Tell us your Tales of the Cape!
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Reopening Announcement
We are delighted to announce that we are reopening our gates and welcoming back visitors from Friday the 16th of September 2022!
From July 1st 2022, The Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority finalised a lease agreement to operate the iconic Cape Otway Lightstation. We have been working hard behind the scenes and after a winter closure we are excited to reopen the Cape Otway Lightstation Heritage Precinct once again to the general public.
Tickets will be available to purchase on arrival with no pre-booking required.
Spring Operating Hours :
Friday- Tuesday 10am-5pm (last entry 4.30pm)
Closed Wednesdays and Thursdays.
The Lightkeeper’s Cafe will be open and serving a selection of Tea & Coffee, sweet treats and of course, our famous Lightkeeper’s Homemade Scones with jam & cream! We will not be offering a lunch menu this season due staffing limitations.
Stay overnight in our beautifully renovated Heritage Accommodation in the centre of our Heritage Precinct. Bookings are available direct through our website.
Please check our website for further information on tickets, operating hours and to plan your visit!
The Lightstation, built in 1848 and situated on land currently managed by Parks Victoria as part of the Great Otway National Park, is Australia’s oldest working lighthouse and has long been a popular Great Ocean Road destination.
The new lease agreement, which will see the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority run the precinct from 1 July, will secure local jobs and ensure the Lightstation continues to operate as a significant natural, cultural and visitor destination.
Both organisations paid tribute to the hard work of past leaseholders Tourism Great Ocean Road, who held the lease since the 1990s and played a significant role in making the Lightstation a world-class tourist attraction.
With the new lease agreement now finalised, work continues on transferring the management of the Great Otway Lightstation Precinct from Parks Victoria to the Authority.
The precinct is one of 931 parcels of land to be transferred to the Authority over the next three years – a fundamental part of our role to protect and manage the Great Ocean Road coast and parks. Click here for full media release.
We look forward to welcoming you back to the Cape this Spring!
The Team at Cape Otway Lightstation
Closure announcement
On June 30th 2022 Tourism Great Ocean Road comes to the end of our lease and 25 years as custodians of Cape Otway Lightstation.
From July 1st 2022 the lease of Cape Otway Lightstation will be taken over by The Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority.
Tourism Great Ocean Road and the Bowker family would like to thank everyone who has joined us on this journey and who has contributed over the past 25 years to help us rescue this derelict heritage site and transform it into the leading visitor attraction on the Great Ocean Road and the outstanding experience it is today. We look forward to watching this significant site grow and prosper as we hand over to the next custodians.
In preparation for the transition to the new leaseholders we will be closing the Lightstation to day visitors from the 15th – 30th of June with no walk up access available to the Lighthouse or heritage precinct. Our accommodation bookings for this period are unaffected with access provided to the Lighthouse for existing bookings. The Lightkeepers Café will also be closed from the 15th June. We are accepting accommodation bookings on behalf of the incoming leaseholders from August 2022 onward and these can be booked via our website. We thank everyone for their understanding and patience during this time.
Information on reopening and operations beyond June 30th 2022 will be announced by the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority in the coming weeks.
Shannon McCartney
Manager
Cape Otway Lightstation
End of Lease Celebrations
This week at the Lighthouse we came together to celebrate 25 years of Tourism Great Ocean Road as custodians of Cape Otway Lightstation.
Along with the Bowker family, staff past and present were joined by some of the wonderful people who, over the years, have helped us make Cape Otway Lightstation the outstanding visitor attraction that it is today. We shared heartfelt gratitude and stories of our time at the Lighthouse and enjoyed a night filled with speeches and both tears and laughter!
The original lantern was lit for the evening for our last time by Alex Parry and former Cape Otway Lighthouse Keeper Ted Peers. The heritage lantern was decommissioned in 1994 and is only lit on special occasions with permission from AMSA.
Assembled guests enjoyed music and food as they reminisced around the fire.
The incredible fireworks display at the end of the evening was a fitting tribute to the hard work and success of the past 25 years.
Our current lease term will end in June 2022 and the lease will be taken over by the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority on the 1st of July. We wish them all the best of luck in the future.
Cape Otway Lightstation shortlisted for 2020 Victorian Community History Awards
Cape Otway Lightstation has been shortlisted for the 2020 Victorian Community History Awards!
The awards celebrate and recognise contributions made by Victorians who are preserving the state’s rich and diverse history and we are delighted that our WWII Memories community history project has been included in this years shortlist.
Minister for Government Services Danny Pearson announced the 48 projects and publications that made the shortlist for this year’s Victorian Premier’s History Award and Victorian Community History Awards. From the shortlist, the 2020 Victorian Premier’s History Award recipient and nine Victorian Community History category winners will be chosen.
Final award winners will be announced online in October as part of History Month.
Our community history project ‘WWII Memories’ is an audio visual interpretation project that marries Corten steel silhouettes with voices of Victorian WWII Radar veterans as they recall their secret war; unknown to contemporary audiences.
Housed within the WWII Radar Station at Cape Otway Lightstation, the project is a collaboration between the Lightstation & RAAFA Radar Veterans Association and features an audio panel with excerpts from WWII Veterans George Runting and Beryl Mainon as they describe their experience of their secret war.
The history of WWII RAAF Radar has been a relatively unknown “secret story” due to its top-secret WWII status, which was effectively continued post-WWII by RAAF Radar Veterans who had committed to its secrecy status. This has resulted in very little formal historical recording of WWII RAAF Radar.
VRAAFRA WWII Veteran Members have been committed to creating, recording and preserving for future generations, an historical understanding of WWII RAAF Radar and its critical role in defending Australia and winning the war in the South West Pacific. The relatively few surviving WWII Radar Veterans, together with other VRAAFRA Members continue that commitment today and have donated to this Tourism Great Ocean Road project at Cape Otway Lightstation.
The significance of this project can be seen in the fact that outside of the Australian War Memorial’s static display of WWII RAAF Ground Radar equipment in Canberra, the Cape Otway Interpretive Exhibition, based at the purpose built and still standing 13RS Radar Operations Building, is the only other exhibition recording WWII RAAF Radar history. The inclusion of WWII veterans’ audio recollections of Radar Station activities is also significant in providing a personal balance to that secret historical WWII RAAF Radar Story.
Beryl Mainon joined the WAAF in 1942 at the age of 17 – she lied about her age. Upon qualifying as a Radar Operator, Beryl served on several Radar Stations in Victoria and New South Wales until the end of the war in 1945.
Launch of WW11 Radar Station Interpretative Exhibit at Cape Otway Lightstation
Delve deep into WW2 history as we uncover the story of a top secret mission at Cape Otway. An audio visual interpretation project that marries Corten steel silhouettes, with voices of Victorian WWII Radar veterans as they recall their secret war; unknown to contemporary audiences.
The original wireless equipment, on loan from the Apollo Bay Museum has been returned to the bunker and displayed as part of the exhibit.
Housed within the WWII Radar Station at Cape Otway Lightstation. The project is a collaboration between the Lightstation & RAAFA Radar Veterans Association.
The history of WWII RAAF Radar has been a relatively unknown “secret story” due to its top-secret WWII status, which was effectively continued post-WWII by RAAF Radar Veterans who had committed to its secrecy status. This has resulted in very little formal historical recording of WWII RAAF Radar.
VRAAFRA WWII Veteran Members have been committed to creating, recording and preserving for future generations, an historical understanding of WWII RAAF Radar and its critical role in defending Australia and winning the war in the South West Pacific. The relatively few surviving WWII Radar Veterans, together with other VRAAFRA Members continue that commitment today and have donated to this Tourism Great Ocean Road project at Cape Otway Lightstation.
The significance of this project can be seen in the fact that outside of the Australian War Memorial’s static display of WWII RAAF Ground Radar equipment in Canberra, the Cape Otway Interpretive Exhibition, based at the purpose built and still standing 13RS Radar Operations Building, is the only other exhibition recording WWII RAAF Radar history.
The inclusion of WWII veterans’ audio recollections of Radar Station activities is also significant in providing a personal balance to that secret historical WWII RAAF Radar Story.
Contributing Donors
Victorian RAAF Radar Association
The Bowker Family/ Tourism Great Ocean Road
Ian McKellar
Margaret Bennett
Apollo Bay Museum- Original Wireless equipment
