanud. A reprisal force led by the surveyor and consisting of a well-armed militia of Barrabool men was organised by the district official Captain Foster Fyans. This force exterminated almost completely the remaining Gadubanud population of around ten people. Cape Otway Lighthouse was built on the point of the cape in 1848. The lighthouse is listed on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. ...

. A telegraph office opened in 1859. The post office opened on 1 September 1880 and closed in 1972. Eight ships were wrecked along the coast of Cape Otway:Australia's Great Ocean Roa
Shipwrecks
''Marie'' (1851), ''Sacramento'' (1853), ''Schomberg'' (1855), '' Loch Ard'' (1878), '' Joseph H. Scammell'' (May 1891), ''Fiji'' (September 1891), and ''Casino'' in 1932. The first American vessel sunk during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, '' MS City of Rayville'', was also sunk off the cape by a German mine. Following this, the Americans built a radar bunker on the cape in 1942; it is now open to the public.

Commercial fisheries

The hostile seas, where the Southern Ocean meets with Bass Strait, that surround Cape Otway are home to some of the world's most prized marine species, including

crayfish Crayfish are freshwater crustaceans belonging to the infraorder Astacidea, which also contains lobsters. Taxonomically, they are members of the superfamilies Astacoidea and Parastacoidea. They breathe through feather-like gills. Some spe ...

and

abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen language, Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any small to very large marine life, marine gastropod mollusc in the family (biology), family Haliotidae, which once contained six genera but now cont ...

. On calm days, as many as 20 abalone dive boats commonly operate along the shoreline beneath the lighthouse. Commercial crayfishers use baited pots or traps throughout the reef system, with white floats on the surface marking their locations.

Climate

Cape Otway has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

(''Cfb'') with mild summers and cool damp winters, and only 38 clear days annually.

References

{{authority control Bass Strait Otway Ranges Otway Coastal towns in Victoria (state)