About the Apollo Marine Park
Apollo Marine Park was established in 2007. If you stand in the Cape Otway Lightstation car park and look south across the water, Apollo Marine Park is an ‘L’ shaped area that stretches more than half way to King Island. The park itself is roughly the same size as King Island, measuring 1184 square km. The Park lies at the western edge of Bass Strait on the edge of the continental shelf.
Some 20,000 years ago during the last glacial maximum the Park was part of a lake and river system connecting mainland Victoria to Tasmania in a land bridge.
The waters of the Apollo Marine Park flow through the narrow and shallow (<70m) Bass Strait with wild force. Seafarers crossing the Park face some of the most treacherous waters in the world. According to Australian Olympian sailor, Iain Murray, the combination of winds, tides and ocean depths mean that “there are very few places that can get as nasty as quickly as Bass Strait”.
Bass Strait’s notoriety is mirrored by the celebrated international reputation of Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef. What lies beneath the waves in the cool water southern oceans, however, is less well known.The Apollo Marine Park sits off the Great Ocean Road, home to the iconic 12 Apostles with visitation to the region greater than the GBR! Yet once we head off the coast into marine waters less is known about the amazing habitats, cultural importance and diversity of this region.
This website and the associated program of research aims to inform, engage and amaze the community with the life, artifacts and spiritual features that can be found in the Apollo Marine Park. Transforming our connection, understanding and value of Marine Parks through immersive virtual experiences, offers visitors a chance to look beneath the surface at a rich world that includes endemic marine life, shipwrecks and ancient geological features.
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The Australian Commonwealth government—specifically Australian Marine Parks—manages the Apollo Marine Park as part of the South-east Marine Parks Network.
