The Great Ocean Road is more than just a spectacular drive. It’s a ribbon of history stitched along the rugged south-east coast of Victoria. Stretching over 240 km from Torquay all the way to Allansford, this road is more than just one of the world’s great ocean drives, it’s also recognised as the world’s longest war memorial.

The road was constructed between 1919 and 1932 by returned First World War servicemen as a tribute to comrades lost on the battlefields overseas. And so many of the place names along the way hold deep symbolism to those who built it.

Beyond its genesis as a monumental engineering feat, the road’s towns, rivers, creeks and lookouts each hold stories. Some humorous, some poignant, and all fascinating for travellers with an eye, and an ear, for deeper meaning. 

Let’s share with you, some of the tales behind the names you’ll encounter on your journey from east to west.

1. Anglesea — From Swampy Creek to Welsh Coast Dreams

Your Great Ocean Road adventure begins at Anglesea; a seaside town whose name evokes pictures of the Welsh coastline but whose origin story is a little more humble. Originally known as Swampy Creek - a nod to the wetter land around the river flats - the settlement adopted the name Anglesea in the 1880s when landowners subdivided the area for visitors and holidaymakers. 

The name comes from Anglesey, the large island off North Wales, reflecting the trend of new settlers to Australia naming new places after familiar homelands. The river running through the town still retains this Welsh connection, but it’s also recognised in the Wathaurung language as Kuarka-dorla, meaning “place to catch mullet”.

Today, Anglesea is beloved for its beaches, surf breaks and resident kangaroos that famously graze on a surprising area of green grass in the town - a sight that surprises many first-time visitors.

2. Lorne — Shelter and Stories by Louttit Bay

Further west, you’ll arrive at Lorne, a favourite stop for meals, a little shopping and sunset views over Louttit Bay. Though now a quintessential holiday town, Lorne’s name carries the memory of early maritime adventure: the bay itself was named after Captain Louttit, who sought refuge here in the 1840s while assisting with the cargo from a shipwreck nearby.

Settlements took hold thanks to its calm beaches and proximity to natural attractions like Erskine Falls, and when the Great Ocean Road finally reached Lorne in the early 1920s, it helped transform the town into the bustling seaside haven it is today. 

3. Kennett River & Wye River — English Names in the Otway Wilderness

Between Lorne and Apollo Bay lie some of the region’s smallest and most enchanting hamlets. Kennett River takes its name from the river upon which it sits, itself christened by surveyor George Smythe after the River Kennet in Berkshire, England. Another case of naming places after homeland favourites.

Not far along is Wye River, another name with British roots: also attributed to Smythe, this likely honours the River Wye that flows through Wales and England. 

Together with Separation Creek - possibly so named when the old Shires of Winchelsea and Otway were administratively separated - these hamlets evoke maritime landscapes of places that are thousands of kilometres away, even though their forests, wildlife and coastal vistas are quintessentially Victorian. 

Today, these settlements are best known for the serenity of beach walks and rainforest trails that feel a world apart from the well-trodden tourist spots. And Wye River is also gaining a local reputation for its dramatic flash-floods.

4. Cumberland River — A Historic Artery Through the Otways

The Cumberland River winds through lush valleys before spilling into Bass Strait near Wye River. Its name, like many in the region, points back to British naming traditions. It may have honoured the Duke of Cumberland or even a schooner named Cumberland explored in the early 1800s, local historians can’t quite agree.

During the construction of the Great Ocean Road, camps sprouted along this river, providing fresh water for workers as they carved the road into towering cliffs. (Today, the river valley’s Jebbs Pool and river walks are beloved stops for travellers seeking tranquillity and natural beauty.

5. Skenes Creek — A Surveyor’s Tribute

Continuing your tour, you’ll come to Skenes Creek, named by surveyor George Smythe after his colleague and later Victorian Surveyor General, Alexander Skene. 

At first glance, it’s a quiet spot with a handful of homes and holiday retreats, but its presence on the map tells a story of early land administration and the meticulous - and sometimes personal - ways surveyors marked the landscape.

6. Grey River — A Name Nearly Lost to War History

Just east of Apollo Bay lies Grey River, named for the river mouth where it meets the Southern Ocean. Unlike other places along the coast — many of which took on the names of battlefields during the First World War — Grey River’s brief 1918 proposal to rename it Suvla Bay (a WWI battle site in Gallipoli) never stuck. 

This locale reminds us not just of naming traditions but also of the ebb and flow of history and memory - how some proposed names stay while others, like Suvla Bay, remain only in archival footnotes.

7. Apollo Bay — A Star’s Name with a Local Twist

When you reach Apollo Bay, you’re in one of the Great Ocean Road’s true jewels. The settlement’s name was adopted in 1898, swapping out an earlier name (Krambruk) and giving this coastal community an evocative title that suggests both the sun god Apollo and a sense of open bay grandeur. 

Though the precise reason for choosing “Apollo” remains a little mysterious, the name lends itself well to dreamy coastal views and marine history - including shipwrecks and early fishing activity that marked this area before the road connected it more fully to Melbourne and beyond.

8. Mount Defiance — A Tribute to Terrain and Tenacity

Just past Apollo Bay, the route climbs up to Mount Defiance, a lookout with sprawling ocean views and a name with real grit. The name reflects the formidable terrain that early road builders - many still marked by the war - had to defy in order to carve a road through sheer limestone cliffs. 

Today, the lookout stands as both a scenic highlight and a reminder of human determination: of how 3,000 returned servicemen wrestled rugged landscape into a thoroughfare that would become one of the world’s great scenic drives.

9. Shrapnel Gully — Names from the Battlefield (Local Lore)

Scattered along the Great Ocean Road are smaller features and gullies whose names may sound dramatic - like Shrapnel Gully. While not always officially marked on maps, such names are believed locally to reflect the military backgrounds of many early workers. Soldiers, many keen to remember the landscapes and language of the fields they left behind, brought fragments of those experiences into the naming of camp sites, gullies and ridges as they made their way westward. 

Whether or not every name like Shrapnel Gully has documented origins, they add to the sense of the road as a living war memorial - a place where the geography of Victoria meets the memory of distant battlefields.

10. The Twelve Apostles — Geological Legends by Any Name

Finally, as you approach Port Campbell National Park, the journey culminates at the Twelve Apostles, the legendary towering limestone stacks that rise from the Southern Ocean. Ironically, there were never twelve (there were originally nine), and erosion continues to sculpt these formations year by year. But never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Their name evokes grandeur and spiritual resonance, inviting travellers to contemplate nature’s ceaseless creativity even as they stand in quiet awe of the prehistoric seas that shaped them.

Names as Storytellers

From Anglesea’s Welsh echoes to the rugged defiance of Mount Defiance, the names along the Great Ocean Road are far more than waypoints on a map. They are storytellers - of Indigenous heritage, colonial ambition, community endeavour, wartime memory and the pure human urge to attach meaning to place.

When you travel with Melbourne Touring Company, we help you not just see these places, but understand them - the geology, the people, and the stories behind every bend in the road.

Whether you’re a first-timer or a seasoned return visitor, there’s always another layer to discover on this remarkable coastal journey.