Our Purpose

To encourage and contribute to the planning and development of the environment within Lorne and its environs consistent with the need for preservation of the natural features, flora and fauna of the district.

To encourage and contribute to the planning, development and maintenance of community services and activities within Lorne and its environs consistent with the balanced needs of permanent residents, holidaying residents, campers and tourists.

Our members are full or part time residents of Lorne, and anyone who supports our purpose. Join us. Help us grow our membership.  Our members are a source of information, views, and capacity.  The size of the membership gives us encouragement, legitimacy and clout. It’s like joining an AFL footy club, but much cheaper and without quite as much heartache!

A Brief History

The Lorne Planning and Preservation League formed on 21 January 1966 in opposition to a proposal to put high rise on the Lorne foreshore. We won. The name changed to Friends of Lorne in 2002.  Can you imagine Lorne without the Swing Bridge?  In the 1970s we successfully opposed Council plans to demolish it and replace it with a concrete structure. Lorne was part of the Shire of Winchelsea then. And those  pedestrian refuge islands that help you get across Mountjoy Pde? That was us too.

In 1975, as a result of our campaigning, Lorne was gazetted as a Place of Natural Beauty and Special Significance. The designation took force subsequently in the newly formed Surf Coast Shire’s planning scheme for Lorne. The amphitheatre of hilltop trees that help define Lorne is the consequence of that. Nowadays, principles like preservation of natural vegetation, heritage building and landscape considerations, and development in keeping with neighbourhood character are penetrate all aspects of planning for Lorne, in theory. But we still have to fight for these principles to be observed in practice.

For a fuller account of early planning in Lorne click on this link.

STATEMENT: Friends of Lorne accepts the evidence that the global warming experienced over recent centuries is largely the result of human activity.

Further Information

Friends of Lorne has 150+ members.  The Committee for 2025/2026 comprises: Penny Hawe (president), Lindon Pearce (treasurer), StJohn Sutton, and Mary Rose Yuncken (secretary) and Jo Dunin. Deb Burns is our Membership Secretary. Here’s our Rules (constitution). The Committee meets about eight times a year (in person or by Zoom). Email us if you would like to attend and we will send you the meeting dates. We also hold events and special meetings on different topics throughout the year as needed. More info about benefits of joining is here.

Friends of Lorne is an organisational member of the Committee for Lorne. We are also part of the Great Ocean Road Communities Network (GORCN). GORCN comprises 21 organisations like ours (volunteers) all along the coast, working on issues that affect us all. 

Questions? Suggestions?
Our email address is:
committee@friendsoflorne.org.au.

Or you could write to us at:
PO Box 68, Lorne, Victoria 3232