From the Loch Ard Gorge carpark, we took another walking trail and came to Tom and Eva Lookout.
Its name is no coincidence. It was said that the ship named Lock Ard entered the waters of Port Campbell on a dark and misty 1st of June 1878. Before they even realised it, the ship was in shallow waters, colliding with a rock reef and running aground near Mutton Bird Island. Unfortunately, only two of the fifty-four passengers survived, one of whom was a nineteen-year-old sailor apprentice named Tom Pearce, and the other a nineteen-year-old Irish girl called Eva Carmichael, who was travelling with her family. Tom was first to wash ashore at the sandy beach, hearing a woman’s cries for help nearby. He bravely headed up into the waters and rescued Eva, with the two calling for help from the locals. The two soon became famous amongst Victoria, with Tom being welcomed as a hero. After about three months, Eva decided to return back to Europe where she went one to marry an aristocrat. Tom remained a sailor and returned to England where he died at the age of 49, known as a hero of his time.
Back in June 2009, the arch of Island Archway crumbled in on itself, leaving two separate hunks of rock that run parallel to each other. Many of the landmarks along Australia’s Great Ocean Road collapse thanks to weather conditions or water damage, which serves to create an ever-changing landscape. The two remaining rock pillars of the gorge were then named Tom and Eva.
No comments:
Post a Comment