Lorne Victoria Australia

Lorne people with family names starting with T.

• Talimanidis Family
• Tootell, Greg (2018)
• Trebilcock, Peter and Wendy (2016)
• Tunstall, Brendon (2017)
• Tutungai, Carol (2018)
• Tyrer, Don (2016)

Talimanidis Family

Chris Talimanidis, a young Greek chef from Thessalonica, came to Lorne and bought the Marine café at 146 Mountjoy Parade and created the famous Chris’s Restaurant. The restaurant was demolished in about 1985 to make way for the Cumberland Resort.

Chris then left Lorne and established Beacon Point restaurant in Skene’s Creek with his son Taki Talimanidis managing front of house.

Kosta, younger brother of Chris, came to Lorne and and with wife Pam created a dynastic series of restaurants including Kostas Taverna in Lorne, later to become Ipsos Restaurant run by his youngest son Dominic. Kosta and Pam established the thriving A La Grecque Restaurant in Airey’s Inlet, now run by son Stratos, and back in Lorne his son Alex Talimanidis created Saloniki.

Tootell, Greg (2018)

You would have to say Greg and Jan, his wife of 38 years, are passionate about golf. During the summer in Lorne they play every day. For the last 15 years they have organised ‘The Lorne Classic’, a golf tournament for 40+ players complete with opening cocktail party and a presentation dinner on the final night. Greg’s love of the game has taken him on golfing adventures to Scotland, Ireland and Vietnam.

 He has also played amateur football in Melbourne and toured with The Galahs. “I loved that. I went with them to Romania, UK, Ireland and to New York where I stayed on and travelled with a friend around the US for a month.

Greg was born and educated in Melbourne. After finishing school he joined the family wine and spirit business and stayed until it was sold. He continued to work in that area but for other companies in similar businesses until he retired ten years ago.

Greg’s grandfather used to take his family to Erskine House before building his own house in the 1920s. His own early memories are connected to the time of bathing boxes, dodgem’ cars, roller skating and The Fun Parlour.  The Tootells used the old family home for many years before buying their own holiday house in North Lorne. It was lost in the ’83 fires but rebuilt quickly.

The Tootells come to Lorne every weekend. They enjoy having their two children and their families come to stay….. just another couple who love the place.

CW

Trebilcock, Peter and Wendy (2016)

Wendy and Peter had been managing Caravan Parks for five years before they saw an advertisement for an assistant manager at The Lorne Foreshore Caravan Park. Their application was successful and they moved to Lorne last year in mid-October. Little did they know that the Wye River/ Separation Creek fire would be on their agenda and result in them taking over full management from January  this year. “We expected it would be busy but not to the extent it turned out.”
Peter describes his career, since leaving school and qualifying as a baker, as going from a dirt change to a city change and then to their current sea change. He worked as a baker for six years before joining Elders as a company representative, travelling interstate for the next twenty years.
He then moved to the company’s rural industries division.
Wendy and Peter were born and educated in Adelaide. They met on the basketball court; she was a player and he an umpire. They have two daughters.
Wendy’s working life began as a secretary, but after marrying she bought a retail business in Victor Harbour, S.A., which she owned for 16 years. Before that, she enjoyed craftwork and sewing but found that her business took up all her time.  They both love movies and are avid readers. When they take time off they love to travel overseas, but say Noosa is a favourite.
Peter has been a member of Surf Life Saving Australia for over 20 years. He was awarded a National Service Medal in recognition of ten years continuous service with an excess of 200 hours of continuous volunteering per season. He would love to be involved at Lorne, since life-saving is a passion of his, but so far time has not permitted. He has also been a regular Ambulance volunteer .
“ We are told Lorne is a really good community but we just haven’t had the time to experience it yet. We are looking forward to that opportunity. “
CW

Tunstall, Brendan (2017)

In 1968, Brendan and now wife Denise, seriously connected while working holiday jobs at Erskine House. Brendan as a kitchen hand who thought Denise was the pick of the waitresses on staff.

Brendan was born, grew up, and educated in Melbourne. His career began as a secondary teacher. He found the more he taught Legal Studies the more interested he became in the Law. When Brendan was seconded to teach in Rabaul, Papua New Guinea in 1973, he decided to enrol in a Law degree by correspondence with Queensland University. Teaching in PNG was rewarding because education was considered a privilege and the students were eager to learn. The Tunstalls returned to Australia in 1975 and Brendan taught in Alexandra for three years while continuing his correspondence studies. Denise in the meantime was managing wonderfully with three children under the age of four. However law by correspondence was proving to be a major challenge. He decided to complete his degree at Melbourne University, moved the family to Melbourne, and eventually studied full time to complete his last year of study.  He became a specialist in Property law, working as a partner in a Mitcham firm, then with various other firms before semi retiring and conducting his own private practice.

Denise’s parents had a house in Lorne to which they eventually retired in the 1980s. Denise and Brendan spent many happy family holidays with them.  In 2010, Denise inherited the house from her mum Molly Smith.  In recent years they have been spending half their time in Lorne. Now being blessed with five grandchildren they have been happy to provide grandparent help so trips to and stays in Melbourne have been more frequent. Particularly so while the grandkids are under school age- we are on duty for the grandchildren.

Brendan’s main interests are in the sporting domain. He is one of the 8am swimmers heading out towards the pier, plays competition tennis in Melbourne, doesn’t mind a hit of golf now and again and now loves watching the Lorne Dolphins playing footy. Kicking the footy with the grandchildren is also a favourite.

Over the years Brendan has been a member of Lions Clubs and is a former President of Rotary and a Paul Harris Fellow. For the last three years Brendan has been on the Lorne Anglican Uniting Church Parish Council, recently having served  as chairperson. He is on the committee of the Men’s Shed. Both he and Denise are VCC Emergency volunteers.

The Tunstalls have travelled overseas on a number of occasions but since retirement have enjoyed travelling around Australia in their caravan. On separate occasions they have driven to the West and up to Broome, to Darwin, Kakadu and the Outback and to the Bundaberg/Noosa region. Brendan is eager to do at least one more trip to the South Australian peninsulas and the south of West Australia.

CW

Tutungai, Carol (2018)

In 1976, aged 25, Carol was teaching Physical Education at Oberon High School in Geelong. In the market for a house, an ad for 100 acres with two houses on it in for sale in Lorne was a dream come true. After one inspection and a big discussion over dinner at Chris’s Restaurant that night, Carol and three others bought the property. Soon after, a position for a Physical Education teacher became available at the Lorne School and with Carol’s appointment her life thereafter was connected to Lorne.

Carol was born and educated in Melbourne. Her passion was sport and she grew up involved with softball, netball, hockey and athletics. It is no surprise that leaving school she completed a Diploma of Physical Education at Melbourne University.  She worked first in Melbourne, then Geelong before teaching eight years in Lorne. Soon after Carol moved here she met Chris through her active involvement with The Lorne Football and Netball Club. They married and have three children, Troy, Casey and Skye all of whom share her love of sport.

In 1981, the Tutungis set up part of their house as The Bush House Restaurant, using an Australiana theme and a menu which included crabs and yabbies. The entertainment was a wandering minstrel (the local school art teacher). “It was lots of fun and became very popular with the locals”. Sadly, two years later they were victims of the Ash Wednesday bushfire.

When they rebuilt, it was in a different location but still on the same beautiful property. Now Carol’s time, outside bringing up children was spent working in the hospitality industry, but “ in 1996 we bit the bullet, took out a big bank loan and built Lorne Bush House Cottage.”

Carol has put her time into the community through her connections with the Lorne and Aireys Inlet Schools, the Lorne Business and Tourism Committee and the Lorne Active Recreation Committee when in the 1990s she and other local mothers worked toward a better children’s playground facility on the Lorne foreshore. “I hope when the demands of work and family lessen a little, I will have time to be involved in more community activities “.

When Carol is not working on the cottages she enjoys exercise, loves to play golf and walk with the girls. She loves to visit their grandchildren in Torquay and Port Campbell as much as possible and take breaks away with Chris and other friends.

CW

Tyrer, Don (2016)

Don Tyrer, 2016

Don and his wife Helen moved to Lorne 20 years ago after losing their house at Aireys Inlet in the 1983 bush fires where they had been for 17 years. Don, a teacher, held a range of appointments within the Department of Education including four years as the Regional Director of the Barwon, South West region that ran from Geelong through Lorne to Portland and up to Hamilton. Don then held a range of other senior appointments in Melbourne including Regional Director of Western Metropolitan Region, Director of Curriculum and Student Services and for a short time managed the position of Director of Schools.

Following his retirement, Don was appointed a Senior Fellow at The University of Melbourne which then led to working overseas. Don was Team Leader of a range of aid projects especially in Vietnam where they lived for extended times. Don worked for the World Bank, Asia Development Bank and for the governments of Wales, Samoa, United Arab Emirates and Ontario managing a range of national projects over a ten year period.

Don is the secretary of the Lorne Arts and Culture Foundation which is responsible for running and staging the Lorne Festival of Performing Arts (FOPA) and enjoys working with a very talented and hard working group of people. FOPA will run during the first weekend in September and he expects this year’s festival will be fun with a range of talented acts being held throughout the three day festival. Tickets are available through FOPA.com.au

He is also on the Lorne school’s Master Planning sub-committee where again, he cannot praise the talent and commitment of locals enough. The committee are looking to extensively redevelop and beautifying the Lorne school grounds and work should commence soon.

While having kept their house in Melbourne where they regularly look after grandchildren, they have enlarged their home at Lorne so that the whole family can be together for extended times.

DT

Sources

• Lorne Historical Society Collections
• Surf Coast Times, Committee for Lorne Page, Community Profile by Cynthia Wynhoven.
• Surf Coast Times, Committee for Lorne Page, ‘Our Magnificent Greeks’, by John Agar, 2021