Occasional Newsletter

October 2025

Meeting with GORCAPA CEO

There was a good roll up for the Q and A meeting with Christine Ferguson on 2 October. Christine is a career public servant . She has held senior executive roles in environment, land and emergency management. 

Christine acknowledged that (like a lot of the public service) GORCAPA is understaffed and they don’t have the funds to run at capacity.  We expressed concern that the funding model is flawed: to raise funds to protect and manage the coast, GORCAPA has to lease the coast.

Topics ranged from environment, the size of our local field team (two people is too small), the impact of the planned burns, the foreshore, and graffiti. Christine undertook to get back to us on a range of specific questions.

In relation to swimming pool, we learned that the lease will be rolled over for another 21 years but the lease conditions are still being drawn up. Christine undertook to put more clauses and conditions into the agreement so that there will be penalties if the lease-holder is non-compliant with matters such as access (hours and cost), maintenance, and heating.  An appropriate penalty would be to terminate the lease. She undertook that there will be closer monitoring of lease compliance.

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Die back of coastal eucalyptus, GORCAPA’s response and foreshore plans

We are witnessing a mass die back of eucalyptus along the surf coast that is weather related: salt laden wind, then no rain, then soggy rain where the leaves don’t dry out. The incident has been enough to prompt GORCAPA to decide to retain a bit more of the coastal tea tree on parts of the foreshore because it provides some protection to the eucalyptus.

Where tea tree has already come out (adjacent the Swing Bridge café), GORCAPA is monitoring species diversity in the replanted area. They place a line of string across the plot and measure the height and number of indigenous plant species within a certain distance of the line. On 14 July 2023 there were 5 species recorded in the zone with tea tree designated for removal. On 13 September 2025 there were 14 indigenous plant species in the same zone (max height 1.7 m) after the tea tree had been removed. The decision to replant the zone, rather than let it regenerate naturally was taken by GORCAPA in response to community feedback. We wanted vegetation restored quickly.

Wildlife thrives best when there is a complex vertical vegetation structure to 1.5m. GORCAPA is open to potentially introducing audio monitoring of birdcalls along the dog beach to test the theory that removal of one third the tea tree there (from March 2026) will increase species diversity and in particular and that it will preserve the presence of rufous bristle birds. Note that just in response to human concern about the tea tree removal, GORCAPA will preserve the visual vegetation screen between the road and beach. In other words, we won’t start to see traffic from the road. This alteration to their plans was made in response to the last input from Friends of Lorne and our photo journal of the management zones. Note that there has never been any plan to remove all the tea tree. There is a zone-by-zone plan with varying objectives and in some zones (eg, around the dog sculptures) the tea tree stays.

GORCAPA has volunteered to tell us more about the vegetation plans, the vegetation habitat monitoring, and how plans are adapting over time in a community webinar on Thursday 6 November at 4pm. We will advertise this more widely shortly. We hope it will help drive more volunteering for Lorne Care. That is, people may be more likely give up their time for working bees if they can see the logic of the seasonal plans and bigger picture and ask questions. Thanks to all volunteers who are involved so far. GORCAPA stresses that the work of volunteers on the foreshore and in Queens Park is highly valued and absolutely vital.

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Annual memberships due

Many thanks to those who have already renewed their membership of Friends of Lorne. It’s a big deal to us that we grow a community organisation that tries to represent Lorne’s interests and voice, especially when it comes to the environment. You can renew here for 2025/2026. Thank you. Not a member? Join us. Can’t remember if you are late with your renewal or not? Ask us at committee@friendsoflorne.org.au

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AGM is Saturday 4pm, 15 November at Qdos

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Come and join us to review the year, elect the office bearers, and have wine and cheese at beautiful Qdos. Many thanks to Gillian and Graeme once again for their hospitality. The formal notice of meeting and call for nominations will be placed on our meetings webpage shortly. Meantime you can enjoy reading the minutes of the 2024 AGM. 

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Photo by michael Prideaux, From 2024. Taken using Birdlife Guidelines ( not too close)

New hoodie nest at Lorne

There’s a new nest with 2 eggs on the beach in front of the Mantra. All going well, we will have chicks in the week beginning 27 October. That is soon!

We are desperate for more volunteers please. We do 2-hour shifts from dawn to dusk on the beach, stewarding people and dogs away from the exclusion zone. We do that for the entire 5-6 weeks that it takes the chicks to fledge (grow wings and fly). It’s a big palaver because the chicks feed themselves from day 1 by wandering the sand with their parents, looking for small crustaceans and insects.  They are tiny and easily scuttled by unaware beach goers.

If we don’t already have you listed as a volunteer, please contact us at committee@friendsoflorne.org.au and we will connect you with the Birdlife coordinator for this area. Friends of Lorne members make up most of the hoodie volunteer brigade. We are proud of that, but a bit worn out ……….  

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Special event: OCEAN with David Attenborough

Thanks to the Surfrider Foundation Surf Coast Branch there is a special FREE community screening of this wondrous film at the Lorne Theatre on Saturday 8 November at 6.30pm followed by Q and A, not with the great man himself, but local champions for our environment. But hey, local champions are to be celebrated also.

You can get your tickets here. Come along.