Mount Defiance Memorial WallPrint Page

Memorial wall and memorial tablets honour the unstinting work of the Great Ocean Road Trust's founding president, Howard Hitchcock, and his contribution to the success of the project, and the men who served in the Great War. In April 1935, Victoria's Governor, Lord Huntingfield, unveiled the memorials. 

This section of the Great Ocean Road at Mount Defiance proved the most problematical in the construction project and it took a fighting effort to blast out the route from almost perpendicular cliffs

Howard Hichcock  became president of the Great Ocean Road Trust in 1918 and gave nearly £3000 to its appeal. It was his enthusiasm and energy as much as anything that kept the project afloat. He died before he was able to open the completed road in 1932 and in tribute, his car was driven behind the governor's in the procession along the road on opening day.

Acting on medical advice. His Excellency the Governor (Lord Huntingfield) has reluctantly decided to curtail his visit to the Great Ocean road by eliminating the trip through the Otway Forest to Apollo Bay. A new programme has been arranged, and visitors to the ceremony of unveiling the memorial wall at Mount Defiance will assemble at Lorne at 2.15 p.m. tomorrow and travel to Mount Defiance, where facilities for turning and parking have been provided by the police and officials of the Country Roads Board. Lord Huntingfield will leave Melbourne tomorrow at 9.30 a.m. and will be met by directors of the Great Ocean Road Trust and escorted to Lorne, where he will arrive at 1 p.m. The Great Ocean road will be closed to traffic between the Cumberland and Wye Rivers from 2.30 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. tomorrow. 
Argus (Melbourne), 3 April 1935.

Location

Details

Dedication