Victoria, Australia

The first reported European in the area was convict William Buckley, having escaped from the Sorrento prison settlement in 1803.

The name “Aireys Inlet” is believed to have come from either John Moore Airey who was granted a pastoral lease in the area in 1842 or from George, his brother, who was a Crown Lands Commissioner in the district of Geelong.

Aireys Inlet is thought to have received its name from John Aire, who took up pastoral runs to the east of the inlet near Point Roadknight in 1839. His run expanded to the Aires Inlet area around 1842. 1890 saw the construction of a lighthouse on the high cliffs which was built on the site known as Eagle’s Nest Point and renamed Split Point in 1913. With timber milling as the major source industry in the area, families moved in and a school was opened in 1893 and it continued until local timber declined after the First World War.

‘The Grand’ Hotel opened in 1894 and by 1938 an Anglican Church was built. After the First World War the Great Ocean Road was formed and built by ex-servicemen as a memorial to those who served in the Armed Forces. It is believed this is the world’s largest War Memorial (covering 243 kilometres). The road between Lorne and Anglesea was opened in 1922, putting Aireys Inlet on the coastal drive.

One of the earliest settlers was Thomas Butson Pearce, who with his wife Martha Sperring came to Australia in 1841. He was a butcher in Geelong before purchasing Anahook (now Aires Inlet) Station in partnership with Robert McConachy. He grazed cattle for butchering and died of hepatitis during the winter when the creek was in flood. His body could not be taken to a cemetery so he was buried on the cliff top. The family lived in the Bark Hut, which still stands today even though it was rebuilt after the Ash Wednesday fires destroyed it. It is a memorial to the family, who lived in that Hut with their 8 children. Their children were George, Sarah, Elizabeth, Thomas, Henry, Emma, Eliza and Charles. Sarah married Robert McConachy, and they all lived at Angahook for ten years until Martha died, and she was also buried on the cliff top with her husband.

A few kilometres west of Aireys Inlet is Fairhaven Beach, which is renowned for its surf, and Eastern View which is the site of the Great Ocean Road Memorial Arch, commemorating the construction of the road as a memorial to those that lost their lives during World War One.

Like many coastal communities, Aires Inlet and Fairhaven have had regular bushfires and were devastated in the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983.

Sources

• “A History of the Surf Coast Anglican Churches”by Norma Morrison