Unusual Tales of the Lorne Region

It started with an email enquiry to the Lorne Historical Society. The lady was enquiring about a silver dome house on Big Hill which she remembered from her childhood visits to her grandmother’s house in Lorne. There weren’t any photos in the archives of the Historical Society but, as luck would have it, I had some photos of the dome because at one stage in our love affair with Lorne, we owned the block of land on the opposite side of the Great Ocean Road, immediately above the dome. In fact, we used to walk through the property (with the owner’s permission) which led to a track down to the beach below where we spent many, many enjoyable days. The Ash Wednesday fires spelt the demise of the dome. The block of land remained empty for many years and we sold our block and bought a house in Lorne. But after nearly 25 years, I was now curious to know a little more about the dome and its origins. All I knew was that it was owned by “Scotty”.

Avenues of research are many and varied these days so my first port of call was social media! I put a post on that source of everything Lorne, the Lorne Community Noticeboard. I included a photo of the dome and a request to anyone who had some information. I certainly did not expect the result I got! For those unfamiliar with the jargon of Facebook, more than 65 people “liked” my post. More importantly, about 60 people added a comment. This is in a matter of four days! I now know that John Scott, a photographer and somewhat eccentric individual, purchased the silver geodesic dome at an exhibition of futuristic housing held in Adelaide in the mid 1960s. He brought the dome to Lorne and stored it on a block of land in Waverley Ave with the intention of installing it there. The council said no so he moved it to Big Hill, on the low side of the Ocean Road which in those days was managed by a different council.

As I said, the dome was destroyed by the Ash Wednesday fires in 1983. John Scott moved back to his home in Williamstown. He died there in 1995 at the age of 53. People posted copies of news articles and tributes from the press of the time, which give much more information about this most interesting man. Other postings in response to my query provide some insight into his eccentricity. The toilet door in the dome was clear Perspex. The plumbing from the bathroom was transparent piping running through the living areas of the house! There were a number of comments from posters who remarked about attending New Year’s Eve parties at the dome. No specific facts, just a hint of what they might have been like. And so, from one enquiry about a dome on Big Hill and a subsequent enquiry posted on Facebook, we have a picture of a man who must have loomed large in the community of Lorne at the time.

Having discovered this wonderful source of research, (I make no claims to the accuracy of all responses to questions), I decided to cast yet again; this time in response to some material recently gifted to the Lorne Historical Society. The material related to another character of the time in this region, Sir Samuel Moggs of Moggs Creek. The material supplied includes a story of Moggs as a navigator of a ship which came aground at Moggs Creek in 1763. The crew survived and established a settlement at Moggs Creek. Under Moggs’ leadership, the community thrived and established good relationships with the local aboriginal clan. One of Moggs’ achievements was to establish a whisky distillery using the clear sparkling water in the region behind Aireys Inlet at what is now known at Distillery Creek. The Lorne Historical Society is now the proud holder of a bottle of “Moggs Lighthouse Very Old Matured Whiskey” dated 1765. The story of Moggs and the bottle of Whisky will be on display at the society’s rooms very shortly. So, yet another tale of Lorne’s past and another of the characters which made this special place. In Moggs’ case, either through his actions or just the myth that has built over time, who knows?

There are many other tales of Lorne which need to be documented. For instance, the Tin Hill Mob. The people, the stories and escapades and last but not least, what is the “Ballad of Tin Hill”? People talk about it but no one I’ve talked to as yet can recite or sing it. We would like to gather as much information of the tales as we can. If you have a tale to tell, head to the Facebook page of the Lorne Historical Society or email us at [email protected].