Eastern View, Victoria

Eastern View is a small coastal town in the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia.[2]

Eastern View
Victoria
Eastern View
Coordinates38°27′12″S 144°02′35″E
Population35 (2016 census)[1]
Postcode(s)3231
Location
LGA(s)Surf Coast Shire
State electorate(s)Polwarth
Federal Division(s)Corangamite
Localities around Eastern View:
Wensleydale
Boonah		 Wensleydale Aireys Inlet
Boonah Eastern View Moggs Creek
Big Hill Bass Strait Bass Strait

Eastern View was a remote coastal area prior to the construction of the Great Ocean Road, which was opened to Eastern View, albeit in the form of a narrow gravel track, in March 1922.[3][4] Only four houses were located in the area in 1924; a fifth was later extended and granted a liquor license as the Eastern View Hotel in 1927. The hotel owners later leased land on the ocean side of the Great Ocean Road and built a tennis court. The Eastern View Hotel was a popular tourist destination for many years, but closed in 1957.[5] The Great Ocean Road Trust developed a nine-hole golf course at Eastern View in 1936. It closed at the beginning of World War II, and did not reopen. Both the former hotel building and the remnants of the golf course were destroyed in the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983.[6]

Eastern View Post Office opened on 1 July 1927, replacing a receiving office that had been open since 17 November 1924. It closed on 31 December 1967.[7] A tollgate on the Great Ocean Road operated at Eastern View until the abolition of tolls when the Great Ocean Road Trust wound up and transferred control of the road to the state government in 1936.[8] It was proposed in 1940 to rename the town "Herschell", in honour of the long-time chair of the former Trust, but this met with local resistance and did not occur.[9]

The Great Ocean Road Arch, which is located within the town, is a prominent landmark of the Great Ocean Road, and marks its official gateway. It was first opened in 1939, and has been rebuilt three times: in 1974, after the Country Roads Board found the original too low and narrow, in 1983, after it burned down in the Ash Wednesday bushfires, and again in the 1990s, after it was damaged by a mini-cyclone. The arch commemorates those who died in World War I.[10][6][3]

Grass Creek (formerly Grassy Creek) runs through the west of the town. The Black Stump Roadhouse and a caravan park were located there during the 1950s. The Christian Brothers later purchased 25 acres in the area, and established the Santa Monica Camp. The original camp was destroyed in the Ash Wednesday bushfires, but has since been rebuilt.[6] A construction camp was built nearby at Point Castries (now Cinema Point) to accommodate workers building the Great Ocean Road.[11]

Eastern View today consists of a small strip of houses along the Great Ocean Road between the beach and the Great Otway National Park.[12] The Cinema Point lookout is also located at Eastern View.

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Eastern View (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 16 November 2017.
  2. "Eastern View (entry 101053)". VICNAMES. Government of Victoria. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  3. Kellaway, Carlotta. Farmland, Forest & Surf: Environmental History of Surf Coast Shire (PDF). Surf Coast Shire. p. 35. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  4. "Geelong and District". The Argus. 5 July 1921. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  5. "Holiday Resorts". The Argus. 6 January 1930. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  6. "History". aireys-inlet.net.au. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  7. Phoenix Auctions History. "Post Office List". Phoenix Auctions. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  8. "Great Ocean Road Handed Over To State". The Argus. 3 October 1936. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  9. "Eastern View". The Argus. 16 January 1940. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  10. "Great Ocean Road". Victorian Heritage Register. Victorian Heritage Database. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  11. "Point Castries - Road Construction Camp". Surf Coast Shire Heritage Inventory. Victorian Heritage Database. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  12. "Eastern View". greatoceanroad.com. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
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