'Run-down' Twelve Apostles tourist icon Glenample 'should be saved'

It was the homestead on the Great Ocean Road the only two survivors of the wreck - Eva Carmichael and Tom Pearce - stayed in when they were rescued after the ship went down in June 1878.

Glenample station was owned at the time by early settlers Hugh Gibson and Peter McArthur - Stewart's great-great grandfather.

"Eva and Tom were looked after at Glenample station. Then they came and stayed at Meningoort at Camperdown for 10 days or so," Mr McArthur said.

"There's a little plaque at the Camperdown Post Office about the telegraph going back to Melbourne to say the Loch Ard had been wrecked.

"Glenample really is the connection to the Loch Ard wreck."

The homestead - near the Twelve Apostles - has been leased to the government, and was opened as a tourist attraction with artefacts on display.

But for years it has sat empty and unused.

The current owner of the property has appealed for the government to give back the lease so he can develop it and turn it into a tourist attraction.

Mr McArthur - the former Liberal Party member for the federal seat of Corangamite - said the homestead was worth saving.

"It's an iconic residence because of its history - not because of its structure," he said.

"You'd like to see it weatherproofed and make sure it's structurally sound for future generations.

"Why can't we do a bit to preserve it? It just needs a bit of love and care.

"It's one of the first settlements along the road."

Mr McArthur said it wouldn't need much money spent on it to ensure it didn't fall further into disrepair.

"Unfortunately it's in a bad way," he said.

"It's had a long history. My family had it until the 1950s."

An early settler from Scotland, Peter McArthur took up ownership of the station about 1869 alongside Gibson.

"It was pretty early days down there. Very rough going," Mr McArthur said.

He said the pair was responsible for cutting the steps down to the beach near the Twelve Apostles - now called Gibson Steps - at the turn of the century to get down to the coast.

Mr McArthur said the National Trust and the state government later stepped in and did a bit to the homestead, but it was time more was done to preserve it.

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