Community Profile – February 15, 2018

Christine’s parents with three 3 small daughters moved to Lorne in 1954. Christine attended the local kindergarten, the Lorne school to year 10 then high school in Geelong.

She worked part time at Mrs Carmichael’s drapery store and Ozone Milk Bar before a permanent job at the Lorne Fishermen’s Co-op. She recorded the fishermen’s daily catch and managed wages. After two years, Christine moved to Melbourne and worked with Norma Tullo as a fabric buyer. She returned to Lorne three years later and worked in the Arab and also at the original Rip Curl in Torquay. It was during this time she met up with Ian, whom she had known since 1965.

Ian visited Lorne in 1962 as a “chaperone” for his sister and her fiancé staying at Kia-Ora Guest House. “I saw them twice. Once when we arrived and again when we left. I went surfing.” Born and educated in Edithvale, Ian worked as an electrician for W. Tolson & Co. His obsession for surfing, meant weekends were spent “wherever there were waves”. “In the early ‘60s, my mates and I surfed and camped up and down the East Coast of Australia from Noosa in Queensland to Victor Harbour in South Australia and every surfing spot in between.”

In 1968, Ian’s “board bumps” resulted in him failing the medical for national service. So he left for the UK where, for two and a half years he lived and surfed in England, Morocco and California. To supplement his travels, he stuck labels on baked bean cans, was a chef and made surfboards in California.

It was when he returned that he met up again with Christine. They married in 1973 and moved to New Zealand for 12 months. Ian worked as an electrician. Back in Australia, Ian worked stints in Weipa and Gladstone before moving from Melbourne to Aireys Inlet to set up his own electrical contracting business, Anglesea & Aireys Inlet Electrics.

“Pre Ash Wednesday, Aireys Inlet was a small community, so you became a member of just about every committee. I was captain of the Aireys Inlet CFA for many years, which involved rebuilding work after Ash Wednesday. I was also a trainer for the Lorne Football Club.”

In 1985, the family moved to Lorne and with Christine’s brother and his wife bought the original fish and chip shop and ran it for four years. They built a family home for their three children Selena, Shannon and Stephanie. When it came to downsizing, they bought a smaller house and a motor home and travelled the east coast of Australia for 12 months.

In retirement, Ian still surfs, volunteers at the Info Centre and Historical Society, and is an avid photographer. Christine cooks the seniors’ Wednesday lunches and loves doing anything associated with sewing, knitting, crocheting, needlework and craft.

“Oh, by the way,” says Ian, “can you let everyone know that I am NOT the ‘Waldo from Lorne’ who writes jokes in the Herald Sun… my jokes are much funnier.”

CW