Lorne (Victoria)
Lorne is a seaside town on the Great Ocean Road in the Surf Coast Shire of the Australian state of Victoria.
Geographical Location
The town is located 140 km southwest of Melbourne on the mouth of the Erskine River and at the Loutit Bay. The thickly forested slopes of the Otway Ranges extend into the place.
Population
The place was one of 967 inhabitants in 2006. On vacation days this number is exceeded by the number of guests to a multiple. At the turn of the place is home to around 13,000 guests. On the following weekend, when the large pier -to -pub - swimming competition takes place, this number rises to 20,000 visitors.
History
Prior to the settlement of European immigrants, the area for more than 40,000 years by the nomadic Aboriginal people of the Gadubanud was settled. The bay is located on the Lorne, is named after Captain Loutit, who anchored here in 1841, when he recovered the charge of a failed near the wreck with his crew. 1846, the coast was mapped measured. A few years later began initially to a small extent, the agricultural use of the area.
The first settlers of European origin was William Lindsay, a lumberjack, which began in 1849, the area to clear. In 1859 the town was connected to the telegraph. 1868 Mountjoy brothers built a simple guest house, around which clustered gradually more settler homes. It later became the Erskine House Guest House was. The building housed temporarily the church premises and the post and telegraph office. 1869 began the subdivision. 1871, the place was named after the Marquis of Lorne in Argyleshire in Scotland, on the occasion of his wedding to one of the daughters of Queen Victoria.
About 1879 the place was one of 150 inhabitants. During this time, the first pier, the public school and the Grand Pacific Hotel, were the first spa hotel Victoria's built. The guests came either by boat or by train and coach. The carriages of Mountjoy and Cobb & Co. needed from just under 50 kilometers by road north of Winchelsea railway station six hours to Lorne. 1891 increased the number of visitors continues to increase, as the railway line was extended to 25 km north-west Deans Marsh.
This year, Rudyard Kipling visited the place. In his poem Flowers this visit took place in the following verses reflected:
" Buy a frond of fern, - Gathered where the Erskine leaps - Down the road to Lorne "
"Buy a fan of Fern - picked at the Falls of the Erskine - down by the road to Lorne "
1922 reached the Great Ocean Road Lorne and gave the place a further boost. After 1930, a number of other guest houses were built. In the 1930s and 1940s flourished on a local fishing industry, but in the 1980s found its decline.
In February 1983, the devastating bushfires of Ash Wednesday swept through the Otway Ranges. They destroyed 76 houses in Lorne.
Tourism
The southern end of the 1.5 km long sandy beach is family friendly, while the northern part is popular with surfers. On the pier, the fishermen, the barracuda, the adjust Whiting and trevally congregate. South of the small cape that closes the place and Loutit Bay, Teddy 's Lookout offers a beautiful view over the city and the coast.
The tree crowns in place are populated by a bunch of big, noisy Sulphur-crested cockatoos who do not mind the proximity of humans. Even smaller and rarer parrots and koalas can be observed with some luck in the treetops.
In November, when the high school graduates celebrate their successful completion of the Schoolies Week, Lorne is a popular destination of these young people. On the first weekend in January, 4,000 competitors and 20,000 spectators will gather at 1.2 km Pier to Pub Swim, the largest swimming competition in the world. One of the winners of this race was Kieren Perkins, Olympic gold medalist and former world record holder over 1,500 m freestyle swimming.
Museums
The Lorne Historical Museum, open Sundays 13 to 16 clock, documented the construction of the Great Ocean Road. The QD05 Contemporary Art Gallery, open daily except Wednesday 10-17 clock, shows contemporary art and a sculpture garden.