Lorne Victoria Australia

1 May 2026

ALWAYS LIVE Victorian Vibes Brings Free Live Music to Lorne

New Committee for LBTA

Lorne is set to come alive with free pop-up performances when ALWAYS LIVE Victorian Vibes arrives on Saturday 2 May.

Part of the statewide ALWAYS LIVE program, Victorian Vibes is all about bringing great live music into public spaces and creating memorable moments in regional communities.

Free, accessible and a little unexpected, the event invites audiences to explore the town, moving between performances while enjoying Lorne’s cafés, restaurants and local businesses.

Performances will pop up across central Lorne locations from lunchtime, featuring a mix of exciting established and emerging Australian artists.

Confirmed Performance Times and Locations

  • 1:00pm – 1:35pm | Mountjoy Parade (out the front of the Cumberland)
  • 2:40pm – 3:30pm | Mantra lawn
  • 4:30pm – 5:15pm | Lorne foreshore / Surf Life Saving Club precinct

The complete artist lineup will be announced a few days before Saturday 2nd May.

For Lorne locals and visitors alike, it’s a chance to make a day of it.  Gather some friends, settle in by the coast and enjoy free live music in the heart of town!

The Always Live event coincides with the local home games of the Lorne Dolphins Football and Netball Club, bringing even more atmosphere to what a quiet weekend in Lorne would normally be.

Whether you’re a local resident or traveling down, Lorne will be buzzing, and in between music sets, we encourage everyone to come support the local businesses, exploring all of Lorne’s food, drink and retail businesses and local sports.

Why not stay a night or two, taking advantage of some autumn accommodation specials and really embrace the beauty of Lorne in May!

Register for your free ticket at alwayslive.com.au

Love Lorne Welcomes New Committee to Champion local Tourism

The Lorne Business and Tourism Association, known as Love Lorne, has announced a new committee bringing together local business leaders and community representatives with a shared focus on supporting Lorne’s future.

Matthew Humphries has been appointed Chair, joined by Vice Chairs Janet Boland and Katie Walker.  The committee includes Eddy Erftemeyer, Caroline Hirzel Bryant, Mary Ann Humphries, along with Treasurer David Worth and Secretary Anne McCormack.

Former president and Surf Coast Shire Council councillor Leon Walker will continue to support the committee, alongside broader representation from hospitality, retail, accommodation and local attractions.

The committee aims to strengthen collaboration among local businesses by facilitating networking opportunities, promoting the Love Lorne brand, and working closely with partners such as Surf Coast Shire and Great Ocean Road Tourism.  Advocacy and representation will also be a key focus, particularly in areas such as sustainable tourism, off-season events, and the provision of affordable accommodation for workers.

Love Lorne continues to back initiatives designed to boost visitation year-round, including the Always Live program, which draws visitors to the region during quieter periods while supporting the local economy.

Great Ocean Road Running Festival

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attention is also turning to the upcoming Great Ocean Road Running Festival on May 16-17, a globally recognised event that highlights the scenic beauty of the Great Ocean Road and attracts participants from across Australia and beyond.

As a volunteer-run organisation, the LBTA relies on the enthusiasm and commitment of local businesses. Operators in Lorne and surrounding areas are encouraged to get involved and contribute to the ongoing success of the region.

For more information, visit www.lovelorne.com.au

From the Chairman

THE DOUG AND MARY STIRLING CUP

A quote that emphasizes the fleeting nature of time is “Time moves slowly, but passes quickly.”  So it appears with the awarding of the Doug and Mary Stirling Cup.  It does not seem so long ago that we were calling for nominations, in the new process, that saw the Cup being awarded  to Clive and Lesley Goldsworthy.  The new process being that for the first time the nominations were invited from the Lorne Community.  A selection panel then read through the several excellent nominations and made a recommendation to the Committee for Lorne for final decision.

It was crucial that the nomination process was confidential.  The people making the nomination were asked not to inform the nominee.  This was a wise process and from what we know, followed.  As was the case, outstanding people were nominated and disappointment avoided because of the secrecy.  It is also important to remember that a nominee has the right to refuse the honour thus reinforcing the need for confidentiality.

The Doug and Mary Stirling Cup is a community award to honour outstanding service to and leadership in the Lorne Community.  The nominations should be made by those who know the nominee well and are therefore able to provide supporting evidence of the value of the contributions from first-hand evidence, with that evidence being specific to the Award. You may choose any or several of the following areas to write about:  Education, Culture and the Arts, Environment, Health, Sport and Business.

The following are the past recipients:

  • 2013 Doug and Mary Stirling
  • 2015 Henry Love
  • 2017 Jan and Peter Spring
  • 2019 Carly Enticott
  • 2022 Lorraine Griffiths
  • 2024 Clive and Lesley Goldsworthy

How to make a nomination?

  • The simplest way is to go to download the Nomination Form HERE
  • There are hard copies of the form at the Lorne Post Office, Visitors Information Centre or the Lorne P-12 College.  You will also be provided with an envelope to return the form to any of the three outlets.

The nomination forms must be completed and submitted by Tuesday the 30th of June 2026.  You may be contacted by the selection panel for additional supporting evidence before the recommendation is made to the Committee for Lorne.

The Cup will be presented at a luncheon held at Stribling Reserve Pavilion on Friday the 29th of October.  The Committee is delighted to be involved in the determination of the recipient and the hosting of the event.  Your involvement in this, the first and vital stage, is paramount.

Lorne Bowls Club Stribling Memorial and Charity Day

In January 2026, the Lorne Bowls Club conducted its important social bowling day that is held to recognise the pivotal role that Hector Stribling played in establishing the Club in the early 1950s.  The day is also used to raise funds for a Lorne not-for-profit organisation. Past recipients have been the Lorne Kindergarten, the Fire Brigade and the Early Childhood Centre.  This year $1,500 was raised for the Lorne SES.  The funds come from monies donated by members of the Stribling family and from a raffle held on the day.  Thanks must go to Stewart, David and Anthony Stribling and Steve Sprague. Southern Ocean Villas, Port Campbell, In-the-Skies Restaurant and the Lorne Pharmacy donated the prizes for the raffle.  There could not have been a better time to recognise the wonderful volunteers of the SES.

Gary Allen

8 May 2026

And Still the Sea Comes

I love standing, watching my hairy little four-legged friend fishing for minnows among the water-smoothed jumbles of sandstone and lignite that dot the beach at Spout Creek while simultaneously playing the game of ‘Hold Back the Tide’ once popularised by the unfairly ridiculed pre-Norman English monarch, King Cnut [now known better as King Canute].  Unfortunately, I have lost the art of a nimble retreat that was a feature of my youth, and—just like Canute once did—I regularly cop a wetting.

Canute was, in truth, one helluva king.  A wise warrior-king who conjointly ruled Denmark, Norway, and England, Canute brought stability and peace to all three kingdoms.  Indeed, many would rate him among the top three post-Roman, pre-Norman rulers of England, alongside Alfred the Great and the mighty King Aethelstan.

As with most of the early English monarchs, tales—many tall, some true, all embellished, many unfair—swirl around their lives and achievements, with all three owning unique legends.

Alfred, for example, will never live down the over-crisping of his oatmeal cookies while training for a Dark Ages precursor to MasterChef.  While revered as the greatest of all England’s pre-Norman kings … he hammered the invading Vikings [my ancestral ‘rellies’] and drove them back from his west-country precursor kingdom, Wessex, as any devotee of the TV series ‘The Last Kingdom’ will confirm … baking was clearly not his strong suit, and his lack of culinary smarts dogs his memory to this day.

Meanwhile, his grandson, Aethelstan, is credited with disposing of 34,800 Viking and Scottish warriors [yet more of my ‘rellies’] all in a day’s work at the Battle of Brunanburh near modern-day Liverpool, although it is hard to believe that they were all personal kills!  Nevertheless, this extraordinary victory over a vastly numerically superior army formed from an alliance between Olaf Guthfrithson’s Vikings, Constantine II’s Scots and the Strathclyde Britons, undoubtedly secured for Aethelstan his widely acknowledged status as the first true King of (all)England.

Canute—my Spout Creek inspiration—was, despite his Viking pedigree, a towering and all-powerful ruler.  He brought peace and unity to the turbulent peoples of England, whether Anglo-Saxon or Viking, in the years just before William, the bastard of Normandy, invaded to defeat Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and establish Norman England.

Every school child will [or should have] heard the Canute story: of how he stood at the ocean’s edge on an incoming tide and imperiously ‘commanded’ the sea to retreat in order to demonstrate his omnipotent powers.  Of course, it didn’t, and—as legend has it—Canute coped an embarrassing dousing.

But while there is reasonably strong documentary evidence that the event actually took place [King Cnut and the tide: Wikipedia], it turns out that Canute’s intent was to demonstrate the exact opposite … to show that the power of an earthly king was finite, that the sea would advance despite his royal status, and to deliver the message that all men [even kings] were impotent in the face of God.  To drive his lesson home to his court, good King Canute chose to ‘take one for the team’ while [presumably] his minions were warming fluffy white five-star towels by a roaring fire farther up the beach.

The legend of Canute’s dousing should not be lost on us, especially those of us lucky enough to live at the edge of the ocean.  His lesson?  The ocean will come … indeed, it will always come … and any works of man will be powerless to prevent it.

Like a planetary tide set to a multi-millennial cycle, sea levels have risen [flooded] and fallen [ebbed] since earth-time began.  20,000 years ago, the oceans were at an ebb, and land bridges opened everywhere. Bass Strait was verdant pasture, while to our north, Cape York and New Guinea were conjoined, as were the island chains of Indonesia.  In the northern hemisphere, Kamchatka and Alaska were joined by a chain of mountains—now the Aleutian Islands—and the Bering Strait was a land bridge between northern Asia and the Americas.  In Europe, England was connected to the Low Countries by the Doggerland, and the current Baltic Sea was pastureland.  Human and animal migration used these corridors until the oceans began flooding again, and the ‘bridges’ disappeared, isolating those who had crossed from their earlier homelands.

Those of us with long memories of Lorne will tell you that high tide never reached high enough to lap the foot of the cliffs at Lorne Point, that Point Grey never ‘went under’, and that the sandy verges of the GOR were never under erosive threat as they are now.  Most accept that ‘revetments’ … a fancy French name to lend bureaucratic gravitas to what most would call seawalls … are a prudent step at Point Grey.  Indeed, they are and must be along the lower-lying stretches of the GOR at Eastern View, Apollo Bay, and several places in between.

But in the end, these will be no more than puny barriers to the oncoming sea as Mother Earth continues to surge—with a mere smidge of human help—through her time-immemorial cycles of heating and cooling.  As coastal engineers around the world seek to hold back the inevitability of the sea, like so many modern-day King Canutes, we should not forget that, despite their best efforts—and the often-irrational anxieties of climate activism—our feet will get wet, and the sea will always come.

John Agar
Feature Writer

From the Chairman

Well, the first weekend of May was a busy time in Lorne.  Stribling Reserve hosted Otway Districts for four games of football and seven games of Netball.  Lorne featured in the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race with the longest of the races passing through Lorne on the way from Skenes Creek to Torquay.  Then on the Saturday afternoon, Always Live, supported by the Victorian government, hosted three pop up musical events at various locations on the main street and foreshore.  The weather was perfect, like Autumn in Lorne always is – the best time!  It was great to see so many visitors in Lorne on the weekend.  Hopefully, it provided a boost to our local businesses who did it tough over the summer season.

The Lorne Dolphins footy teams had a great day with all teams winning.  There were some close games in the Netball with Under 17 and D Grade teams victorious.  And then to see the following post on social media: “Our fabulous Bellbrae Dolphins under 12 girls had their first win today!! Amazing coach Alex Adams has worked tirelessly to teach the girls the game and passion for fun, friendship and footy!  Well done to all”.  So, we now have a Dolphins Girls team winning as well!  Amazing!

*****

Last week, Surf Coast Shire announced the Local Legends for 2026.  There are four categories; Community Commitment, Community Impact, which are awards for individuals.  Then there is Group Volunteer Excellence and Community inclusion which recognises groups.  Amongst the candidates for the Group Volunteer Excellence award there is the Lorne Community Flood Responders.  This is a fitting tribute to the members of the Lorne Community just “turned up” on the evening of 15th January when, as a result of torrential rain on the ridge of the Otway Ranges, the rivers from Wye River to the Erskine River flooded with volumes of water not seen for many years rushing to the ocean.  On that evening in Lorne campers were evacuated from the Erskine River Caravan Park.  Stribling Reserve Community Pavilion was opened up for these campers to provide somewhere warm and dry and to have a hot shower.  When the extent of the flooding at Cumberland River became known, Stribling Reserve was officially declared an Emergency Relief Centre.  Cary Stafford, Principal of Lorne P-12 College, made one of the school buses available to transfer campers from Cumberland River.  Keith Miller, Commodore of Lorne Aquatic Club made the club bus available.  Kev Van Deuren and Paul Spizzica “turned up” to drive the buses.  The ladies of the Op Shop “turned up” at Stribling with loads and loads of dry clothing.  And the people of Lorne “turned up” to offer accommodation in their homes to families affected by the floods.  Most of the 300+ campers who arrived at Stribling with nothing but the wet, muddy clothes on their back were accommodated that night in family homes.  An amazing effort Lorne Community.  Give yourselves a big pat on the back!

There will be a Lorne Volunteer Afternoon Tea hosted by Surf Coast Shire on Thursday 21 May, 2.30pm to 3.30pm at the Lorne Historical Society to celebrate Volunteering and the Lorne Community.  Come along.

On behalf of Chairman John Higgins who is still slumming it in Europe

Pete Spring

15 May 2026

TATTOOS

There was a time—though it seems so long ago—when the Cats were embarking on their two-decadal permanence in the top half of the AFL ladder, when I took vicarious pleasure in our then captain’s pronouncement that, while he was the leader, no player in his team would sport a tattoo.  Of course, it was neither true, nor could it last, for Josh Hunt [he of the full right arm ‘sleeve’ and the first overtly tattooed Cat] was already a feature of the back line … but, if I recall correctly, he was the only player at the time who was thus ‘adorned’.

Now, people-watching from an outside table at my favourite haunt on the Mountjoy elbow bend, the passing parade of dermal artwork seems endless.  Indeed, among those aged 16 to 35, it seems that at least half now sport some form of body art.  I can’t help thinking that one day, a tsunami of tattoo regret will occur as their owners’ skin ages and crinkles, as the taut muscles beneath atrophy, and as the ink colours lose their lustre and fade.  I also can’t help thinking that for medical school graduates seeking a future niche subspecialty, tattoo removal may be a fruitful option!

Then, as a ‘Joe’ [encapsulated on her bicep by a slightly off-centre heart ] and a ‘Jenny’ [garlanded on his by a Caesarean wreath] passed by, arm linked in arm, I found myself hoping—for their sakes—that their relationship might stand the test of time, else there might be some explaining to do to any subsequent partner(s)!

Tattoos are both an ancient, deeply rooted cultural practice and a modern, evolving trend.  Historically, they symbolise identity, status, and rites of passage—especially the Polynesian Tatau, the Māori Ta Moko, the Japanese Irezumi, the Inuit Tuuniit, or the Celtic ‘Sacred Knot’.  Viking runes—just like the horned helmet—are arguably more a phenomenon of Hollywood’s imagination than of historical fact, but now populate the pages of a tattoo artist’s catalogue, as does nautical tattoo art, a maritime culture that developed in parallel with scrimshaw as the 17th-century downtime practices adopted during long months at sea.

Built on this historical base, contemporary mainstream Western society’s now highly visible tattoo practice appears to have passed beyond a mere ‘fad’ to become a permanent, durable mainstream fashion.

Even at its thickest point, human skin is only a few millimetres thick.  Even so, it is still our heaviest and largest organ, making up about one seventh of our body weight.  Depending on height and body mass, it weighs between 3.5 and 10 kilograms and has a surface area of 1.5 to 2 square meters.  Its thickness depends on the part of the body it covers, how much it is used, and on our age and sex.  It also progressively thins as we age.

Stable yet flexible, the skin is our primary sensory organ and serves as a protective barrier against harmful factors in the outside world—moisture, cold, sunlight, germs, and toxic substances.  Further, the skin helps regulate body temperature, prevent dehydration, and protect against the negative effects of excessive heat or cold, while allowing us to feel—and to be alerted to—warmth, cold, pressure, itching, and pain.

Returning to the use of skin as a vehicle for self-expression, careful and skilled practitioners can occasionally create canvases of complex beauty … but rarely are their creations spared the warp and eruptions of time.  Unlike the permanence of a frame-protected Mona Lisa or a plaster-backed Raphael, the frame that supports a tattoo alters over time.  Skin sags with advancing age, is prone to unexpected injuries that leave scars, and may later erupt with warts, moles, or other disfiguring lesions.  Skin makes an imperfect substrate whose future is never predictable.  On the other hand, in a positive light, a tattoo can be used to cover the scars of injuries, cancer treatments, or even self-harm, and thereby serve as a powerful tool for healing.

As with all artistic expressions, a tattoo may reflect the fashion of the times—what is ‘in vogue’ today may be passé, dated, or regretted by tomorrow, a tendency particularly true of tattoos created as an expression of passion.  I once fell into this very trap as a youth, though luckily the ‘mark’ I chose to emblazon did not have the permanence of an ink tattoo.  Flush with enthusiasm for a particular young lady who had taken my heart, I marked her name in masking tape across my chest, then seared the surrounding skin with an infrared tanning lamp.  Sadly, the relationship ended a short time later—as teenage relationships have a habit of doing—but, embarrassingly for later assignations, the outline of her name remained for some months until the surrounding tan faded back to its normal pallor.

As tattoo trends may be ‘tribal’ in nature, reflect the ‘fad of the moment’, or seem all the rage at the time of inking yet quickly date as fashions evolve, care should be taken when choosing a design that will stand the test of time.  After all, once the ink has been injected, a tattoo [and especially an embarrassing spelling error] is hard to change.

There are also risks associated with getting a tattoo. These include the possibility of skin infection after inking sessions, allergic reactions [especially to red, yellow, and orange inks], and potential long-term health concerns, such as exposure to toxins.  Although reputable tattooists are careful not to use contaminated needles or ink, it is still possible to transmit diseases such as hepatitis or, rarely, staphylococcal infections.

Perhaps more unsettling has been a recent Swedish study of more than 11,000 tattoo recipients, which has suggested a potential link to lymphoma as the ink leaks into the lymphatic system and concentrates in the local lymph nodes.  While the risk is still regarded as low, the reported 21% higher incidence of lymphoma compared with a matched population who have not been ‘inked’ cannot be ignored.  To minimise these risks, a licensed, hygienic tattoo parlour is an essential choice.

As I sit in the sun, sipping a chilled Assyrtiko and nibbling an entrée of magnificent Ipsos calamari—both served by an impossibly tattooed waiter I now count as a friend—the endless parade of skin art continues to pass by.  While the decision to tattoo [or not to tattoo] is an individual choice—it is an each-to-their-own decision—and I have long since ceased asking the question ‘why’, I can’t help but let out a silent sigh of relief that I chose masking tape over ink all those many years ago.

John Agar
Feature Writer

From the Chairman

Many in the community were surprised to learn that not only had Chick and Ken Hosking sold their house in Lorne, but that they have moved and are living a new lifestyle in Thirteenth Beach, Barwon Heads.  “It’s flat”, was Chick’s comment.

Thanks to the initiative of Clive Goldsworthy the Hoskings were persuaded to come to Lorne on Friday the 8th of May to have a few drinks and a meal at the Grand Pacific, with six of their closest friends to say farewell.  Naturally, Clive did not mention that the six was really thirty.  The following words come from a speech made by Clive on the night.

“After 23 years of calling Lorne home, Ken and Chick are moving on as they begin the next chapter of their lives.  Chick and Ken have been both quiet achievers in the Lorne Community. Initially settling in Lorne in 2004 on April Fool’s Day to run the Lorne Post Office.  They both worked tirelessly, successfully growing the business, tripling the number of private postage boxes and getting to know everybody in town.  Having become tired of “licking stamps”, it was time to move on.

Next in 2010 was Lorne Hardware, consolidating the business of the local tradies and expanding the operation to the Lorne Industrial Estate, where the warehouse rented by Ken gave him the capacity to expand his stock and therefore the local offerings to those in the building industry.

They sold the business in 2020 to start a more relaxing life, or so they thought.  Chick volunteered at the Hospital and the Opportunity Shop and she had some time to play golf.  Ken continued his voluntary contributions to the Lions Village Committee as treasurer and president of the Lorne Football and Netball Club.  During his four years he put the Club in a sound financial position and the Club won four premierships.”

Clive referenced comments by Ian Stewart when chairman of the Committee for Lorne, “It’s been a big year for the Club and with retiring president Ken Hosking having brought down the curtain on his term and leaving behind a “blue ribbon” coach in place for next year.  A clear strategic path, great culture and a financially strong balance sheet, the job is complete on Ken’s great commitment over the past four years and he needs to be applauded for his efforts and for all the tough decisions made over the journey.”

“Ken is still and will remain on the Lorne Village Board following the introduction of a new management structure and governance that will ensure that the Village remains an important Lorne community asset.  Ken has been on the Board for twenty years in various executive roles.

Chick and Ken are golf hackers and in their wisdom have decided to move to Thirteenth Beach, playing on flatter ground although I am sure they will own their own golf cart.  Good wishes, health and happiness”, concluded Clive.

Chick and Ken selected two businesses that are at the heart of a small community, the Post Office and the Hardware Shop.  All residents use the Post Office in one way or another and most the Hardware.  In fact, we should be grateful that the township has a hardware shop, I would suggest that it is thanks to Chick and Ken for maintaining it on a sound business model.

We all appreciated their professionalism, trust and kindness and as has been said, their keen sense of community.

Gary Allen
(On behalf of our Chairman, John Higgins, who is still gallavanting around Europe)

 

22 May 2026

Stribling Reserve Needs You

We are on the search for new members of our Community to join the Stribling Reserve Community Asset Committee.

The Community Asset Committee (CAC) is appointed by Surf Coast Shire and acts under an Instrument of Delegation to oversee activities and operations at Stribling Reserve.  The Instrument of Delegation defines what activities are the responsibility of the CAC and those activities for which the Shire is responsible.  The composition of the CAC is designed to represent the interests of the main user groups and those smaller community groups who utilise the facility.  We also welcome members of our community who would like to “get involved” and give back to our Community.  In the past twenty years or so, there have been significant changes at Stribling Reserve.

This early photo shows the original club rooms and the coach’s box on the oval boundary.  There is very little development at the Netball Court.

Since then there have been some significant milestones, overseen by the Community Asset Committee.  These include:

  • Total redevelopment of Netball Court
  • Total redevelopment of the football oval including new drainage and irrigation
  • Installation of Oval lighting
  • Installation of an Electronic Scoreboard
  • Construction of the Lorne & District Men’s Shed within Stribling Reserve
  • Construction of new two storey Pavilion and also a new Netball Pavilion
  • Further development of the Netball court and installation of Lighting.

The result of all this is shown in the following image of Stribling Reserve today.

The Community Asset Committee played a role in all these activities; specifying works to be done, overseeing implementation and where necessary raising funds through Grants and Community contribution.

Today, Stribling Reserve is not just a sporting facility.  The Men’s Shed plays a vital role in our Community, providing a place of camaraderie for the men of our Community and contributing to and undertaking projects which benefit the wider Community.  The Community Pavilion operated as an Emergency Relief Cantre when the local caravan parks were flooded in mid-January.  With the support and assistance of Surf Coast Shire, Lorne Op Shop and Salvation Army, “Strib” provided a warm, safe shelter for nearly 300 people who, in many cases, had lost everything in the floods.  The commercial kitchen operated by the Salvos, turned out over 300 meals.  The Op Shop was there with stacks and stacks of clothing, towels and blankets to provide comfort and support.

So Stribling Reserve is a vital piece of community and social infrastructure for Lorne.  The Community Asset Committee works closely with the appointed officers at the Shire to ensure the safe and efficient management of this facility.  The Committee engages a bookkeeper, cleaner and booking officer to manage the day-to-day operations.  These people are compensated for their time.  The position of Committee member is voluntary.

The current Committee members have served long terms and it is now time to recruit new members to the Committee who will bring new energy, fresh ideas and a commitment to ensure that Stribling Reserve continues to meet the needs of our Community and exceed the expectations of what the facilities in this Reserve can deliver.  If we can’t recruit local members to our Committee it is very likely that management of the facility will revert to the Shire.

If you want to see Stribling Reserve “ticking”, come along on Saturday to local football and netball and see number of volunteers involved in managing the gates, operating the BBQ and canteen, selling merchandise, looking after timekeeping and scoreboards and generally making sure the day runs smoothly.  It is community in action and Lorne is bloody good at it!

Being a member of the Community Asset Committee is not a time-consuming obligation.  It’s more about being part of a Team to oversee management of the facility, identify and prioritise future enhancements and developments and ensure that Stribling Reserve continues to be the valuable asset it is for our Community.

If you are interested in becoming a member of the Community Asset Committee and would like to know more, please feel free to call me on 0417 514 807 or email me at peter.spring@gmail.com.

We would love to have your energy and fresh ideas on our Team.

Pete Spring
Chairman
Stribling Reserve Community Asset Committee

From the Chairman

A recent article in Surf Coast Times reports that Lorne has been named one of Australia’s best towns to visit, leading a strong showing for the Surf Coast and Geelong region in Australian Traveller’s annual top 100 rankings.

Victorian towns claimed 20 spots on the list, with Lorne ranked 11th overall and recognised among the country’s top food and wine destinations.

Torquay and Geelong also featured in the rankings at 30 and 34 respectively, while Port Fairy further along the Great Ocean Road narrowly missed a podium finish in fourth place.

The top 100 list was selected by a panel of 15 travel experts and divided into 10 tourism categories.

Lorne was recognised as one of Australia’s leading food and wine towns, with the coastal town described as a “foodie haven” with beautiful beaches and accommodation to match.

The crowds in Lorne over the weekend are testimony to the attraction of the Great Ocean Road.  The Great Ocean Road Running Festival attracted over 11,000 participants, including many overseas visitors, to compete in a variety of events including the 44km run from Lorne to Apollo Bay, trail runs through the Otway’s behind Lorne and walking/running events for all ages.  The Ultra (60km), Marathon (44km) and the half Marathon (23km) were all sold out.

What an incredible Festival to highlight the natural beauty of our region and to provide thousands of runners with the opportunity to experience the grandeur of the Great Ocean Road as it winds around the cliffs above the sea from Lorne to Apollo Bay.  Congratulations to the organisers for another brilliant event attracting so many people to our region after what was a very quiet summer season.

*****

Have you noticed the repurposed wine barrels on the footpath of Mountjoy Parade from Kosta’s Corner to the Bendigo Bank?  They are now being used for flower displays and have certainly brightened the view.  They are the brainchild of Matt Vincent whose wife Mel runs a clothing and accessories store in this strip of Mountjoy Parade called “Vic and Bert”.  They complement the similar displays managed by Dom and Kosta at Ipsos.

The tubs, planted out with colourful flowers certainly bring a “lift” to the streetscape.  Well done Matt.  Hopefully, the number of such displays will continue to grow and create something special in our main street.
*****

After an Away round and a Bye, Football and Netball return to Stribling Reserve on Saturday.  While Lorne Seniors and Reserves are on top of the ladder, Alvie are in third place so there should be some good contests.  Come along and support the Lorne Football and Netball Teams and if you are like me, a tragic Essendon (or Carlton) supporter, it’s a chance to see a winning team in action!

Pete Spring
Deputy Chairman
(still standing in for our Chairman, John Higgins, who keeps insisting his trip around Europe is a “well earned break”!)

29 May 2026

R [15], S [10] — I think the R’s have it.

have always enjoyed language and, hopefully, seek [or try to seek] its proper use.  This past month, my language antennae have been set to ‘maximum twitch’ on two fronts.

First, as a self-confessed budget addict—I watch it every year with a hearty McLaren Vale red, two simmering hot dogs, some bread, and lashings of Rosella tomato sauce all at hand—I suffer my yearly dose of masochism.

This year, the delivery of the Federal Budget was little different from usual, except that the Treasurer shamelessly used the same two buzzwords that also overpopulate a sign recently erected at the Erskine River mouth by the Great Ocean Road Coastal And Parks Authority [GORCAPA] … aka a local quango that specialises in Grabbing Or Restricting Coastal And Parks Access.

Jim Chalmers couldn’t help himself as he repeatedly wove GORCAPA’s two recurring bureaucratic buzzwords—resilience and sustainability—into his delivery.

Sensing that these schmoozy words would come, I decided to count how many times each word appeared in the Treasurer’s 27-minute speech and scribble an ‘R’ or ‘S’ on my notepad each time he used them.

The aggregate was a staggering 25 times [‘R’ x 15; ‘S’ x 10], yet I was sadly unsurprised to find that as the budget progressed, the tally grew exponentially.  Here—with tongue firmly in cheek—an aside … perhaps our political commentators could spice up next year’s telecast by adding [1] a terminology tally room or [2] conducting a national sweep for the most repeated word.  But, on a more serious note, what the Treasurer’s speech did hammer home was the honeyed hackney of current political speak!

Don Watson, Paul Keating’s remarkable speechwriter and the author of the classic compendium of contemporary Australian clichés, ‘Weasel Words’, would have had a field day.  Since its first publication in 2004, Watson’s lexicon of ‘weaseliness’ has been burgeoning.  Like a pandemic of illiteracy, it has spread to and infected even the lowliest middle managers and clipboarders in the land.

Although Jim Chalmers’ use of his favourite sentinel ‘R’ word in the 2026/27 budget speech was undeniably impressive, our own local quango [GORCAPA] has at least twice beaten him into a poor second—first with a new sign at the Erskine River mouth and again with a videoclip on their website.

The sign is self-explanatory [see attached photograph].  Meanwhile, the website features a 2:49-minute clip—‘Coastal Adaptation Plans Explained’—in which the word ‘resilience’ or ‘resilient’ is repeated seven times [or once every 24 seconds].  You can find it here – https://tinyurl.com/coastal-adaptation.  I cannot deny that I felt like adding one more ‘R’ of my own for having the ‘resilience’ to listen to the end.

The website also features [among many other offerings] a pair of sentences as follows:

  • “… the Great Ocean Road is subjected to coastal erosion and inundation due to more frequent storm events and increasing sea levels.”

This statement, while likely to be partly true, remains debatable.  Whether storms now classified as ‘events’ [weren’t they once just bad weather?] are more frequent is arguable—and likely historically untrue—with much of the apparent increase in ‘events’ arising from a combination of [1] far more frequent reporting and [2] an ongoing and diminishing severity in the criteria that deem an event.

Decades ago, weather [hot, cold, flood, drought] had to be near-cataclysmic to be widely reported.  Nowadays, a good 5-day easterly blow is seen by some as a weather disaster.  A nicely balanced article from ‘Our World in Data’ can be found at: https://ourworldindata.org/disaster-database-limitations and is well worth reading before jumping to conclusions that our 21st-century sky is falling in.

  • “… protecting and enhancing our iconic natural landscapes – and the State-owned infrastructure that sits upon them is a top priority.” 

While a laudable statement that is, on face value, hard to challenge with the ‘protecting’ part a worthy aim, I do draw a line at ‘enhancement’.

Nature is natural, nature is marvellous, and it is beyond arrogant and presumptuous to think that humans might be able to ‘enhance’ nature in all its terrible beauty and power.  Glory in it?—yes!  Enhance it?—surely not.  GORCAPA’s aim to ‘enhance’ smacks of misplaced conceit, as is represented by its interference with the natural awe of the Apostles’ coast with its ‘architectural’ viewing platforms.  Enhancement should never be about redesigning nature to suit our temporary liking.

Words matter.  The overuse of words, however laudable their intent, can lessen their impact, even cheapen their outcome.

‘Resilience’ is a relatively recent buzzword addition.  Don Watson did not list it in his superb 2004 lexicon of political platitudes and clichés: ‘Watson’s Dictionary of Weasel Words: Contemporary Cliches, Cant, and Management Jargon’.  Nor did it appear in his second 2015 dip into the same topic:  ‘Worst Words: A Compendium of Contemporary Cant, Gibberish and Jargon’.  Resilience appears to be a Johnny-come-lately in bureaucratic-speak.

Googling ‘… the use of resilience as a bureaucratic buzzword’, the following AI summary paragraph popped up and while I normally resist using AI in my articles, on this occasion the response was ‘golden’.  Google AI answered as follows:

“When ‘resilience’ is used as a bureaucratic buzzword, it often shifts the responsibility for systemic failures onto individuals.  Instead of organisations or governments fixing toxic workloads, budget cuts, or environmental risks, they use the term to demand that employees or communities silently endure hardship without complaining.”

Googling a second question: ‘…when did bureaucrats fall in love with resilience?’ … AI returned an even more interesting response.

“Bureaucrats and policymakers ‘fell in love’ with resilience in two distinct waves: first in the early 2000s as a disaster-management framework, and permanently after the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It shifted from an obscure term in ecology and psychology to a universal government buzzword used to justify budget cuts and manage crises. 

The concept is inherently vague. For governments, resilience is an incredibly flexible tool—it allows bureaucracies to appear proactive and adaptable without committing to massive, expensive systemic reforms.  It also subtly shifts the burden of surviving a crisis and an economic downturn away from state institutions and onto local communities and individual citizens.”

Governments, politicians, and local bureaucrats need to realise that, to gain their constituents’ trust and respect, they must speak and write clear Anglo-Saxon English, for we, the people, are full to pussy’s bow with complex managerial word salads and obfuscation.

John Agar
Feature Writer

From the Chairman

Last week was National Volunteers week, an opportunity to recognise and celebrate those volunteers who just “get things done”.  The Surf Coast Shire implemented a program called Local Legends which allowed our communities on the Surf Coast to nominate members of the community who, through their selfless contributions, were deserving of recognition.

The Shire held a range of events at Shire offices and within our communities to provide an opportunity for public recognition of the “legends”.  In Lorne the event was held the newly refurbished rooms of the Lorne Historical Society followed by an afternoon tea upstairs at Lorne Community House.  This provided an opportunity for the Historical Society to showcase its new, rather imposing façade, itself the product of the work of many volunteers, in particular the Lorne Men’s Shed which built the panels for the façade, the selfless contributions of local Architects Bob Sinclair and the late Chris Wood and the many, many people and organisations who supported the project.

Our own Doug Stirling was recognised as a local legend by a Community Commitment award.  Doug is 103 years old and still an active member of the Lorne Men’s Shed. We believe that he is the oldest men’s shed member in Australia.  During his time, Doug has contributed of 70 years of his time, energy and effort to a large number of community organisations in Lorne.  Congratulations and well done Doug!

Just as significant was the recognition of the wider Lorne Community by a Community Commitment award.  The citation on the award reads, in part; “When flash flooding of Erskine and Cumberland Rivers struck in January, sweeping away cars, caravans and tents and flooding buildings, roads and bridges, Lorne community members responded with remarkable speed, care and heart…..Lorne’s response demonstrated the best of a community coming together – protecting and caring for visitors, supporting neighbours and caring for Country…..Many small but meaningful acts combined to become a significant whole response which helped people feel warmly and securely supported and cared for in hours of sudden need.”

Take a bow Lorne Community, you deserve it!

*****

The Point Grey redevelopment project continues at a steady pace.  Significant changes are now visible and the drive in space, off the Great Ocean Road which allows the curious amongst us to park and have a look through the construction fence at what is happening.  Most notable is the construction of the rock revetment wall building upon the rock wall that is in front of where the Aquatic Club once stood.  The new wall is longer, higher and is, in itself, a bit of a work of art.  The concrete slab for the new Aquatic Club has been poured and I am encouraged that my investment of $10, nominating 11am on Melbourne Cup Day, 2026 as the date and time that the first beer is poured, might not be too far wrong.  The site of the Co-op has now been cleared and I understand the slab for the new building will be poured in the next couple of weeks.  Let’s hope the new Point Grey precinct does justice to this important piece of Lorne’s culture and history.

*****

It would be remiss not to recognise the milestone 80th birthday of our Feature Writer on this page and regular contributor to the Lorne Independent, John Agar.  John celebrated last weekend with family and friends and it was a wonderful event.  Happy Birthday John and here’s to many more!

Pete Spring
Deputy Chairman of Committee for Lorne

(continuing to fill in for our Chairman who, along with so many other Lorneites, continues to swan around Europe!)