Lorne Victoria | |||||||||||||||
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Coordinates | 38°32′S143°58′E / 38.533°S 143.967°E | ||||||||||||||
Population | 1,114 (2016 census) [1] | ||||||||||||||
Established | 1869 | ||||||||||||||
Postcode(s) | 3232 | ||||||||||||||
Elevation | 15 m (49 ft) | ||||||||||||||
Location | |||||||||||||||
LGA(s) | Surf Coast Shire | ||||||||||||||
State electorate(s) | Polwarth | ||||||||||||||
Federal division(s) | Corangamite | ||||||||||||||
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Lorne is a seaside town on Louttit Bay in Victoria, Australia. It is situated about the Erskine River and is a popular destination on the Great Ocean Road tourist route. Lorne is in the Surf Coast Shire and at the 2016 census had a population of 1,114 but this figure grows during the holiday season. [1]
Prior to British settlement, Lorne was part of the traditional lands of the Gadubanud or King Parrot people of the Cape Otway coast according to Ian Clark, [2]
Lorne is situated on a bay named after Captain Louttit, who sought shelter there in 1841 while supervising the retrieval of cargo from a nearby shipwreck. The coast was surveyed five years later in 1846. The first European settler was William Lindsay, a timber-cutter who began felling the area in 1849. The first telegraph arrived in 1859. Subdivision began in 1869 and in 1871 the town was named after the Marquess of Lorne from Argyleshire in Scotland on the occasion of his marriage to Princess Louise, one of Queen Victoria's daughters. The Post Office opened on 29 April 1874. [3]
In 1891, the area was visited by Rudyard Kipling, who was inspired to write the poem Flowers[ citation needed ], which includes the lines:
Buy my hot-wood clematis,
Buy a frond of fern,
Gathered where the Erskine leaps
Down the road to Lorne.
By 1922, the Great Ocean Road was extended to Lorne, making the town much more accessible. The first passenger road service to Geelong was established in 1924 and guesthouses began to appear after 1930.[ citation needed ]
Lorne Magistrates' Court closed on 1 October 1984. [4]
Popular local activities include traditional beach pursuits such as family bathing and surfing, as well as pier fishing for barracuda, whiting, and trevally. Teddy's Lookout lies at the end of George Street on the town's southern outskirts and offers fine views over the town, coastline, and Great Ocean Road. The Great Otway National Park is nearby; the Erskine River, which rises in the park and contains the Erskine Falls, has its mouth at Lorne. [5]
The town's population swells to around 13,000[ citation needed ] each New Year's Eve when the Falls Festival takes place. During the first weekend of January over 20,000 spectators visit Lorne when the town hosts the 1.2 km Pier to Pub swim (described in the Guinness Book of Records as "the largest organised ocean swim in the world" and currently capped at 4,000 competitors [6] ), the 8 km Mountain to Surf run, and the Lorne Surf Boat Race. Terminating in Lorne on the Queen's Birthday was the Great Otway Classic Foot Race (no longer held). Fair on the Foreshore occurs on the first weekend in November.
The town has two pubs (The Grand Pacific Hotel and Lorne Hotel) and a number of cafes, restaurants, and bakeries, mostly located along Mountjoy Parade. As usual in a tourist town, there is a large number of boutiques and clothing stores, as well as a book store, art galleries, and craft shops. Lorne has the Great Ocean Road Museum, which describes the history of the road. Things to do in Lorne include strolling along the Great Ocean Road, visiting the Lorne Pier, surfing or exploring the Otway Ranges National Park. There are also many art galleries and cultural events to enjoy. [7]
The town is home to the Lorne Football Netball Club, which competes in both Australian Rules football and netball in the Colac & District Football Netball League. [8]
Golf and tennis are played at the Lorne Country Club on Holliday Road. [9]
Lorne has one school, Lorne P-12 College, that facilitates both primary and secondary education.
Lorne has a local magazine, Lorne Independent, published monthly. The local newspaper sold in Lorne is the Geelong Advertiser, published daily except Sundays.
Five free-to-air television networks, Seven, WIN, Network 10, ABC TV and SBS, all broadcast a service to Lorne. Unlike Anglesea/Aireys Inlet, the Ballarat channels are being broadcast into Lorne instead of the Melbourne channels via a translator in the coastal city, although the Melbourne channels can be received in Lorne with a high-gain mast antenna system aiming at Mount Dandenong.
Lorne receives radio stations from Melbourne and Geelong. Previously, Mixx FM was broadcasting into Lorne via a translator on 92.7 FM, but this was turned off in August 2021 due to low listenership and the clear reception of Melbourne and Geelong FM stations. A translator for OCR FM on 88.7 FM is available for local radio in Lorne.
Lorne has an oceanic climate (Cfb) with mild summers and cool, damp winters.
Climate data for Lorne Pier Head | |||||||||||||
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Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 42.5 (108.5) | 42.6 (108.7) | 39.6 (103.3) | 33.4 (92.1) | 25.7 (78.3) | 19.7 (67.5) | 21.6 (70.9) | 26.0 (78.8) | 29.0 (84.2) | 33.8 (92.8) | 36.3 (97.3) | 42.2 (108.0) | 42.6 (108.7) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 23.2 (73.8) | 24.0 (75.2) | 22.3 (72.1) | 19.9 (67.8) | 17.2 (63.0) | 14.6 (58.3) | 14.1 (57.4) | 15.0 (59.0) | 16.5 (61.7) | 18.3 (64.9) | 19.9 (67.8) | 21.8 (71.2) | 18.9 (66.0) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 14.1 (57.4) | 14.8 (58.6) | 14.0 (57.2) | 12.1 (53.8) | 10.4 (50.7) | 8.6 (47.5) | 7.5 (45.5) | 7.9 (46.2) | 8.7 (47.7) | 9.8 (49.6) | 11.2 (52.2) | 12.6 (54.7) | 11.0 (51.8) |
Record low °C (°F) | 7.2 (45.0) | 8.1 (46.6) | 7.3 (45.1) | 5.2 (41.4) | 3.4 (38.1) | 3.0 (37.4) | 2.2 (36.0) | 3.0 (37.4) | 3.8 (38.8) | 4.2 (39.6) | 4.7 (40.5) | 6.1 (43.0) | 2.2 (36.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 41.9 (1.65) | 33.1 (1.30) | 61.6 (2.43) | 69.7 (2.74) | 72.4 (2.85) | 77.4 (3.05) | 87.3 (3.44) | 96.9 (3.81) | 92.2 (3.63) | 80.7 (3.18) | 69.9 (2.75) | 49.6 (1.95) | 839.4 (33.05) |
Average precipitation days | 9.7 | 7.1 | 11.7 | 13.4 | 16.2 | 17.7 | 19.5 | 20.8 | 17.8 | 16.1 | 14.0 | 11.9 | 175.9 |
Average relative humidity (%) | 64 | 63 | 68 | 68 | 73 | 74 | 73 | 69 | 70 | 68 | 67 | 65 | 69 |
Source: [10] |
Lorne contains a number of heritage listed sites, including:
Geelong is a port city in Victoria, Australia, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay and the left bank of Barwon River, about 75 km (47 mi) southwest of Melbourne. With an estimated population of 282,809 in 2023, Geelong is the second largest city in the state of Victoria. It is the administrative centre for the City of Greater Geelong municipality, which is Port Phillip's only regional metropolitan area, and covers all the urban, rural and coastal reserves around the city including the entire Bellarine Peninsula and running from the plains of Lara in the north to the rolling hills of Waurn Ponds to the south, with Corio Bay to the east and the Barrabool Hills to the west.
The Great Ocean Road is an Australian National Heritage-listed 240-kilometre (150 mi) stretch of road along the south-eastern coast of Australia, between the Victorian towns of Torquay and Allansford. Built by returned soldiers between 1919 and 1932, and dedicated to soldiers killed during World War I, the road is the world's largest war memorial. Winding through varying terrain along the coast, and providing access to several prominent landmarks, including the Twelve Apostles limestone stack formations, the road is an important tourist attraction.
Colac is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, approximately 150 kilometres south-west of Melbourne on the southern shore of Lake Colac.
Aireys Inlet is a small coastal inlet and town located on the Great Ocean Road, southwest of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Aireys Inlet is located between Anglesea and Lorne, and joined with Fairhaven, Moggs Creek, and Eastern View to the west.
Torquay is a seaside resort in Victoria, Australia, which faces Bass Strait, 21 km south of Geelong and is the gateway to the Great Ocean Road. It is bordered on the west by Spring Creek and its coastal features include Point Danger and Zeally Bay. At the 2021 census, Torquay had a population of 18,534.
Apollo Bay is a coastal town in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It is situated on the eastern side of Cape Otway, along the edge of the Barham River and on the Great Ocean Road, in the Colac Otway Shire. The town had a population of 1,790 at the 2021 census.
Anglesea is a town in Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Great Ocean Road in the Surf Coast Shire local government area. In the 2016 census, Anglesea had a population of 2,545 people.
Winchelsea is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Surf Coast Shire local government area, the suburb or locality of Winchelsea is predominantly within Surf Coast Shire with a small section within the Colac Otway Shire. Winchelsea is located on the Barwon River 115 km south-west of Melbourne and close to Geelong.
Kennett River is a small seaside town in Victoria, Australia.
Wye River is a small town in Victoria, Australia. It is also the name given to the waterway which flows through the town and into the sea. Situated 155 km to the west of Melbourne, on the Otway Coast, part of the scenic Great Ocean Road, the Wye River township is located about 15 km west of the resort town Lorne, Victoria. It became more feasible for Melburnians to holiday there after the section of the Great Ocean Road from Lorne to Apollo Bay was opened in 1932. At the 2016 census, Wye River had a permanent population of 66, although its holiday population is ten times that.
Inverleigh is a town in Victoria, Australia located 28 kilometres (17 mi) west from the City of Geelong and 87 kilometres (54 mi) from the state capital, Melbourne. The town is divided between Golden Plains Shire and Surf Coast Shire. In the 2021 census, the central area of Inverleigh had a population of 1,746. Inverleigh is known to be a popular stopover destination on the way to Lorne. The Inverleigh Hotel is very popular attracting customers from Geelong.
The electoral district of Polwarth is an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly. It is located in south-west rural Victoria, west of Geelong, and covers the Colac and Corangamite local government areas (LGA), parts of the Moyne, Golden Plains and Surf Coast LGAs, and slivers of the Ararat and Greater Geelong LGAs, running along the Great Ocean Road taking in Anglesea, Cape Otway, Peterborough, Aireys Inlet, Lorne, Wye River, Apollo Bay and Port Campbell, covering the inland towns of Winchelsea, Colac, Camperdown and Terang along the Princes Highway, and Inverleigh, Cressy, Lismore and Mortlake on the Hamilton Highway, and finally, includes the Otway Ranges and Lake Corangamite.
Cape Otway is a cape and a bounded locality of the Colac Otway Shire in southern Victoria, Australia on the Great Ocean Road; much of the area is enclosed in the Great Otway National Park. The cape marks the boundary between the Southern Ocean on the west and Bass Strait on the east.
The Lorne Pier to Pub is an annual, 1.2-km open water swimming race held in January at Lorne, a town located on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia.
The Erskine River is a river in southwestern Victoria, Australia. It arises in the Otway Ranges and enters Bass Strait to the east of Cape Otway through the town of Lorne. The Erskine River above the falls is known for its high diversity of native fish species and low occurrence of introduced species.
Gellibrand is a town in south west Victoria, Australia. The town is located in the Otway Ranges midway between the Princes Highway and Great Ocean Road in the Colac Otway Shire, 176 kilometres (109 mi) south west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Gellibrand had a population of 210. Gellibrand is home to the Otway Districts Demons Football and Netball Club, who play Australian Rules Football and participate in the Colac & District Football League.
Mount Moriac is a locality in the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia. In the 2016 census, Mount Moriac had a population of 240 people.
Eastern View is a locality in the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia.
Benwerrin is a rural locality in the Surf Coast Shire, Victoria, Australia.
The Forrest railway line is a former branch railway in Victoria, Australia. It branched off the Warrnambool railway line at Birregurra, and ran through the foothills of the Otway Ranges to the town of Forrest.
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