AUSTRALIA | Sunday, 20 March 2011 | Views [308]
Cape Otway Lighthouse, heralded as the "most important in Australia," but justifiably so. This would be the first light that most sailing ships would see after the voyage from Europe, straight down the Atlantic, and catching the Roaring Forties straight across below Africa, through the southern Indian Ocean to Australia. With the destination of Melbourne or Sydney, this was by far the fastest way to get there, rather than going around the top end of Oz. To reach Melbourne, a ship had to find the Bass Strait between the mainland and Tasmania, the equivalent of threading a needle, and one of the roughest stretches of water in the world. Many were unsuccessful... But the Otway Light was their sign that they had made it.
