The Great Ocean Road hugs Victoria's rugged south west coastline between Geelong and Warrnambool. The road offers tourists magnificent views from the road and the lookouts scattered along the way. The western end of the road is nowadays more commonly referred to as the Shipwreck Coast due to the large number of ships that came to grief in these waters.
The Great Ocean Road was built to be a lasting tribute to Australian servicemen who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War 1. Construction of the 100 mile (160 km ) road began at the Geelong end in August, 1918. Over the next 14 years of construction almost 3,000 returned servicemen worked on the road. The Great Ocean Road was officially opened in late November, 1932 as a tollway to help defray the ₤150,000 ($300,000) cost of construction.
According to www.greatoceanrd.org.au/history/fundraisers a varied scale of tolls applied until 1936:
… two shillings and sixpence (25 cents) for cars, two shillings (20 cents) for motorcycles with sidecars, one shilling for motorcycles (10 cents) and one shilling (10 cents) for passengers. In the first four weeks, 2,500 people traveled the road netting the Trust ₤250 in tolls ($500). The tolls lasted until the Great Ocean Road Trust handed the road to the State Government (in 1936). |
