It has taken five years to create the track. The then-President of DSCSCA, Roger Lavingdale, presented the idea of the track to the City of Greater Geelong council in 2011; and the council accepted a masterplan for the project in 2012.
Since then, there has been close co-operation and consultation between the council and the various community groups with a stake in the lake's future, including DCSCA, which has been involved closely throughout the project.
(Picture: L to R Heath Lavingdale, Doug Carson, Merryn Lavingdale, CoGG City Services Manager Will Tieppo and Drysdale Rotary Club President Caroline Rickard.)
DCSCA Treasurer Doug Carson was one of the speakers at the ceremony; here is what he said:
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When I first became involved as a member of the
Drysdale Clifton Springs Community Association in 2003, after having moved to
the Bellarine in 2000, I was struck by the awareness and passion of a few
people, one of them being Roger Lavingdale. He was always looking to put new
ideas up for discussion. He was a committee member then, became Vice President in 2005 and 2006 and President in 2007 and
2008 and held those positions very successfully. In the latter part of that time, I was the Association's Secretary and I vividly recall many
meetings at his home in Eastwood Court, talking about how to improve the area.
One of these improvements was a walking
track around Lake Lorne. Roger became frustrated at the time it seemed to be
taking to get the proposal approved, but we just had
to wait until all the stakeholders involved agreed on what had to be done. I
don’t think anyone really realised just how many stakeholders were involved,
and how much planning was needed, e.g. avoiding underground services, dodging trees - the list went on and on. At one stage Roger
was heard to mutter, “Give me a bloody bobcat and I’ll put the damn thing in
myself!"
However, people at the City of Greater
Geelong persisted in working through all the issues and over the past three years we have seen the gradual construction of the Lake Lorne walking track.
It will be a lasting legacy to the memory of our mate Roger Lavingdale. On
behalf of the Drysdale / Clifton Springs Community Association, I am very
pleased to pay my respects to Roger, and thank Drysdale Rotary Club for
initiating this day as we commemorate this track and the seat in his honour.
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| It works! Locals try out the new track. |
Lake Lorne - some background
The area known now as Drysdale - and especially the land around its three waterholes - was a favourite wintering place for Wathaurong people. The name Bellarine derives from the Wathaurong word "Bella Wein" ("a place where you lean on your elbow beside a campfire") and is thought to refer specifically to the waterholes. The inland site provided shelter from cold coastal winds and the lakes provided birds, fishes and plants to eat.
Corroborees were held in the area and archaeologists have found large deposits of shells, animal bones and artefacts in and around the waterholes. Wathaurong traditions and heritage are maintained by Wathaurong people living in the area today.
In the 1830s, in the early days of European colonisation of the area , the term "The Waterholes" referred collectively to what are known now separately as Lake Lorne and McLeod's Waterholes.
In 1872, the Bellarine Shire Council named Lake Lorne after the then Governor of Victoria; and the other two lakes became known as McLeod's Waterholes, probably after Dr. Angus McLeod, principal of the Free Presbyterian Church and School and an active participant in local affairs.
It was also in 1872 that the settlement known as Bellarine or West Bellarine was named Drysdale after Anne Drysdale, a local squatter.
(Sources:
Photos - The Voice; historical background - Lynette Willey [2010] The Waterholes: a history of Drysdale on the Bellarine. Bellarine Historical Society.)
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