 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2024) |
| Forrest Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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 Station Street in Forrest | |||||||||||||||
  Forrest | |||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 38°31′0″S143°43′0″E / 38.51667°S 143.71667°E | ||||||||||||||
| Population | 230 (2016 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
| Postcode(s) | 3236 | ||||||||||||||
| Location | |||||||||||||||
| LGA(s) | Colac Otway Shire | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Polwarth | ||||||||||||||
| Federal division(s) | Corangamite | ||||||||||||||
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Forrest is a small rural township in the Otway Ranges, Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Forrest and the surrounding area had a population of 230. [1]
The History of Forrest started more than 40,000 years ago. Forrest is at the northern end of the Otway Ranges. Historically, the Otway Ranges are the land of the Gadubanud people. The current boundaries of the Colac Otway Shire Council partially include land belonging to the tribes of Gadubanud people and Gulidjan. Author Lawrence Niewójt (2009) [2] attempted to reconstruct the cultural landscape created by the Gadubanud people prior to their disastrous encounter with Europeans in the late 1840s.
Their vast territory stretching from Painkalac Creek (near Aireys Inlet) in the east to the Gellibrand River that flows west of the mountains is over 100 kilometres and incorporates what is now Forrest. (Figure 1)
The railway to the town was opened in 1891 and closed in 1957, as a branch line from Birregurra. [3] It serviced the townships of Deans Marsh, Murroon, Barwon Downs, Yaugher and Forrest. At Forrest numerous tramways ran off into the nearby bush. These lines were used to bring the freshly cut timber to the rail head, and the associated sawmills of which there were four in Forrest and nearby Yaugher. All of these mills are now closed.
Originally called Yaugher, the name was changed to Forrest when the township was established. Forrest was named after Charles Lamond Forrest, [4] the Colonial Government MLA representative for the district, who pushed for the rail link to be made. The railway station was opened as Yaugher on 5 June 1891, but renamed to Forrest on 21 September 1891. The Post Office also opened as Yaugher on 27 July 1891 and was also renamed Forrest 11 weeks later, on 15 October 1891. [5]
The town football team was established in 1891 and competed in the Colac & District Football League until 2015, eventually folding after struggling to field netball and junior football teams due to lack of available players in the district. [6]
Consisting of a general store, micro brewery, hotel, bike hire, guesthouse and a variety of accommodation rentals, Forrest is the gateway to the Otway Ranges. It is a destination for adventure tourists which is now the primary economic driver of the town. The two main drawcards for visiting tourists are the mountain bike trails and the platypus tour at Lake Elizabeth. The West Barwon river flows through the township and it is near the West Barwon reservoir, which services Geelong.
During the past few years the town has begun to grow again with an influx of people seeking more affordable blocks of land not that far away from the coastal resorts of Apollo Bay, Skenes Creek, Grey River, Kennett River and Lorne. These can be reached either by a pleasant drive on a sealed main road or by ex-timber blue metal roads. Advice should be sought before motoring on the backroads to Kennett River, Wye River and Grey River.[ citation needed ]
Fauna to be viewed on these drives include Australian king parrots, crimson rosellas, grey swamp wallabies, echidnas. Koalas have in the past been released into the Otways. The Smith Street Band recorded their third album Throw Me in the River in Forrest in July 2014. [7]
After the cessation of logging in the Otways, the Government of Victoria made funds available for the creation of dedicated Mountain bike trails in the Yaugher area, in order to replace the logging industry. [8] Mountain biking was seen as an addition to the already plentiful eco-tourism industry. Mountain biking now makes up a large portion of the economy in Forrest. The area now has over 70 kilometres (43.5 mi) of sign posted "single track". Further details can be found at the official website www.rideforrest.com.au
Forrest is home to the following annual Mountain Bike Event
The Great Otway National Park is a national park located in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia. The 103,185-hectare (254,980-acre) national park is situated approximately 162 kilometres (101 mi) southwest of Melbourne, in the Otway Ranges, a low coastal mountain range. It contains a diverse range of landscapes and vegetation types.
Colac is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, approximately 150 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on the southern shore of Lake Colac.
The Shire of Colac Otway is a local government area in the Barwon South West region of Victoria, Australia, located in the south-western part of the state. It covers an area of 3,438 square kilometres (1,327 sq mi) and in June 2018 had a population of 21,503. It includes the towns of Apollo Bay, Beeac, Beech Forest, Birregurra, Colac, Cressy, Forrest, Johanna, Kennett River, Lavers Hill, Warrion and Wye River. It came into existence on 23 September 1994 through the amalgamation of the local government areas of City of Colac, Shire of Colac, part of the Shire of Otway and part of the Shire of Heytesbury.
Lorne is a seaside town on Louttit Bay in Victoria, Australia. It is situated about the Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road tourist route. Lorne is in the Surf Coast Shire and at the 2016 census had a population of 1,114 but this figure grows during the holiday season.
The Barwon River is a perennial river of the Corangamite catchment, located in The Otways and the Bellarine Peninsula regions of the Australian state of Victoria.
Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway Shire. The town had a population of 1,790 at the 2021 census.
Winchelsea is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Surf Coast Shire local government area, the suburb or locality of Winchelsea is predominantly within Surf Coast Shire with a small section within the Colac Otway Shire. Winchelsea is located on the Barwon River 115 km south-west of Melbourne and close to Geelong.
The Bellarine Peninsula is a peninsula located south-west of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, surrounded by Port Phillip, Corio Bay and Bass Strait. The peninsula, together with the Mornington Peninsula, separates Port Phillip Bay from Bass Strait. The peninsula itself was originally occupied by Indigenous Australian clans of the Wadawurrung nation, prior to European settlement in the early 19th century. Early European settlements were initially centred on wheat and grain agriculture, before the area became a popular tourist destination with most visitors arriving by paddle steamer on Port Phillip in the late 19th century.
Birregurra, is a town in Colac Otway Shire, Victoria, Australia, approximately 130 kilometres (81 mi) south-west of Melbourne. At the 2021 census, it had a population of 942.
Colac railway station is a regional railway station on the Warrnambool line, part of the Victorian railway network. It serves the town of Colac, in Victoria, Australia. Colac station is a ground level part-time staffed station, featuring one side platform. It opened on 27 July 1877.
Cape Otway is a cape and a bounded locality of the Colac Otway Shire in southern Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Great Otway National Park. The cape marks the boundary between the Southern Ocean on the west and Bass Strait on the east.
The Shire of Otway was a local government area about 190 kilometres (118 mi) southwest of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The shire covered an area of 1,906.94 square kilometres (736.3 sq mi), and existed from 1919 until 1994.
The Barwon watershed extends over a huge mass of land. From its humble beginnings in the Otway Ranges, and the Ballarat region, the basin forms a T shape. Its western border begins in Forrest, before moving up East of Colac and Rokewood, where it continues on to the northern tip at Ballarat. It comes back down through Elaine and Meredith, followed by Bannockburn and Geelong. It then follows the shape of the coastline, passing through Portarlington and St Leonards, before beginning to head inland at Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads. It follows the peaks of the Otways inland from the coast before heading up the western border at Forrest.
The Gadubanud (Katubanut), also known as the Pallidurgbarran, Yarro waetch or Cape Otway tribe (Tindale), are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. Their territory encompasses the rainforest plateau and rugged coastline of Cape Otway. Their numbers declined rapidly following the onset of European colonisation, and little is known of them. However, some may have found refuge at the Wesleyan mission station at Birregurra, and later the Framlingham mission station, and some people still trace their descent from them.
Gellibrand is a town in south west Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Otway Ranges midway between the Princes Highway and Great Ocean Road in the Colac Otway Shire, 176 kilometres (109 mi) south west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Gellibrand had a population of 210. Gellibrand is home to the Otway Districts Demons Football and Netball Club, who play Australian Rules Football and participate in the Colac & District Football League.
Pennyroyal is a locality in Victoria, Australia. Most of the locality is situated in the Surf Coast Shire; a small section is situated in the Shire of Colac Otway. In the 2016 census, Pennyroyal had a population of 86.
Benwerrin is a rural locality in the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia.
The Forrest railway line is a former branch railway in Victoria, Australia. It branched off the Warrnambool railway line at Birregurra, and ran through the foothills of the Otway Ranges to the town of Forrest.
Mount Sabine is a rural locality in the Shire of Colac Otway, Victoria, Australia. The small locality is located deep in the Otway Ranges, and is mostly densely forested.
Norman Houghton is a historian and archivist in Geelong, Victoria, who has published more than 40 books, many focusing on timber tramways and sawmills of the Otway and Wombat Forests of Western Victoria, Australia. Most of his works have been self-published, while he has provided numerous articles to the newsletter and journal of the Light Railway Research Society of Australia.
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Media related to Forrest, Victoria at Wikimedia Commons
