Mt Defiance Lookout

Mt Defiance lookout approximately 10kms from Lorne is well worth breaking your trip limited parking on both sides of the Great Ocean Road, but be careful when exiting your vehicle.

William Buckley’s First Permanent Resting Place

The story of William Buckley is a fascinating tale of survival against all odds – hence the Australian saying “you have two chances Buckley’s and none”.

William Buckley was born in Cheshire, England, In 1780. He served as a soldier fighting in Holland against French Republican forces. After which he fell fowl of the law and was transported to the new penal settlement at Sullivan’s Bay in 1803 ( near Sorrento on the Mornington Peninsula).

Soon after arriving Buckley and 18 other prisoners escaped, 13 were recaptured and the rest never heard of again except for the 6’5’’ William Buckley who continued along the coast to Bramlea, Torquay, Anglesea and Airey’s Inlet after which in 1804 he made his way to what is now known as Mt Defiance, his first permanent resting place. Here he found an abundance of shellfish, edible vegetation and natural cover.

It was here his contact with Aborigines began. He was invited into their camps, they called him Murrangurk, the name of a Aborigine buried at the spot where Buckley found a piece of spear that he carried with him.

Apparently the Wathaurong Aborigines believed they could be re-incarnated, when they discovered Buckley with the spear, they assumed he was Murrangurk’s re-incarnation. The aborigines then treated him as one of their own and he lived with them for 32 years.

Buckley eventually returned to civilization and was pardoned by Governor Arthur in 1835.

Wiilliam Buckley, aged 76 years, died a poor man in 1856 in Hobart as a result of injuries caused in a traffic accident.

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