OLD COACH ROAD, DEANS MARSH-LORNE ROAD.
Location
PENNYROYAL-WYMBOOLIEL RD BENWERRIN, SURF COAST SHIRE
Level
Heritage Inventory Site
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Statement of Significance
SiteCard data copied on 04/06/2025:
What is significant?
The original route from Deans Marsh to Lorne, ‘Old Coach Road’ is significant.
How is it significant?
Old Coach Road is of archaeological and historical significance.
Why is it significant?
Old Coach Road has low archaeological potential due to previous disturbance associated with the installation of the fibre optic cable. Trenching for this cable is likely to have destroyed or at least significantly impacted any areas where the alignment was installed directly along the Old Coach Road. For this reason, and the fact that the track is reported as a ‘roughly graded dirt track’, without a gravel surface typical of water-bound macadam roads, Old Coach Road is unlikely to retain meaningful archaeological deposits related to the former road.
Despite the low archaeological potential of the site, the alignment of Old Coach Road retains historical significance as a representation of colonial movement throughout the state and into western Victoria. As the earliest way for wheeled traffic to travel from Deans Marsh to Lorne, the route is associated with the increase in industry and tourism along the Victorian coast. The various iterations of the road from the late 19th and early 20th centuries speaks of the importance of the route prior to the construction of the Great Ocean Road and demonstrates how changes to travel and the introduction of cars altered roads and pathways through the state.
Group
Transport - Road
Category
Road
