{"id":158002,"date":"2025-03-21T04:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T17:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=158002"},"modified":"2025-03-20T10:34:55","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T23:34:55","slug":"committee-for-lorne-a-managerial-history-of-lorne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/committee-for-lorne-a-managerial-history-of-lorne\/","title":{"rendered":"Committee for Lorne: A Managerial History of Lorne"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Managerial History of Lorne<\/strong><\/p>\n

Back in the day, the geographical, trade, access, and communication isolation of Australia\u2019s regional towns bred an ethos of self-sufficiency and community can-do. They learned to manage for themselves\u2014they had to\u2014and they greatly benefited from doing so. Our towns bore the stamp of individuality, preference, and invention.<\/p>\n

Further, as the ubiquitous 30 km separation between towns\u2014the distance of a single day\u2019s comfortable horse ride\u2014discouraged easy \u2018tradie\u2019 interchange, local expertise [jacks of all trades] provided the local workforce. As local problems were often solved in creatively different ways, our towns became charmingly unique.<\/p>\n

Lorne, isolated by its landward topography and an often fractious sea, grew into a resilient town full of proud, \u201cwe\u2019ve got this\u201d townsfolk who resisted being pushed around by outsiders. Although small interest groups were often formed to solve specific issues, an overarching assembly of respected citizens evolved to provide overall direction. Enter the Marram Grass Committee [MGC]\u2014a community group formed to import and plant marram grass\u2014a native North Sea native dune grass from lowlands of the Zuiderzee\u2014after a brutal 1881 easterly washed away the dune barrier and destroyed the wooden sea baths.<\/p>\n

However, marram management was not the only game in town. A growing interest in tourism, camping [and camper control], cricket and football [then played on the Mountjoy flat], tennis, bowls, and other beach-related activities demanded an over-arching management approach. Thus, the MGC was replaced by the Lorne Foreshore Committee [LFC]\u2014in effect, a \u2018defacto\u2019 town council\u2014which first met on Friday, 29th<\/sup> May 1896.<\/p>\n

From inception [1896] to final dissolution [2004], the LFC served Lorne as its overarching management group for 108 years. While other interest groups came and went according to need, the LFC was Lorne\u2019s unchallenged bridge to its regional administrator, the Winchelsea Shire. On behalf of the town, the LFC negotiated, jockeyed, and [sometimes] went to battle with the Shire, utility providers, state government departments and their ministers.<\/p>\n

It had teeth and got stuff done. True, the townsfolk did not always agree with the LFC and fierce [and sometimes bitter] disagreements did<\/u> occasionally erupt over specific issues, plans, and proposals … but the LFC never wavered from its single, laser-sharp focus: it fought for Lorne, and Lorne alone.<\/p>\n

Arguably, the 90s was when stuff began to \u2018go wrong\u2019 for many tight-knit, self-confident regional communities, like Lorne … though hindsight is<\/u> a powerful tool. On 9th<\/sup> March 1994, ninety-eight years of co-existence ended when the Winchelsea Shire was merged into the Torquay-based Surf Coast Shire.<\/p>\n

The Kennett government had formed the view that bigger was better.\u00a0 \u2018Amalgamation\u2019 was its catchphrase. Local councils were summarily disbanded or merged into mega-councils that \u2018managed from a distance\u2019. Regional shires were combined [210 became 78], and towns\u2014perhaps an unintended consequence\u2014were stripped of autonomy and self-destiny.<\/p>\n

Like triffids, new centralised \u2018decision-makers\u2019 evolved with a brief to streamline and save. Many now would argue that the opposite occurred and that our now ever-bloating bureaucracy\u2014paralysed into inaction by red tape and regulation\u2014literally \u2018knows not what it is doing\u2019.<\/p>\n

The Winchelsea Shire had been a generally benign parent. Broadly, it had allowed Lorne to be Lorne. Of course there were tiffs … but none were ever major. 1994 changed all that … not just for Lorne but for vibrant, quirky towns state-wide. While some benefited from the changes\u2014especially those chosen as hubs\u2014others did not fare so well.<\/p>\n

Relocated [along with Winchelsea] to a larger and seemingly less-caring Surf Coast administration where Lorne\u2019s voice dwindled to that of a single minority councillor, the benefits seemed few while the losses accrued. As the LFC lost heart and influence, and as our hard-working but out-voted single councillor fought a plethora of uphill battles in the council chamber, it was increasingly frustrating work. But, as some say, worse was to come.<\/p>\n

2004 was another seminal year for bureaucratisation. Coincident\u2014and to compound the problems\u2014the government introduced a new coastal \u2018mothership\u2019, the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee [GORCC]. This even less-caring behemoth was tasked with managing all coastal land from Point Impossible to the Cumberland River and thus the demise of the Lorne Foreshore Committee.<\/p>\n

Always hampered by the \u2018who is responsible for what\u2019 conundrum, GORCC and the Surf Coast Shire played a lot of keepings-off with roads, rubbish, and maintenance as their communities drifted along in the middle.<\/p>\n

Though heavily promoted as an improvement, a series of non-decisions quickly soured GORCC\u2019s relationship with Lorne\u2019s townsfolk with disappointment, disenfranchisement, disengagement, and disinterest dominating the Point Grey debacle and a betrayal of community trust over the pool precinct agreement. Other unrealised projects also died on the GORCC vine.<\/p>\n

On 1st<\/sup> December 2020, Lorne awoke with new hope. GORCC had been \u2018executed\u2019 and replaced by the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks Authority [GORCAPA] under the Great Ocean Road Environs Protection Act 2020 [https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/55w35ydp<\/a>].\u00a0 As the dedicated land manager for ~950 hectares of coastal reserves between Point Impossible and Marengo, GORCAPA would surely<\/u> heal some of GORCC\u2019s festering sores. Four years and counting, 2025 is now zinging past.<\/p>\n