Committee For Lorne: Lorne Historical Society Celebrates 50th Anniversary

This year we celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Lorne Historical Society. At such a time it is appropriate to ask why do research the past and study history? We certainly do not learn from the lessons of history.

Each decade sees yet another genocide perpetrated in parts of the world. It is arguable that the trade restrictions imposed by the United States on Japan in the 1930s forced Japan into World War 2. The United States is now imposing trade restrictions upon China.

Humans are naturally curious and have a thirst for knowledge. We do want to know about our past, our family history and our place in space. The research undertaken by the Lorne Historical Society enhances our sense of community. It is to the 12 people who met at the Lorne School in 1968 to form the Society that we owe a great debt, and to the many who followed and who worked so diligently to collect photographs, stories and memorabilia.

The 12 were Paul Birch, Martin McHugh, Myrtle McHugh, Joan Wheal, Lorna Inderberg, Judy Watts, Ivy Baldry, Bert Alsop, Doug Stirling, Murray Mill and Ian Gribble.

The minutes of that meeting in March show that the membership fee was one dollar and a vote was taken to raise one dollar for petty cash. A sub-committee was formed to write a constitution and the first display was planned for the shop front at the Lorne Cinema.

We will plan a more formal celebration later in the year, but at the end of the guesthouse exhibition and at the start of the planning for the fishing exhibition it was appropriate to raise a glass on Sunday to toast our founders.

Since the Society’s rooms were refurbished last year, we have staged two themed exhibitions.

The first was of the shipwrecks which occurred around the coast close to Lorne and the second exhibition told the stories of the Guesthouses of Lorne.

That exhibition is now closed and we are gearing up for our next themed exhibition related to the fishing industry in Lorne.

This time, when there were over 20 fishing boats based in Lorne and raised and lowered by a crane on the pier, which was a boom time for industry in Lorne.

The Society has many images of the boats on the pier, fishermen cleaning their catch in Louttit Bay and of the last days of launching boats using the crane.

We would love to have more material; photos, stories, memorabilia, to document and display this important era of Lorne’s history.

The Society has facilities to digitise photographs and documents and we would be grateful to anyone who is prepared to loan any memorabilia to allow us to copy and catalog as part of our collection. We will respect any material you wish to loan and after creating digital copies all material will be returned to the lender. If you have such material and would like to contribute to this new display, you can contact the Society either by leaving a message at 5289 1191 of emailing us at [email protected]

Gary Allen