Johanna

History

Johanna Post Office opened on 1 November 1913 and closed in 1967. Johanna State School opened in 1911 and closed in 1916. It operated half-time with the Cape Otway (1911-14) and Johanna River (1914-16) schools. The surfing beach at Johanna is a long stretch of beach breaks, or beach and reef, noted for its power, and its reputation for rapid jumps in size, doubling over the space of just a few hours. In 1970, the final of the World Surfboard Riding Championships was held at Johanna Beach because of persistently poor surfing conditions at the Bells Beach venue. Since then, the Bells Beach Surf Classic competition has been moved from Bells Beach to Johanna when the surf at Bells has been flat, such as in 2003 and 2010. The westerly-facing beach at Johanna picks up swells that miss Bells and the Surf Coast.

Most-observed species

• Superb Fairywren

  Malurus cyaneus (Ellis, 1782) · Aves
  1,276
• Crimson Rosella

  Platycercus elegans (Gmelin, 1788) · Aves
  1,109
• Brown Thornbill

  Acanthiza pusilla (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  1,039
• White-browed Scrubwren

  Sericornis frontalis (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) · Aves
  950
• Gray Fantail

  Rhipidura albiscapa Gould, 1840 · Aves
  945
• Eastern Yellow Robin

  Eopsaltria australis (Shaw, 1790) · Aves
  888
• Gray Shrikethrush

  Colluricincla harmonica (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  864
• Silver-eye

  Zosterops lateralis (Latham, 1802) · Aves
  748

Most recent

• M 4.1 — 2026-07-05
  28 km WNW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 3.5 — 2023-10-21
  10 km NW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 4.8 — 2023-10-21
  16 km WNW of Apollo Bay, Australia
• M 3.5 — 2005-06-30
  59 km S of Port Fairy, Australia