Work is continuing on the stained-glass window to honour Marjorie and Walter Grant and hopefully, it will be completed to be installed in ‘All Saints’ Anglican Church soon after the Easter Weekend in April.
The window will join four others, all dedicated to honour early settler families in Lorne. Although all of the windows depict religious themes, at least one shows aspects of Lorne’s history.
The Valentine Window has an oval centre which shows an important event in the Anglican Church’s history – when the building was moved a short distance, 20 chains which is about 400 metres, with the use of bullocks in 1884. For the time, this was a considerable feat involving local know-how.
It was noted that there was absolutely no damage done to the building.
In an 1890 publication “Pen And Ink Sketches At Lorne”, G. Brougham Austin, wrote that the Church was moved bodily for about a quarter of a mile without so much as breaking a pane of glass.
The Valentine window showed a stylised ridge, presumably depicting the hills above the church, and the actual building and bullocks in front of it.
The Valentine family subsequently merged with the Kemp family; a house named ‘Valentine’ situated half-way up Bay Street, existed until several years ago when it was sold about a decade ago.
Other windows with religious themes included 1957 “In loving Memory of Herbert Noel Hughes” and 1988 “In Memory of Irene Margaret Jones”.
The most recently window installed in 1960 was “In loving Memory of Herbert Stanley Howell”.
Incidentally, and most appropriate for our time of Covid-19 world pandemic is an intricately carved wood panel depicting the ‘Last Supper’ – a most important event in the Christian faith.
The carving hangs on a wall near the altar and shows the twelve apostles and Jesus Christ in what is commonly known as the Last Supper, the last meal they all shared before Christ was crucified.
Local historian and businessman Tony Stribling (his recent history of the settlement of the Otways was published in part in the Lorne Independent), wrote about the Church a few years ago. His father, Hector Stribling had
bought the wooden carved panel on an overseas trip in Oberammergau,
Bavaria, Germany, and subsequently donated the art piece to All Saints in the 1970s.
The world famous Passion Play at Oberammergau was first performed in 1634 and the Wikipedia says: “According to local legend, the play is performed every ten years because of a vow made by the inhabitants of the village that ifGod spared them from the effects of the bubonic plague then sweeping the region, they would perform a passion play every ten years.
“A man traveling back to the town for Christmas allegedly brought the plague with him by accident. The man purportedly died from the plague and it began spreading throughout Oberammergau. After the vow was made, according to tradition, not another inhabitant of the town died from the plague.”
Nearly the whole of the town takes part in the Play and sideby side, Oberammergau has built up a considerable wood carving industry to augment the tourist trade. Many of these carvings are prized for their high quality.
Appropriate to our times, the 2020 play was postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19. It usually involves over 2000 actors, singers, instrumentalists and technicians, who are all residents of the village.
– Jo Vondra
