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 2016 census had a population of 1,114 but this figure grows during the holiday season.[1]
History
Prior to British settlement, Lorne was part of the traditional lands of the Gadubanud or King Parrot people of the Cape Otway coast according to Ian Clark,[2]
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.[3]
In 1891, the area was visited by Rudyard Kipling, who was inspired to write the poem Flowers[citation needed], which includes the lines:
Buy my hot-wood clematis,
Buy a frond of fern,
Gathered where the Erskine leaps
Down the road to Lorne.
By 1922, the Great Ocean Road was extended to Lorne, making the town much more accessible. The first passenger road service to Geelong was established in 1924 and guesthouses began to appear after 1930.[citation needed]
Lorne Magistrates' Court closed on 1 October 1984.[4]
Tourism
Mountjoy Parade, part of the Great Ocean Road and the main street of Lorne. The Lorne Theatre can be seen on the right hand side of the street.
Popular local activities include traditional beach pursuits such as family bathing and surfing, 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 Erskine River, which rises in the park and contains the Erskine Falls, has its mouth at Lorne.[5]
The town's population swells to around 13,000[citation needed] 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[6]), 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.
St Georges River, just outside Lorne along the Great Ocean Road. March 2019.
The town has two pubs (The Grand Pacific Hotel and Lorne Hotel) and a number of cafes, restaurants, and bakeries, mostly located along Mountjoy Parade. As usual in a tourist town, there is a large number of boutiques and clothing stores, as well as a book store, art galleries, and craft shops.
Lorne has the Great Ocean Road Museum, which describes the history of the road. Things to do in Lorne include strolling along the Great Ocean Road, visiting the Lorne Pier, surfing or exploring the Otway Ranges National Park. There are also many art galleries and cultural events to enjoy.[7]
^Ian D. Clark, pp119-123, Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 ISBN0-85575-281-5
^Phoenix Auctions History, Post Office List, retrieved 23 February 2021
