The Town of Barwon Heads is located in the southern central part of Victoria (the yellow section in the adjacent map of Australia). It is about 100km from Victoria’s Capital city Melbourne and 20km from the second largest city Geelong. The name is derived from the Barwon river which commences in the western part of Victoria and after flowing through Geelong empties into Bass Straight at Barwon Heads.
Being a part of the Bellarine Peninsula it is a short drive to the Rip, entrance to Port Phillip Bay which provides the only shipping access to Melbourne and Geelong. The Great Ocean Road starts at Barwon Heads and follows the coast line south and west to Warrnambool passing through several well known spots such as Torquay, Bell’s Beach and Lorne.
First settled as a fishing village in the 1870’s it later became the prime holiday resort for the western district and still retains a link to boath these activities in the present day.
For more detail about the history see articles in People & Places , History, and About Town section