|
![]()
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum, Warrnambool
![]()
Logans Beach whale watching platform
Warrnambool Botanical Gardens
![]()
Tower Hill Reserve
![]()
![]()
Emu and babies at Tower Hill Reserve
|
A regional commercial centre for the western district, the city of Warrambool marks the "end of the road" for Great Ocean Road travellers.
![]()
Where is it?: Victoria: Western Districts. Warrnambool is 263 km south west of Melbourne, approximately 3 hours drive via Geelong on the Princes Highway or Hamilton Highway.
Things to see and do:
Flagstaff Hill Maritime Museum documents the many stories of shipwreck and survival on the Shipwreck Coast.
The coast of Warrnambool is a popular spot for viewing migrating Southern Right Whales. Between June and September, whales often swim within a hundred metres of the shore and can be viewed from a viewing platform at Logan's Beach, where the females come to calve.
Events:
Surrounding area:
The Historical Shipwreck Trail extends for 110 km along the Great Ocean Road from Moonlight Head (near Princetown) to Port Fairy. The trail incorporates 25 shipwrecks marked by road signs and information plaques and provides a fascinating insight into the region’s shipwreck history.
Depending on which way you are travelling, Warrnambool marks the start - or finish - of the Great Ocean Road, on of Australia's great drives.
Tower Hill (8 km) is a dormant volcanic cone overlooking one of the largest lava plains known to geologists. The Tower Hill Reserve, with its crater lake, is a haven for wildlife, including koalas, kangaroos, emus, sugar gliders and many species of birds.
Cudgee Creek Wildlife Park (19 km east) is home to deer, kangaroos, koalas, emus, monkeys and more.
Trivia: Warrnambool played a part in Waltzing Matilda becoming a famous national song. Christina Macpherson was at Warrnambool's Annual Steeplechase Race Meeting in April 1894 when she heard the Warrnambool Town Band play the traditional Scottish tune, Thou Bonnie Wood of Craigie-Lea. Christina memorised the tune and played it to Andrew B. (Banjo) Paterson at Dagworth Station in Queensland in 1895. Banjo Paterson, inspired by a local event, wrote some words to match the tune and our national song, Waltzing Matilda, was born. Christina's original 1895 manuscript of the music is held in National Archives Canberra.
About Warrnambool
Warrnambool is a regional city of around 33,000 people - Australia's 46th largest population centre - on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia, located in the municipality City of Warrnambool. It is at the western end of the Great Ocean Road, but is more quickly reached along the Princes Highway, 265 kilometres and 3 hours from Melbourne by road or rail.
The word Warrnambool comes from the local Aboriginal name for a nearby Volcanic cone. It has been interpreted to mean many things including "water between two rivers", "two swamps" or "ample water".
The treacherous coast near the city is known as the "Shipwreck Coast" and evidence suggests the first ships to arrive were among the earliest international explorers. The legend of the Mahogany Ship is strongly linked to the city.
Many believe the first Europeans to discover the area were Portuguese sailors, who surveyed the coastline nearby and possibly marooned near the site of the present town as early as the 1500s, however this is currently unproven. French explorer Nicholas Baudin recorded coastal landmarks in 1802. The area was frequented by whalers early in the 19th century. Matthew Flinders sailed the coast in the Investigator, and Lieutenant James Grant in the Lady Nelson also explored the area.
The first settlers arrived in the 1840s in the Lady Bay area, which was a natural harbour. The area was first surveyed in 1846. During the Victorian Gold Rush, Warrnambool became an important port and grew quickly in the 1850s, benefiting from the private ownership of nearby Port Fairy. Warrnambool was gazetted as a municipality in 1855; became a borough in 1863. Warrnambool was declared a town in 1883, and a city in 1918.
Warrnambool is a popular tourist destination and a comprehensive regional service centre. Major industries and services include retail, education, health, dairy, meat processing, clothing manufacture, and construction. The Fletcher Jones and Staff Pty. Ltd clothing company opened in 1948 and still has its national headquarters here.
The City's main education centres include Deakin University (Warrnambool Campus), the South West Institute of TAFE, government and private primary and secondary schools, and pre-school centres. As well as the spectacular views from the Great Ocean Road, there are several beaches nearby, some of which are used for surfing. In the winter months, Southern Right whales are regularly seen in the waters near the city at the Logan's Beach nursery, and boats offer whale-watching tours.
There are eleven 'suburbs' of Warrnambool: North, South, East and West Warrnambool, Merrivale, Brierly, Dennington, Sherwood Park, Woodford, Bushfield and Allansford. The city is linked to Melbourne and Geelong by rail and bus services. Trains call at Warrnambool's two stations (Warrnambool in the city and Sherwood Park in the city's outer east at Deakin University) and operate seven days a week. Local buses cover Warrnambool's city and suburbs and extend to the nearby towns of Port Fairy and Koroit. V/Line buses connect Warrnambool with Portland, Mt. Gambier, Ballarat and Hamilton.
View Larger Map
|
