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Occasional newsletter, April 2020
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Welcome!
The sign reminding people to stay home (above) went up at the junction of the Deans Marsh Road and the Great Ocean Road a bit over a week ago. It is one of many on the Surf Coast and reminds us of our responsibilities. But it is a jarring message nonetheless, and one that raises the question of how 'home' is defined.
The State government recognises that some people 'have more than one ordinary place of residence'. These people are permitted to move between residences as is made clear in The Stay at Home Directions issued under the emergency powers of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008, for the period 30 March-13 April. You can check out these and other emergency regulations as well as look for future updates here.
Regular updates from government can also be got via the Vic Emergency app. This app replaced the FireReady one some years ago. You may need to update (or activate) your phone.
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Advertisements for holiday accommodation in Lorne are still appearing in newspapers, which is surprising given that holidaying is not listed as one of the five permitted reasons for being away from home. Holiday letting in Lorne is discouraged by the Shire Council and by some managing agents. The Visitor Centre is closed.
There are COVID-19 cases in the Surf Coast Shire and surrounding local government areas. The Surf Coast Shire Council asks that we:
"Please be mindful that people moving between residences not only run the risk of spreading the virus to another area, but also can put a strain on essential services such as small local pharmacies, medical centres and supermarkets."
Some aspects of life by the sea still go on in Lorne. At the time of writing the Surf Coast Shire Council says that walking, running, surfing and swimming are allowable forms of exercise on the beach, provided that social distancing is practised, but the beach is closed (to prevent people congregating and sitting down). Fishing and boating are not allowed. The pier is closed. Expect changes in these rules. As our knowledge of COVID-19 and the virus that causes it changes, reason demands that the rules change too.
Reducing the spread of COVID-19 is everyone's job. Let's move on to tell you what Friends of Lorne has been up to and how you can get involved.
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| Special General Meeting (March 2020) & next AGM |
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Thanks to all those who made up the quorum for this meeting, either in person or by telephone link. Your support was hugely appreciated, as was the encouragement received from some who could not attend. The motion to adopt the model Rules passed unanimously.
If you want to read the Rules, all 24 pages of them (the lines are widely spaced), they are on our website . A distinct upside of these Rules is that they make it clear that it is acceptable to participate in meetings by technological means. They also make provision for a skeleton committee to run the Friends of Lorne if necessary.
The past few AGMs of the Friends of Lorne have been in early winter. Our financial year now matches the standard financial year in Australia, which means that our AGM will be held later. In 2020 the meeting will be in October. Members will be able to attend online. With luck, physical attendance will also be possible.
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Other meetings & different ways of working
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| We have applied to the Surf Coast Shire Council for a small grant to help us operate the meetings of Friends of Lorne this year via web-based conference software. We've also applied for some tech-help for those of us who might need a little extra assistance for installation or trouble shooting (now that children and grandchildren are scarce….). We find out the results of the grant competition in June. We plan to share this communication infrastructure across Lorne. Our meeting place, the Lorne Community Centre, has been closed so many groups are experiencing dislocation. |
| The to-do list. Member contributions welcome |
| Website |
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The Committee decided last year that we should rearrange our web affairs by buying a 'dot org' domain name and constructing a functional but no-frills website. This we have done. However it takes time for search engines to list new sites. In the case of the friendsoflorne site, most search engines are still listing the now defunct 'dot com' site. SEO (search engine optimisation) is needed. The address, by the way, is http://www.friendsoflorne.org.au. Make sure you enter it in your browser address line (or just click the link), not into a search engine.
Can anyone help with the SEO issue?
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| The future of living in fireprone regions |
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This is the provisional title of an information session to be run in association with the AGM. The intent is to look at the range of Acts, regulations and science that underlie long-term planning in regions like ours. We assume that more immediate things like personal fire plans will, as before, be handled by the CFA. To see the consultants report on fire planning for Lorne click here.
The exact form of this session is still evolving and your involvement would be welcomed.
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| Nature for visitors to Lorne |
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In 2019 we compiled winter/spring and summer/autumn sets of slides which the Visitor Centre displayed on its screen. The idea is to draw attention to common things, not to display beautiful photos of rare sights (but there are some of these, hard to resist). You can see part of the summer/autumn set here.
If you have photos taken in or around Lorne that show something most people will see but may not fully appreciate or understand, email them in. We can use them for the next editions.
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| Lorne after Covid-19 |
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Will some good come from 2020? Things we should hold on to? It might be hard to think of this now, while we are still in shock, but people everywhere are starting to consider the benefits and wanting to lock them in.
Anyone want to run a conversation about this? We’d like to hear from you.
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| Update on Point Grey |
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The Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) is keen to proceed with the demolition of the fish co-op building and their amended building plans are currently being considered by Council. Lawrie Baker obtained upwards of 1200 signatures on a petition from those who oppose the demolition. Friends of Lorne has been invited to contribute to GORCC's creative, heritage and culture plan for Pt Grey. The Friends of Lorne submission to the Shire Council on Pt Grey is on our website. |
| Committee for Lorne |
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Mary Lush and Penny Hawe share the responsibility of representing Friends of Lorne at the Committee for Lorne. You might have seen the weekly communications that Ian Stewart, the Chairman, sends out. The main items being discussed are the update of the 'Lorne Aspirations' document and work led by Prof Graham Brawn on housing in Lorne.
Lorne Aspirations sets out a vision for Lorne. Prof Brawn's work offers options for housing casual workers and building affordable houses for permanent residents. Both documents are still in draft form. Land rezoning and/or changes to the building density are mooted. CfL plans to submit these documents to the Surf Coast Shire Council for consideration in their Structure Plan revisions. Wider public discussion will then take place before decisions are made.
Let us know if you would like to know more about this now and/or express a view.
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| Re-inventing tourism |
| Following along the strands of the web of human communication, we made contact with the Aireys Inlet District Association (AIDA) which in turn led, via Suzanne Cavanagh, to our discovery of 'regenerative tourism'. 'Regenerative', along with 'sustainable', is a word that invites a certain level of scepticism. Tourism is a colossal generator of greenhouse gases, but Lorne depends on it. The proponents of regenerative tourism are not anti-tourism, just anti the way it is done now. One of the proponents, Anna Pollock, has this to say: |
The current model deployed by mainstream tourism and hospitality is dependent upon volume growth for its survival. Virtually every destination marketing agency sees its role as increasing the number of visitors and visitor spending, and hundreds of millions of pounds are spent on stimulating and directing demand. Yet, systemic flaws also accelerate and extend with that growth over time, undermining its resilience and long-term viability.
Flaws produce a built-in tendency to generate lower yields, increase wealth disparity, environmental degradation, pollution (greenhouse gas emissions, waste), pressure on land and water, congestion, high labour turnover, more low-paid, unsecured jobs, worsening labour conditions, and more incidences of resident backlash.
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| Sound familiar? Interested? You will find more information on the web. As Graham Brawn says 'I see ...[the] type of tourism we advocate as being central to the project Prosperous Places on which the Surf Coast Shire has embarked. |
| Natural history note from Mary Lush |
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These two dazzled owls are junior mopokes. They fledged in south Lorne around Christmas 2019.
Mopokes sit around in tree hollows or on branches during the day and fly about at night. When the urge takes them in spring they select the most promising tree hollow and fit it out as a nest. Karen from Waitogo tells me the parents of these birds nest in a tree near her every year. Housing for mopokes and other hollow-nesting animals is increasingly rare. We humans demolish some of it each time we give an aged and decrepit tree the chop.
You will almost certainly know the call of the mopoke (known as boobooks outside Victoria). If you aren't sure, here's a link to a recording on YouTube. In south Lorne I mostly hear mopokes calling soon after the last kookaburra chorus of the evening and before the first one in the morning. This may say more about my habits than those of the mopoke.
Hungry fledglings however have an entirely different call, quite insecty in fact, which they use incessantly. Click here to hear it.
And to end the newsletter, a mopoke in motion. Click here
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Contact for Friends of Lorne: committee@friendsoflorne.org.au
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