Editing Apollo Bay (section)

==History==
[[File:Amphitrite Australiastamp.jpg|left|thumb|1936 Stamp - Cable to Tasmania depicting the [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] goddess [[Amphitrite]]]]
Apollo Bay is part of the traditional lands of the [[Gadubanud]], or King Parrot people, of the Cape Otway coast.<ref>{{Cite book | author = Clark, Ian D. | pages = 119-123 | title = Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 | publisher =  Aboriginal Studies Press | year = 1995 | ISBN = 0-85575-281-5}}</ref> By the early 19th century, the area was being frequented by [[seal hunting|sealers]] and [[whaler]]s from [[Sydney]].<ref name=history>{{cite web|title=Apollo Bay History Trail|url=https://www.visitapollobay.com/assets-apollobay/Uploads/Apollo-Bay-History-Trail2.pdf|publisher=Apollo Bay and District Historical Society|access-date=2018-02-25}}</ref> One local Indigenous name for the area, of uncertain language origin, is 'Krambruk'.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Clark, Ian D.|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/54913331|title=Dictionary of Aboriginal placenames of Victoria|date=2002|publisher=Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages|others=Heydon, Toby|isbn=0-9579360-2-8|location=Melbourne|oclc=54913331}}</ref>

The bay was named by a Captain Loutit in 1845 when he sheltered his vessel, the ''Apollo'', here from a storm.

The first European settlers were timber cutters in the 1850s who subsequently established [[sawmill]]s. Although the bay provided a relatively sheltered anchorage, the lack of a suitable pier meant that logs were floated out to sea to be loaded on to ships.<ref name=history/><ref name="b">{{cite news|title=Apollo Bay|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/victoria/apollo-bay/2005/02/17/1108500206175.html|access-date=2018-02-25|work=Sydney Morning Herald|date=2008-09-15}}</ref> A township on Apollo Bay was surveyed in 1853 and named Middleton. In the 1860s, farming land was made available and in the mid 1870s, the first blocks in the township were offered for sale.<ref name=history/> Middleton post office (with a fortnightly mail delivery) opened on 1 May 1873.<ref name = "a">{{cite web | website = Phoenix Auctions History | title = Post Office List | url = http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Apollo*Bay* | access-date = 20 January 2021 }}</ref> A school was opened in 1880.<ref name="b"/>

In 1881, the town and post office was renamed Krambruk.<ref name = "a"/> That was changed to Apollo Bay in 1898. During this period almost the only access to the area was by sea, but a coach service from [[Birregurra]] to Apollo Bay was inaugurated in 1889.<ref name=history/> The pier at Point Bunbury was swept away in a storm, as was a second pier at that site. Consequently, the "Long Pier" was built at a more sheltered site in 1892.<ref name=history/>

The town plan indicated that Pascoe Street would be the main thoroughfare, but the erection of several buildings on Collingwood Street meant that it became Apollo Bay's commercial centre.<ref name=history/> With the upgrade of the road to the town in 1927, and then the completion of the [[Great Ocean Road]] in 1932, the area became a tourist destination and an important fishing port.<ref name="b"/>

On 10 July 1932 the coastal steamer ''Casino'' sank while attempting to berth at the town jetty. Ten people died.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141361571 |title=TEN PERISH |newspaper=[[The Australasian]] |volume=CXXXIII |issue=4,358 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 July 1932 |accessdate=31 August 2024 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Many earlier shipwrecks had occurred along the [[Cape Otway]] coastline.

In 1936 a [[submarine communications cable|submarine telegraph and telephone cable]] from Apollo Bay to [[Stanley, Tasmania|Stanley]] provided the first telephone connection to [[Tasmania]] from the mainland. The Apollo Bay Telegraph station closed in 1963 and is now a museum.<ref name="b"/>