It’s not getting any easier to come up with a new topic each week when everything is shut down and it appears that the media, local and national, is solely focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. For those readers not currently in Lorne, the picture is this. You can get a parking spot anywhere you want, on any day, at any time. A small number of cars around the post office and another group at the supermarket. A number of people walking, running or exercising their dogs. It’s a very quiet place. Shops and restaurants are shut; just a few serving coffee and takeaway. There are people doing it tough; business owners with no business, so many workers with no work and many of them from overseas with no access to benefits and no opportunity to return to their homes.
People have referred to the time when we will talk about our lives in terms of BC and AC – “before Corona” and “after Corona“. Right now, perhaps one of the things we can do is focus on the era before Corona and how the Lorne community has, on so many occasions, demonstrated its resilience and its ability to thrive in difficult circumstances. So, for the next few weeks, unless someone has a newsworthy article they would like to contribute, we would like this page to be a brief escape from the world we find ourselves in at the moment and a look at some of those occasions when our community as a whole, or individuals, have risen above adversity and prevailed.
An event with significant impact upon our community was the Ash Wednesday bush-fire in 1983. It’s interesting to read some of the reports of the day as to how the community responded to this event.
From the Lorne Mercury, 24 February 1983 – “Ash Wednesday, 16th February, will be certainly remembered as being aptly named in this year of 1983. Lorne people, along with many others in various parts of Victoria and South Australia, were overwhelmed with the devastation of part of their beautiful town. Driven by strong, gusty, searing winds, flames engulfed many of Lorne’s lovely homes and gardens. Desolate heaps of ashes remain. Practical help to the unfortunate ones was quickly forthcoming. Red Cross set up an efficient culinary department at the school and was able to provide approximately 800 meals and snacks to the firefighters. Also Red Cross established a depot at the RSL Hall, where all sorts of goods and clothing were distributed to the sufferers of the catastrophe. Many thanks to the hundreds of people who generously contributed, through Red Cross and other avenues, to the needs of victims.“
From the Lorne Foreshore Committee of Management – “The Minister of Lands has advised that caravan sites are available free of charge for any local resident who has lost their home during the recent bush fire.“
And very shortly after, the Lorne Bushfire Appeal was established – “A local appeal for victims of last week’s disastrous fires resulted from a meeting convened by Lorne Lions Club. Official title is Lorne and District Bush Fire Relief Appeal. One of the aims is to assist local permanent residents who lost homes and/or possessions in the fires, by providing funds for urgent immediate needs those not met by various relief groups already operating. So far, an initial $100 has been donated to many families and individuals who have needed requisites such as footwear, underwear, implements to commence cleaning up around their burnt dwellings, medical supplies, etc. A subcommittee of Lions Club Members has already visited as many deserving cases as possible and handed over cash to them. The committee is also anxious to hear from anyone else who requires aid, and who has not yet been contacted. Within a few minutes of the appeal becoming official $3,500 had been raised. This included $1500 from Lorne Lions Club. Another noteworthy contribution was from Senior Citizens staying at the Lorne Chalet; these pensioners from Footscray, Canterbury and Mt Evelyn donated $410. Holiday homeowner, Mike Brady, made a rush trip down to donate $1000 cash to this local appeal so assistance could commence immediately. Just as welcome was a small donation from a lady in Perth who had spent a very happy day in Lorne 3 years ago.“
Stories of generosity, of companionship, of selflessness occur all the time in Lorne when the community, or someone in it, is hurting. We are in a frustrating time at the moment. People are hurting and we don’t know for how long it will continue or what the final toll, both financial and human might be.
We can be confident that when are we in the time of “after Corona“, the community will come together as they have in the past and get over this “hiccup“. In the meantime, the most appropriate message to everyone is currently displayed in a shop window in town – “Take Care, Be Kind“.
Pete Spring
Committee for Lorne
