Lorne, Victoria, Australia
The Reverend Frederick Porter (1902-1988) was the Vicar at All Saints, Lorne, 1932– 1939. Born in Sileby, England, the son of a farmer, he left school at 13 to work in a hosiery factory. At age 20, in 1923, he was sent to Melbourne by The Bishop of Liecester to be a missionary. He sailed to Melbourne, where he was placed at a Parish in Bentliegh where he was a Lay Reader and worked as a market gardener before enrolling in Ridley College to train for the ministry in 1930. In 1931, he was posted to be Curate of the Parish in Emerald, under Reverend Mr. Clarke. He was residing at the Vicarage in Emerald.
In 1933, he married Nancye Beatrice Philp and began working as Vicar at All Saints, Lorne. They had two children John and Micheal. In 1937, Michael, the second son, became ill and died on the long drive to Colac Hospital. There is a memorial plaque on the baptismal font at All Saints that remains today, commemorating the life of baby Michael Porter.
Reverend Frederick Porter and family at All Saints Vicarage 1930’s (Photo Sophie Chandler)
In January of 1939, the family experienced the Black Friday bushfires, where Nancye gathered all the women and children and sheltered in waist deep water while Frederick and the men of the town helped the victims.
Later, after leaving Lorne, Frederick and Nancye continued to visit Lorne, built their own holiday house at the top of John Street from remnants of the Erskine House servants’ huts, and later had 3 more children, Patricia, Judith and David.
From 1939-1949, Rev Frederick Porter was Vicar at Bacchus Marsh. During this time, he enlisted as a Padre , served as Major Fredrick Porter, attached to the 2/23 Australian Infantry Battalion, (Albury’s Own), as a chaplain in the Battle of El Alamein and later in Borneo. He was discharged in 1946. After the war, Porter was Vicar at St Oswald’s Anglican Church Glen Iris (1949-1959), and then St Peter’s Anglican Brighton Beach (1960-1972)
Source:
- Sophie Chandler, 2026
- Denise Tunstall, email 2026
