Lorne, Victoria
Encyclopedia
Lorne is a seaside town on Louttit Bay in Victoria
, Australia
. It is situated about the Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road
tourist route. Lorne is in the Surf Coast Shire
and at the 2006 Census in Australia
had a population of 967, but this figure grows during the holiday season.
or King Parrot people of the Cape Otway coast according to Ian Clark, although many popular websites report that the area was occupied by the Kolakngat Aborigines.
Lorne is situated on a bay named after Captain Louttit, who sought shelter there in 1841 while supervising the retrieval of cargo from a nearby shipwreck
. The coast was surveyed five years later in 1846. The first European settler was William Lindsay, a timber-cutter who began felling the area in 1849. The first telegraph arrived in 1859. Subdivision began in 1869 and in 1871 the town was named after the Marquess of Lorne from Argyleshire in Scotland
on the occasion of his marriage to Princess Louise
, one of Queen Victoria
's daughters. The Post Office opened on 29 April 1874.
In 1891, the area was visited by Rudyard Kipling
who was inspired to write the poem Flowers, which included the line:
By 1922 the Great Ocean Road was extended to Lorne, making the town much more accessible. The first passenger service to Geelong was established in 1924 and guesthouses began to appear after 1930. The local fishing industry expanded significantly in the 1930s and 1940s. The Ash Wednesday bushfire
s swept through the area in 1983, destroying 76 houses.
, as well as pier fishing for barracuda
, whiting
, and trevally
. Teddy's Lookout lies at the end of George Street on the town's southern outskirts and offers fine views over the town, coastline, and Great Ocean Road
. The Great Otway National Park is nearby.
The town's population swells to around 13,000 each New Year's Eve
when the Falls Festival
takes place. During the first weekend of January over 20,000 spectators visit Lorne when the town hosts the 1.2 km Pier to Pub
swim (described in the Guinness Book of Records as "the largest organised ocean swim in the world" and currently capped at 4,000 competitors), the 8 km Mountain to Surf run, and the Lorne Surf Boat Race. Terminating in Lorne on the Queen's Birthday was the Great Otway Classic Foot Race (no longer held). Fair on the Foreshore occurs on the first weekend in November.
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Colac & District Football League
.
Golfers play at the course of the Lorne Golf Club on Holiday Road.
The town has many restaurants and cafes, and most cater for vegetarians. Some have been rated in local and Melbourne-based food guides and newspapers. They include Greek, pubs, more upmarket places, a restaurant on the land end of the pier, Italian, the icon Arab, burger bars, cafes, fish & chips, and other casual options. While the restaurants may be closed during the afternoons, the cafes and less formal dining options are very busy and popular. The fish and chips are usually very fresh and the stores open most of the time. The town is serviced by one supermarket with a reasonable range of products, given the wide range of needs from locals to camping families to passing motorists. They stock local products such as breads and preserves. Other stores sell more local fruits, vegetables, cheese, and there are bakeries. At the pier is the fish co-op, selling fresh fish, including local catches. As usual in a tourist town, there are a large number of boutiques and clothing stores, as well as a good book store, a second hand book store, and a some art galleries/craft shops. There are also more regular shops such as a pharmacy, newsagent, and post office.
Victoria (Australia)
Victoria is the second most populous state in Australia. Geographically the smallest mainland state, Victoria is bordered by New South Wales, South Australia, and Tasmania on Boundary Islet to the north, west and south respectively....
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. It is situated about the Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road
Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is a stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I...
tourist route. Lorne is in the Surf Coast Shire
Surf Coast Shire
Surf Coast Shire is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia. It is located in the southern part of the state, near Geelong. It includes the towns of Aireys Inlet, Anglesea, Lorne, Moriac, Torquay and Winchelsea. It has an area of 1,553 square kilometres. It had a population of 24,124 in 2006...
and at the 2006 Census in Australia
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
had a population of 967, but this figure grows during the holiday season.
History
Prior to European settlement, Lorne was part of the traditional lands of the GadubanudGadubanud
The Gadubanud people occupied the rainforest plateau and rugged coastline of Cape Otway in Western Victoria covering the present towns of Lorne and Apollo Bay. The Gellibrand and Barwon Rivers are likely territorial borders with the Wada wurrung to the north east, Gulidjan to the north and Girai...
or King Parrot people of the Cape Otway coast according to Ian Clark, although many popular websites report that the area was occupied by the Kolakngat Aborigines.
Lorne is situated on a bay named after Captain Louttit, who sought shelter there in 1841 while supervising the retrieval of cargo from a nearby shipwreck
Shipwreck
A shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
. The coast was surveyed five years later in 1846. The first European settler was William Lindsay, a timber-cutter who began felling the area in 1849. The first telegraph arrived in 1859. Subdivision began in 1869 and in 1871 the town was named after the Marquess of Lorne from Argyleshire in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
on the occasion of his marriage to Princess Louise
Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll
The Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
, one of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
's daughters. The Post Office opened on 29 April 1874.
In 1891, the area was visited by Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
who was inspired to write the poem Flowers, which included the line:
By 1922 the Great Ocean Road was extended to Lorne, making the town much more accessible. The first passenger service to Geelong was established in 1924 and guesthouses began to appear after 1930. The local fishing industry expanded significantly in the 1930s and 1940s. The Ash Wednesday bushfire
Ash Wednesday fires
The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia on 16 February 1983. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by winds of up to 110 km per hour caused widespread destruction across the states...
s swept through the area in 1983, destroying 76 houses.
Tourism
Popular local activities include traditional beach pursuits such as family bathing and surfingSurfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
, as well as pier fishing for barracuda
Barracuda
The barracuda is a ray-finned fish known for its large size and fearsome appearance. Its body is long, fairly compressed, and covered with small, smooth scales. Some species could reach up to 1.8m in length and 30 cm in width...
, whiting
Sillaginidae
The Sillaginidae, commonly known as the smelt-whitings, whitings, sillaginids, sand borers and sand-smelts, are a family of benthic coastal marine fishes in the order Perciformes. The smelt-whitings inhabit a wide region covering much of the Indo-Pacific, from the west coast of Africa east to Japan...
, and trevally
White trevally
White trevally, Pseudocaranx dentex, is a jack of the family Carangidae widespread in tropical and warm temperate areas between 40°N and 47°S, in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian and Pacific Oceans. It has a deep body, and a greenish colour with metallic overtones and a dark spot above the...
. Teddy's Lookout lies at the end of George Street on the town's southern outskirts and offers fine views over the town, coastline, and Great Ocean Road
Great Ocean Road
The Great Ocean Road is a stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia between the Victorian cities of Torquay and Warrnambool. The road was built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and is the world's largest war memorial; dedicated to casualties of World War I...
. The Great Otway National Park is nearby.
The town's population swells to around 13,000 each New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve
New Year's Eve is observed annually on December 31, the final day of any given year in the Gregorian calendar. In modern societies, New Year's Eve is often celebrated at social gatherings, during which participants dance, eat, consume alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the...
when the Falls Festival
Falls Festival
The Falls Festival is a New Year's Eve music festival, held annually in Lorne, Victoria and Marion Bay, Tasmania Australia since 1993.It lasts four days, from 29 December to 1 January each year. The headline acts play mostly over two evenings, 30 December and 31 December...
takes place. During the first weekend of January over 20,000 spectators visit Lorne when the town hosts the 1.2 km Pier to Pub
Pier to Pub
The Lorne Pier to Pub is an annual, 1.2-km open water swimming race held in January at Lorne, a town located on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia...
swim (described in the Guinness Book of Records as "the largest organised ocean swim in the world" and currently capped at 4,000 competitors), the 8 km Mountain to Surf run, and the Lorne Surf Boat Race. Terminating in Lorne on the Queen's Birthday was the Great Otway Classic Foot Race (no longer held). Fair on the Foreshore occurs on the first weekend in November.
The town has an Australian Rules football team competing in the Colac & District Football League
Colac & District Football League
The Colac & District Football League is based in South west Victoria.-History:The Colac & District Football League was formed in 1937, as a result of a merger of the Colac and District FA and the Corangamite Farmers FA.Over the years, a number of clubs moved between the CDFL and other local...
.
Golfers play at the course of the Lorne Golf Club on Holiday Road.
The town has many restaurants and cafes, and most cater for vegetarians. Some have been rated in local and Melbourne-based food guides and newspapers. They include Greek, pubs, more upmarket places, a restaurant on the land end of the pier, Italian, the icon Arab, burger bars, cafes, fish & chips, and other casual options. While the restaurants may be closed during the afternoons, the cafes and less formal dining options are very busy and popular. The fish and chips are usually very fresh and the stores open most of the time. The town is serviced by one supermarket with a reasonable range of products, given the wide range of needs from locals to camping families to passing motorists. They stock local products such as breads and preserves. Other stores sell more local fruits, vegetables, cheese, and there are bakeries. At the pier is the fish co-op, selling fresh fish, including local catches. As usual in a tourist town, there are a large number of boutiques and clothing stores, as well as a good book store, a second hand book store, and a some art galleries/craft shops. There are also more regular shops such as a pharmacy, newsagent, and post office.
Annual events
- Pier to PubPier to PubThe Lorne Pier to Pub is an annual, 1.2-km open water swimming race held in January at Lorne, a town located on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia...
- Falls FestivalFalls FestivalThe Falls Festival is a New Year's Eve music festival, held annually in Lorne, Victoria and Marion Bay, Tasmania Australia since 1993.It lasts four days, from 29 December to 1 January each year. The headline acts play mostly over two evenings, 30 December and 31 December...
(New Years) - Great Ocean Road Marathon