Story of Lorne

Lorne Historical Society has documented the story of the coastal settlement. The first story of Lorne is of the Gadubanud (King Parrot) people who occupied the rainforest plateau and rugged coastal area of the Wada Wurrung to the northeast, Gulidjan to the north and Girai Wurrung to the west. Today the Gunditjmara people are the traditional custodians of Gadubanud lands, although there are indigenous people in the area today who trace their ancestry to the Gadubanud.

It is known that the Gadubanud people traded spear wood for green stone mined by the Wurundjeri when tribes met at traditional ceremonies around the Gariwerd district.  The Gadubanud made bark canoes for use in the rivers, lakes, estuaries and along the coast.

They had a varied diet. The many middens along the coast show fragments of turban shells, abalone, periwinkle, elephant fish, chiton, beaked mussel and limpets.  It is known that seals, Cape Barren geese, eels and ducks were also eaten, along with New Zealand spinach, tubers and berries.

During the 1830s Gadubanud successfully avoided interactions with European settlers. Early squatters thought the area was uninhabited. At least five clans are recorded, including Bangura gundidj, Guringid gundidj, Ngalla gundidj, Ngarowurd gundidj and the Yan Yan Gurt clan. The Gadubanud were considered mainmait (wild) by neighbouring language groups the Wada Wurrung and Girai Wurring.

The area became a source of timber for European settlement when William Lindsay, searching for coal, discovered many valuable stands of timber along the coast.  In 1841, the bay was used by Captain Louttit when his schooner, Will Watch, was forced into the bay by a heavy north-westerly gale.  After four days he travelled to Melbourne and reported the bay as an ideal place to shelter.

In 1846, surveyor George Smythe had the name Louttit Bay registered at Superintendent Latrobe’s office in Melbourne.

In 1849 Lindsay was granted a splitter’s licence to cut timber.  He built a dwelling on the north side of what is now the Swing Bridge at the mouth of the Erskine River.  In 1850, tragically his two sons, William and Joseph, were smothered when the tunnel they were building collapsed.

In the 1850s there were several attempts to farm the area and in 1864 the three Mountjoy brothers, Thomas, Caleb and Lawrence, settled on the Louttit Bay run.  Their two-roomed dwelling was the first rate-producing property at Lorne for the Winchelsea Shire.

Many of the cattlemen spoke of the natural beauty of Lorne, the word spread and the demand for accommodation increased, prompting the Mountjoys to build the Temperance Hotel, which eventually became Erskine House.

B57 Plane Crash

Two U.S. Air Force crew, Lieutenant Glen Harold Sprague 27 (pilot) and Lieutenant Bobby Edward Gelbrecht 26 (navigator), both of the 57th Weather Squadron USAF were killed in a tragic crash on Tuesday 16 October 1962, during the time of the Cuban missile crisis. It was one of four B57 aircraft in the American 57th...
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Batsons’ Pool

Many Lorne locals and visitors have enjoyed a dip in this magical pool on the beach of North Lorne, often deep enough for people to dive off the rocks and enjoy swimming. It is roughly opposite the intersection of Stirling Street and the Ocean Road in North Lorne or Little Colac. From the 60s onwards...
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Cenotaph

A freestone cenotaph was first erected in the library paddock in 1923. An Avenue of Honour for soldiers lost in World War I was constructed on the library paddock, now Stribling Reserve oval. An avenue of red gum trees was planted after the First World War.  They appear to have been removed in the 1950s...
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COVID

Covid 19 Pandemic began in Victoria in Melbourne in 2020. The initial wave began when a man arrived in Melbourne from Guangzhou, China, as Australia’s first confirmed coronavirus case. On 16 March 2020, Victoria declared a State of Emergency. Lockdown #1 commences: stay home; masks; social distancing; hand sanitising; home schooling; home business; no leaving...
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Foreshore

UNDER CONSTRUCTION See PowerPoint Brief Pictorial History of Lorne Doug Stirling article on Sand from Lorne Independent November 2024 Lorne foreshore c1928, showing Rotunda, used a change room for Lorne Football Club. See bell tower used for by life saver Sources: Greetings From Lorne by Leigh Hammerton

Little Colac

A residential area in North Lorne was known as Little Colac because many people from Colac built holiday homes in this area. Houses often had fibrous cement sheet cladding and were named after districts around Colac such as Nalangil and Warrion. Nalangil was an unpainted cement sheet house with a central gable over the porch....
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Rapids

Rapids c1900 Lorne’s first water system came from a pool at the head of The Rapids via a one and a half inch (37mm) galvanized pipe, but it provided only enough water for Erskine House and it’s fruit and vegetable gardens. In 1880 Henry Gwynne asked three local businessmen Joseph Duncan, Theodore Hancock and John...
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Spotters

“Lorne citizens manned an official spotting station in the recreation hall at the Queens Park Caravan site. A telephone system reported all shipping and aircraft movements to headquarters in Melbourne and to assist the operation the walls were lined with shipping and aircraft identification posters. The volunteers, both men and women, kept this vital service...
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Swing Bridge

First Swing Bridge Swingbridge 1974, photo by Alexis J Favenchi New Swing Bridge, 2024 The first bridge across the Lorne river estuary was constructed in 1937. Mr Hammerton collected money to fund the bridge.  

Teddy’s Lookout

Teddy’s Lookout is a popular site for visitors to Lorne.  It is on top of the hill behind Lorne and provides a great view of St George River estuary and the Great Ocean Road heading south to Apollo Bay. Teddy’s Lookout was used during World War II as a lookout for enemy movements as well...
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Wendt Family House

This is the story of the modest house at 23 Albert Street, leading to the creation of many happy family memories. In 1974 Cyclone Tracey destroyed most of the houses in Darwin. Construction company  A. V. Jennings built a prefabricated house out of steel panels inside and out. They wanted to transport it to Darwin...
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