Lorne Victoria Australia

Karen’s first memory of Lorne is the strong fragrance of the rosemary everlasting that grows above the shore line opposite her house. When her parents bought their first car, they started coming here, first staying in guest houses during the 50s. She recalls her dad in the early 1950s, cooking sausages on stones by the Erskine River. In the 60s, they rented holiday houses and in 1972 her parents bought land opposite the beach and built a house with a studio. Her mother, a potter and later a painter, established Erskine Gallery to specialise in Australian ceramics.
Karen was educated in Melbourne and studied law. After six years with a mid-size law firm she took two years off to travel. On her return she lived in Lorne and for a year ran the gallery for her mother, before taking a position as university solicitor at Deakin in Geelong.
Then it was off to Sydney for the next 25 years where she worked for not for profit organisations including Copyright Agency/Viscopy.
Karen’s parents retired to Lorne in 1980 and threw themselves immediately into community activities, her mother into the arts and her dad as the secretary/treasurer of most of the sporting clubs and the local RSL.
Karen visited from Sydney regularly and says even though she lived away from Lorne for over 35 years, I never really left this town. A strong network created from working in Lorne during university holidays and later living here made her retirement move here in September 2016 virtually painless.
Karen says she hasn’t inherited her mother’s artistic talents but I have bought more pottery than anyone needs in one life.  She has inherited a community involvement gene that’s for sure. During the last five to six years she has coordinated her work in Sydney with visiting her parents each month, including volunteering for each Lorne Sculpture Biennale for up to two weeks.  The day after she retired to Lorne she was elected treasurer of the new LSB committee. She has already joined the support group at the Lorne CFA and has also been involved with LorneCare for some years.
As well as all this, she has a huge project of her own – renovating her family home, which one family builder describes as “pointing at things she wants done and waving her hands around.”
She still has time for yoga, bushwalking, an interest in wildlife, garden design and music.
They say if you want something done ask a busy person, don’t they ?
CW