{"id":169389,"date":"2025-09-05T04:00:42","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T18:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/?p=169389"},"modified":"2025-09-04T11:20:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T01:20:34","slug":"committee-for-lorne-the-slaughterhouse-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/surfcoasttimes\/news\/committee-for-lorne-the-slaughterhouse-site\/","title":{"rendered":"Committee for Lorne: The Slaughterhouse Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Slaughterhouse Site<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is a substantial tract of land just beyond the limits of the Lorne township that has long been known as ‘the Slaughterhouse site.’ \u00a0Similar sites can be found at the edges of most country towns.<\/p>\n

Lorne’s Slaughterhouse site is an exposed, windswept, rather wild, and very beautiful parcel of undeveloped land that stretches to the south of Hird Street [the last street in Lorne].\u00a0 Its frontage skirts around the Great Ocean Road towards the [St] George River to the south, while its rear nestles back against the Queens Park Reserve.\u00a0 Bushwalkers will know it as the starting point of the Tramway Track that follows the old timber railway from the lower contours of Teddy’s Lookout to the George River bridge.\u00a0 Its seaward aspect looks out over Bass Strait and, from its southern corner, the mouth of the George River.<\/p>\n

While the Slaughterhouse site is largely unknown to most, it still surfaces when a plot of land is being considered for development, though I fervently hope that it will remain forever untouched.\u00a0 Like the Anglesea Heath that edges the southern border of Anglesea, Lorne’s Slaughterhouse site creates an untamed border at the southern edge of the town that is both charming and primitive.\u00a0 Long may that be so!<\/p>\n

As its name suggests, the site was once Lorne’s killing field … a place where the animals that provided necessary protein for the township were brought to be killed and dismembered.\u00a0 Lorne’s timber industry and hinterland, the hospitality industry that underpinned its burgeoning reputation as a tourist destination, and later the returned diggers who built the road\u2014all demanded and received animal protein from the slaughterhouse.\u00a0 Like most like sites in most towns and villages, it was tucked away ‘around a corner and out of public sight’, as the thought of slaughtering animals for food was troubling to the public conscience and was anathema to Victorian-era sensibilities.\u00a0 To be out of sight and out of mind was essential.<\/p>\n

However, like it or not, ‘slaughter and eat’ is an embedded cornerstone of every food chain … indeed every living creature kills and consumes, and the human omnivore is at [or close to] the top of that often cruel but necessary food chain.<\/p>\n

One observation perfectly captures this history when, several years ago, as part of his school project on ‘The History of Lorne’, one enterprising Lorne P-12 College student created an excellent video series documenting the memories of some of our key living treasures.\u00a0 During his sit-down interview with Henry Love, Henry correctly observed that “any meat eaten in the early decades of Lorne walked into town”<\/em> to be slaughtered locally.\u00a0 Animal death to satisfy human needs has always been ‘a fact of life’.<\/p>\n

For as long as there has been a recorded history, slaughtermen have provided this essential service.\u00a0 While vegetarians and vegans would take issue with my phrase ‘essential service’, this is not the place to argue the pros and cons of the vegan cause.\u00a0 Suffice to say that slaughtermen are expected to adhere to a strict code of ethics that ensures that animals are treated with respect, dispatched as humanely as possible, and later butchered efficiently and well.<\/p>\n

Slaughtermen and butchers are<\/u> different beasts.\u00a0 While in past centuries, the two were blended as one, nowadays a slaughterman stuns, kills, skins, eviscerates, then splits and hangs animal carcasses for cool room curing.\u00a0 Meanwhile, a butcher provides a retail outlet where skilled craftsmen [butchers] break down a slaughterman’s cured and prepared carcasses into defined ‘cuts’ for customer consumption.\u00a0 Lorne has ‘hosted’ both functions.<\/p>\n

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Norm Allen & The Challis Family at the Slaughter Yards, Lorne in 1937.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Slaughtering\u2014ever a gruesome task\u2014has traditionally been undertaken out of sight and out of mind of the public view, while butchering has held such general fascination that it is routinely conducted ‘on main street’ and in full public view.\u00a0 As the Lorne township evolved, animal slaughter was relegated to ‘around the corner’ where a slaughter yard was built on the tract of open land facing the Southern Ocean beyond Hird Street, the most southerly street in Lorne.\u00a0 Windswept, cold, and isolated from the rest of the town, the Slaughterhouse site was far enough away from the public gaze to avoid offending the tourists who were flocking to the town in the late 19th century.<\/p>\n

Slaughtering was first ‘approved’ in December 1887 when the Winchelsea Shire Council approved a slaughter licence for William Devling.\u00a0 In February 1889, he transferred it to his brother-in-law, Hamilton Dorman [proposed: Councillor Hopkins, seconded: Councillor Mountjoy].\u00a0 Then, in 1910, Thomas Brown was granted a renewal of his slaughterman’s licence\u2014for a fee\u2014but, thereafter, the slaughterhouse trail runs cold.\u00a0 It is not mentioned in the LHS records after 1920.<\/p>\n

This is not surprising, given that rail transport was now nearby, roads were improving, and economies of scale were forcing the closure of small regional slaughterhouses in favour of larger, more efficient centralised abattoirs.\u00a0 In this context, there was little need for each town to sustain local killing, so, along with many others, Lorne’s slaughter field finally fell silent.<\/p>\n

Butchering\u2014once an indispensable occupation in every small town\u2014also began to struggle to compete with a food distribution industry that was rapidly centralising.\u00a0 It is easy to forget how much past generations depended on the local shops.\u00a0 The butcher, greengrocer [for fruit and veggies], fish shop, delicatessen, and grocer [where the staples came in bulk and were scooped into paper bags\u2014who can forget Ivy’s bangs] … all have largely gone.\u00a0 Now our beef, lamb, pork, and chicken come conveniently pre-packed, vacuum-sealed, or cryovaced, and only a few butchers now remain, at markets or where a point of difference or niche market can be sustained.\u00a0 Although Stabby’s still hangs on in Anglesea, Lorne’s mid-town butcher shop fell to the bell-toll and closed after more than a century of continuous service to the town.<\/p>\n

Jim and Hamilton Dorman opened Lorne’s first butcher shop at the end of Grove Road in 1879.\u00a0 After wielding their knives and saws until the mid-1920s, they briefly sold it to the Muirs from Forrest before Jack and Toby Alsop bought it.\u00a0 After years of Alsop rule, it was purchased by Nash Button Challis, who came to Lorne for a holiday, met Silvia Clissold, and stayed … Challis’s it remained thereafter.<\/p>\n

Challis’s shop, with its iconic, white-tiled frontage and its deep-set, scalloped verandah, remains to this day, tucked into its bend on Mountjoy Parade as an echo of a bygone era.\u00a0 Meanwhile, beyond Point Grey, the ghosts of slain animals prowl the night and the Slaughterhouse site remains wild and untamed … just as it should.<\/p>\n

John Agar<\/strong><\/p>\n

Feature Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

A word from the chairman<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hello<\/p>\n

Bye Bye Winter, hello Spring! \u00a0Well maybe not so fast! \u00a0Although our calendar tells us winter is over and spring is in the air, Mother Nature chooses her own time. \u00a0At least the days are getting longer and our gardens are showing new life (and weeds!).<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

This week, GORCAPA published a suite of documents including the final Urban Design Framework (UDF), a Community Engagement report and concept designs for the two proposed new buildings. You can view these documents at https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/y2ryda5k<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

While, at the time of writing, I have not had an opportunity to review all the information in detail, I can confirm that the UDF has been amended following extensive community consultation and input with 493 responses to the survey that accompanied the draft UDF released in May, and 15 written submissions.<\/p>\n

The draft UDF has been amended to include the following:<\/p>\n