The coast and parks along the Great Ocean Road are so special, and so important to Victorians, that the Victorian Government established GORCAPA as a dedicated parks manager for the coast and parks of the Great Ocean Road.
GORCAPA’s sole purpose is to protect, conserve, enhance and manage the Great Ocean Road coast and parks from Point Impossible in Torquay to Hopkins River in Warrnambool.
This enables a holistic approach to addressing the challenges of high and increasing visitation, environmental processes, and the impacts of severe weather events and climate change.
Before GORCAPA, there were 11 different land managers responsible for various parts of the coast, with no single overarching management plan. This led to uncoordinated and at times conflicting decisions about investment, management of the pressure of increasing visitor numbers and protection of the environment.
Since 1 December 2020 there has been a series of transfers of land management responsibility to the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority.
Today, GORCAPA is responsible for a total of approximately 154,000 Ha of Great Ocean Road coast and parks, including 112,000 Ha of marine land from the low-water mark to the outer limit of Victorian coastal waters (3 nautical miles) along the Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Warrnambool.
GORCAPA acknowledges the Eastern Maar and Wadawurrung Peoples as the Rights Holders of these marine lands and remains committed to building genuine partnerships that embody self-determination and are led by their expectations.
All revenue raised on the land GORCAPA manages is reinvested back into the Great Ocean Road coast and parks to ensure this special part of the state can be enjoyed now and for generations to come.
For information about any land parcels not managed by GORCAPA, please contact the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) on publicland.bsw@deeca.vic.gov.au.