Travelling to Lorne

Travel to Lorne by Coach

Travel back with me to the late 1800’s and you will see what a struggle getting to town really was. Hours of jolting and swaying had to be endured over a dusty track from the railway station at Winchelsea, endured in the tight packed company of a dozen or so others jammed inside or on top of a coach drawn by horses. The ‘road’ followed part of the track the enterprising Mountjoys blazed when they first brought cattle to graze on their run by our bay in the 1860’s. Some of the inclines were too steep for the horses and everyone save the driver had to get off and walk, or in extreme cases, push. Six hours or more after boarding, the weary travellers could alight in Lorne, some clambering from the roof via a ladder.

c1898, Coach at Erskine House (Photo LHS 840)

This old photo from the Lorne Historical Society archives shows a typical coach load of travellers at Erskine House. It wasn’t only people coming on the coach. The town’s mail came this way as well. The Mountjoy family had their own stables in Smith Street and grew food for their horses in Lorne.

Coach for Birregurra outside Post Office, mail bag drop, c1919

(LHS photo 2593)

The famous name of Cobb and Co also ran coaches over the Otway ranges from Deans Marsh, and had stables behind the Pacific Hotel. Cobb and Co had to transport fed for their horses to Lorne and so were at a competitive disadvantage to Mounjoy coaches.

Lorne, Oscar Mountjoy at Mountjoy Stable (LHS photo 8543)

: Cobb & Co Lorne 1896 (LHS photo)

: Cobb & Co, Coach leaving lorne, George Harrison driver (LHS photo 1618)

: 1898, Entering Lorne over the newly opened bridge. (LHS photo 736)

: 1900, Winchelsea councillors entering Lorne on an inspection tour. (LHS photo 737)

: c1900, coach entering Lorne. (LHS photo 1502)

: Frank Mountoy, son of Thomas Mountjoy, photo taken 21/1/1909 from Mountjoy stables, near location of The Chalet. (LHS photo 5548)

: 1910, Benwerrin (LHS photo 8951)

: Luggage coach at Benwerrin (LHS photo)

: Coach entering Lorne, Frank Mountjoy driver. (LHS photo 1620)

Travelling by Car, Bus, Train

Once the Great Ocean Road and the Deans Marsh Road were completed, before car ownership was common, travellers to Lorne had a few ways to travel to Lorne. Travellers to Lorne could leave Melbourne by the afternoon train disembark at Geelong, then take in a car via the Great Ocean Road arriving at Lorne about 9 pm. Alternatively you could depart from Spencer Street Station Melbourne at 6:30 am and travel to Birregurra by train. Then take a car and do the trip over the Otways to Lorne. At Berwerrin, the half-way house on the ranges at an altitude of about 1500 feet (457 metres), people could stop for refreshments, before travel to reach Lorne at sea level arriving around noon.

: c1920 Lorne coach outside Benwerrin Refreshment Rooms (LHS photo 1769)

: c1920, Benwerrin Refreshment Rooms. (LHS photo 1517)

: 1929, Benwerrin (LHS photo 5546)

: Family at Benwerrin 1930s (LHS photo B522)

Travelling by Sea

Sources:

Lorne Historical Society Collections
Lorne Independent March 2025 page 17, IT’S NEVER BEEN EASY GETTING TO LORNE by Chis Cairns