Lorne Victoria Australia

Doug’s life in Lorne has been long and happy, but like most other families there have also been times of sadness. After growing up in the town and serving in WW2 he married a farmerʼs daughter from Beech Forest, who blessed him with three daughters.

He served an apprenticeship in electrical engineering and with the help of his father, who was a respected builder in the town, built a house on a large block of land with a beautiful view over the gums and the ocean and started his own electrical contracting business, Lorne Electrics.

 

Just when life seemed about as good as it could get in the town he loved, tragedy struck when his young wife Lola passed away suddenly from a rare heart condition and left him alone with three very young daughters.

A partner in the local cinema for 36 years and was also a partner in Jarratt and Stirling laundry for 30 years. Doug Stirling worked as a cinema projectionist as well as being an electrician.

Fortunately that time of great sadness eventually eased when Doug met his “special English rose”, Mary, a pleasant and caring young nurse who had taken a position at the new Lorne hospital after recently migrating to Australia.

Eventually Doug and Mary married and have shared an inspiring and happy 42 years together as very active and generous participants in the community they both love so much.

The walking track to link the main beach to the pier, away from the traffic, was named the Doug Stirling Cliff Walk, recognises the contribution made by Doug Stirling as a Member of the Lorne Foreshore Committee for over 24 years, seven of which were as President. He has been a resident of Lorne for over one hundred years and served on at least 15 other committees in the community over the years.

Over his life, Doug has collected a wealth of stories and yarns about the town and district and has seen a large part of its history personally. Known as a great yarn spinner and in recent years seen as the authority on local history, having been interviewed on TV and for newspaper and magazine articles numerous times, he has been asked by many people to collect and publish his stories.