Road’s name to honour Lillian Beaurepaire

A ROAD in Lorne will be renamed to further associate an Olympic diver and swimmer’s history with the town.

The presently unnamed section of road and part of Beaurepaire Drive in the Lorne Industrial Estate will be called Lillian Close, after
Lillian Beaurepaire.

A diver at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, as well as a competitor in 100-metre and 400-metre events, Ms Beaurepaire was Lorne’s only life saver for many years.

The pool in Lorne was funded by the Beaurepaire family and was opened in 1967 as the Lillian Beaurepaire Memorial Pool for community use.

It was later was renamed the Lorne Sea Baths following the transfer of foreshore management to the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee.

Ms Beaurepaire died in Geelong in 1979 at the age of 87.

According to the officers’ report to councillors at their January 19 meeting, one of Ms Beaurepaire’s living relatives has been contacted about the proposal and has expressed her support and gratitude for the proposed naming.

Speaking at the meeting, Cr Gary Allen acknowledged the work of his predecessor in Lorne Ward, Clive Goldsworthy, in pursuing the renaming of the road, and revealed his father worked for Ms Beaurepaire’s father.

“Lillian was a strong but humble person who served our community well, and it’s with a great deal of pleasure that I move this motion,” Cr Allen said.

The naming is necessary as a one-hectare property at 28 Erskine Falls Road is being subdivided.

Several of these subdivided lots will gain access to Erskine Falls Road from the easternmost section of Beaurepaire Drive and the unnamed section of road.

As the street numbering on Beaurepaire Drive starts at a point 70m along the roadway, there is no opportunity to number the new lots being created to Beaurepaire Drive unless the entire street were to be renumbered.

A more practical solution is to rename the southernmost section of Beaurepaire Drive, which has no properties off it, and the section of
unnamed road.

The council resolved at its December 2020 meeting to declare its intention to rename the roads and issued a public notice inviting submissions in response to the resolution, but received no submissions.

The council will now submit the proposed name to the Office of Geographic Names, and once approved, will put up signage for the newly-named Lillian Close and update its registers.