Lorne Victoria Australia

Lorne people with family name starting with G.

• Gazis, Spiros ‘Sami’ and Angelo
• Goldsworthy, Lesley (2016)
• Graham family
• Grimsdale, Richard (2017)
• Guerrero, Mila (2017)

Gazis, Spiros ‘Sami’ and Angelo

Sami and Angelo were proprietors of the iconic Arab Café and later operating the famous Pier Fish Restaurant for many years.

Goldsworthy, Lesley (2016)

Lesley Goldsworthy (2016)

Lesley met Clive at a wine and cheese tasting night in 1980.  After marrying and having two children they left for overseas where they lived for 23 years. First in Singapore, then Auckland, back to Singapore, home to Australia for three years, then to Hong Kong before a posting in Jakarta followed by yet another period in Singapore.

The children were very young when they left Australia.   They returned to Melbourne and boarding school to complete their secondary education.  Apart from holidays, Lesley made many trips back to see them. On one of these holidays in Lorne, filling in time on a 42 degree day, Clive went house hunting, found one and bought it on the spot. Although now significantly renovated it is the same house they have been living in permanently for four and a half years.

“My parents brought the family to Australia as ‘ten pound poms’ in 1968.”  After school here, Lesley chose a career in the travel industry, first working as an intern with TAA in their wholesale travel area before moving to a domestic tour company.

Wherever they have lived Lesley has involved herself with Australian Associations helping newcomers settle in and to understand the local culture. She enjoyed her time overseas although at times it was stressful and she missed the children terribly while they were at boarding school.

Lesley learned to play golf while living in Jakarta, never imagining one day she would be president of womens golf at Lorne Country Club. She loves her golf and particularly the community of lady members.  The club this year joined the Otway Pennant after a long period without a pennant team . Lesley also enjoys volunteering at the Lorne Information Centre once a week.  She took painting classes in Singapore, continuing in Melbourne on her return but has little time at present to pursue that interest.

With Clive a councillor and also deputy mayor of The Surf Coast Shire, she says she has to make an ‘appointment’ to see him. She finds supporting him is a wonderful way of meeting people and is touched by the way they have beenembraced by the wider community.

CW

Grimsdale, Richard (2017)

Richard Grimsdale, 2017

Richard was born in Bath, England, in 1936. His school years were quite varied as his father was a Senior Officer in the British Army. In 1938 the family were sent to Hong Kong then Singapore. They were evacuated as the Japanese moved South in December 1941. They were put on a ship to Colombo and then Durban in South Africa. Richard began his education at Hilton Road in Natal and then at Capetown followed by Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire, after returning to England.

On leaving school he spent two years as a  Farm Pupil (English version of Jackaroo) at Hosier Estate, in Wiltshire, before being called up for two years National Service.

On the 25th October, 1957, Richard arrived by ship in Melbourne as a “Ten Pound Pom”. He spent the next two years as a “real” Jackaroo on properties near Benalla, Dunkeld and Mansfield. In 1960 he joined Elder Smith & Co. Ltd. at their Melbourne Office followed by time at Hamilton and Mortlake. In 1969 he moved to their International Division for the export of primary produce, livestock and wheat followed by time at Head Office Adelaide and Tokyo.

One of his everlasting memories was taking fourteen months leave of absence from the company and travelling extensively through Mexico, South America, Bermuda, across to England  and catching up with his mother, family and friends  before coming home through India, Japan and Singapore.

After leaving Elders in 1983 he worked at the Melbourne Chamber of Commerce and was involved in setting up the International Trade Information Centre. He then joined a Private Company as a Financial Advisor until the Stock Market Crash. He then worked with a legal firm working on family trusts and deceased estates.

Richard met Janet (Jano) and they were married in 1994, and he relocated to Sydney. Lorne has been a big part of their lives, particularly Richard who first came on a Trans-Otway bus in 1958 as a young lad, to stay with relations. He purchased a home in 1965 and has visited Lorne for holidays ever since. Now in retirement they spend three months over summer along will other visits during the year.

Richard has been a keen golfer and tennis player, and in his younger days pulled the whites on for the Stock and Station Agents cricket team at Hamilton. At Lorne he is a member of the Anglers, Bowls, Surf and Golf Clubs and the Men’s Shed. Richard and Jano have had a long “love affair” with Lorne.

GF

Guerrero, Mila (2017)

Mila Guerrero, 2017

One day last summer while on Lorne beach, Mila aged 11, happened to notice two girls ‘sploshing‘ awkwardly nearby. “I thought I’d better go and see if they are alright, just in case. “ She grabbed her  surf board and paddled out to investigate. She found two Japanese girls in difficulty. One had her head under water and not coming back up and the other clearly having trouble. She was able to use the Japanese she was learning at school to help get them onto her board and then headed for shore where life savers took over. Mila’s quick thinking, skill on her board and saving two lives have earned her community awards from Corangamite and Lorne. I asked how she felt about all the recognition and attention she was receiving. Shyly she said, “I feel happy and a bit proud.”

She has been a nipper since she was six but although not having covered rescuing people yet she felt sure what she had been taught helped her that day. She urges all young people to join nippers.

She is looking forward to earning her bronze medallion, then her silver and gold and becoming a qualified life saver.

Mila came to Lorne with her family from Argentina when she was four. She attended the local school for four years before moving to Christian College in Geelong. Only in grade six, she has plenty of time to think about what she would like to do after school but says maybe a marine biologist or a police officer.  I have the feeling Mila will succeed in anything she sets her mind on.

She loves sport. She has played back pocket in AFL football for her school for two years and now is trying out to play in an outside club. “I used to ski in Argentina and now I have started to ski again at Mt Buller”. Mila’s summers are spent surfing and horse riding.

 CW

Sources: 

• Lorne Historical Society Collections
• Committee for Lorne page in Surf Coast Times