In addition to the Split Point Lighthouse, Aireys Inlet and District hosts other historical landmarks including the “Bark Hut” (on Inlet Crescent next to the Allen Noble Sanctuary), the grave of Thomas and Martha Pearce (on the Surf Coast Walk on the cliff top west of the Lighthouse) and the Eastern View Memorial Archway (on the Great Ocean Road at Eastern View) – see photographs below.
AIDA member Perry Gaylard’s web page “A Brief History of Aireys Inlet and its Surrounding Area” describes the origins of these structures, as well as the histories of early European settlers and the past locations of other historically significant buildings, many of which were unfortunately destroyed in the Ash Wednesday fire in 1983.
The Bark Hut
The Bark Hut seen from the Allen Noble Sanctuary
The Eastern View Memorial Archway commemorates the three thousand soldiers who survived World War 1 and built the Great Ocean Road