Creative homage to Lorne ‘couta fishers

SURF Coast school children and former Lorne fishermen have helped contribute to a public momento to the town’s fishing industry.

Moggs Creek environmental artist Peter Day orchestrated the Barracouta Country project now on display at Lorne’s foreshore.

The installation near Lorne Sea Baths is a nostalgic nod to Lorne’s 20th-century history as a fishing village while also serving as a public awareness tool to warn against threats such as seismic testing and overfishing that have impacted the area in recent decades.

Mr Day describes his project as merging art with ecology to research the decline of the

Surf Coast barracouta and the local industry is supported.

“I’ve been on this coast all my life and have a direct connection to those barracouta fishing days at Lorne.

“I remember well all the boats on the pier and Lorne as a busy, thriving little village and sustainable fishing town.”

Mr Day said the new project aimed to keep those memories alive by passing stories from fishermen to younger generations without living memory of that part of the town’s history.

Barracouta Country involved Lorne P-12 College students who interview Lorne fisherman of bygone eras about their experience during and exiting the industry.

“I’ve done a lot of work with communities and schools over the past 10 to 15 years on projects such as this one,” Mr Day said.

“It’s really about going into communities and schools and talking about what was there and is no longer there.

“Then you ask the questions about what happened.

“It’s an environmental awareness project, but it’s also a social awareness project cause it connects the elders with the youth.”

Visitors to the artwork site can scan QR codes as part of the exhibition to listen to those interviews.

Mr Day said he hoped by sharing the story in a public, accessible forum that he could raise awareness about the history and contemporary issues around biodiversity loss and its impacts.

“It’s about learning about the history of the of the town and giving credit to those early families and what they did, and also learning from the mistakes we’ve made.

“I’m a big advocate for artwork happening outside the art gallery.

“If art is there to stimulate change and give people a different perspective on things, it needs to be out there in public.

“So that’s why I do this work. I see it as a way to make artwork a vehicle for change. And I see the youth as being really important in bringing that change to happen in the future.”

State government agency Creative Victoria funded the Barracouta Country project, with seed funding provided by Surf Coast Shire Council.