An Inspirational Life.
Lorraine Margaret Saltmarsh.
Lorraine (86) receiving her Honorary Lifetime Membership (2025).A Life Forged in the Australian Bush
Lorraine Margaret Saltmarsh (née Murphy) was born in 1938, her story beginning in the remote mining settlement of Gaffney’s Creek - a rugged pocket of Victoria’s high country where resilience was a way of life. Alongside her five siblings, she grew up in a rustic community without electricity or running water. These early years in the bush instilled in her a lifelong appreciation for nature, wildlife, and the importance of ingenuity and hard work.
Her father, a man of warmth and inventiveness, was a defining influence. Family legend tells how he made their cabin the first in the settlement with running water by cleverly diverting a nearby stream using dynamite borrowed from the local mine. It was a story retold for generations, embodying the spirit of creative problem-solving that would become a hallmark of Lorraine’s own life.
At just twelve years old, with so few children in the settlement, Lorraine’s natural leadership emerged when she volunteered to teach the youngest students at the local school. At fourteen, she left Gaffney’s Creek for Melbourne, beginning her working life at Healings, where she handled invoicing and administration for the company’s growing international logistics operations.
Lorraine remained with Healings until she was 22, witnessing first-hand the arrival of computers and electronic systems into Australian workplaces - a new era of record-keeping, accounting, and trade. Ever sociable and community-minded, she spearheaded the company’s staff social club at the Queen Victoria Market and embraced new passions including basketball and ballroom dancing. She went on to represent Victoria at the National Basketball Championships, and later taking up competitive cycling through the 1970s.
Building a Life and a Legacy
While in Melbourne, Lorraine met Maxwell Donald Saltmarsh at Leggott’s Dance Hall. Their partnership flourished, leading to marriage and a move to the Cobram–Barooga district to care for Max’s elderly grandparents. There, Lorraine took on the role of Probation Officer, focusing on youth and family support - an early reflection of her deep compassion and social conscience.
Lorraine and Max soon began their own family, welcoming two children, Brian and Diane. Together, they became pillars of the local community. Lorraine immersed herself in civic life through the Girl Guides, Cub Scouts Neighbourhood Watch, the Agricultural Show Committee, and the Cobram Cycling Club, among many others. Max, a respected builder, and Lorraine, ever active in community causes, earned the trust and admiration of all who knew them.
A Foundation of Family and Philanthropy
In retirement, Lorraine cherished life with her beloved husband Max, with whom she shared 53 years of marriage. Even since his passing in 2013, she remains a vibrant presence in the regional community scene - volunteering with Meals on Wheels, joining art and music groups, and lending her voice to local choirs.
A cornerstone of Lorraine’s life has been her devotion to her six grandsons and growing family of great-grandchildren. She continues to encourage creativity and curiosity - from bushwalks and music lessons to playful spelling games (famously involving smashed dinner plates). She taught each grandson to drive, attended their sporting events, and inspired in them the same resilience and compassion that defined her own life.
Her legacy of community service continues through her children, Brian and Diane, and through generations of grandchildren who carry forward her example. Their involvement across community organisations, charities, local businesses, and government initiatives reflects the same spirit of generosity and civic responsibility that Lorraine and Max lived by and quietly instilled in their family.
Lorraine’s belief in creativity, education, and community care also finds a lasting home in The Lorraine Foundation, established in her honour in 2025. She was awarded Honorary Lifetime Membership - a tribute to her decades of imagination, encouragement, and service, and a formal recognition of the values she has always championed.
Today, Lorraine resides in Ballarat, Victoria, where she remains an active and curious member of her community. Surrounded by the layered history of another Australian gold-mining town, she finds joy in painting from her home studio, sharing her work with family and friends, and exploring the region’s cultural life. Her days are marked by conversation, creativity, and quiet acts of kindness - a continuation of the spirit that has guided her throughout her life.
An Accidental Entrepreneur
A much-loved family story from 1964 captures Lorraine’s fearless character. With a newborn in one arm and a toddler on her hip, she mentioned to Max that she “rather liked” helping out at the local fish-and-chip shop. A week later, Max surprised her by purchasing the business outright as a “gift” - suddenly making her the full-time proprietor and operator.
What began as a surprise turned into a thriving small business and a lasting lesson in self-reliance. Lorraine also continued to channel her creativity and energy into the arts, undertaking formal studies in visual art and design during the 1980s. These courses refined her natural talent, introduced her to new mediums, and deepened her understanding of art as both expression and therapy.
Armed with her new found business acumen, she opened and successfully operated both an art gallery and music store in Cobram, followed by another gallery in Tocumwal, each serving as vibrant cultural spaces for regional artists and musicians. Through these ventures, she helped foster a lasting appreciation for the arts that continues to enrich the community today.
Never one to stop learning, Lorraine later enrolled at university in the early 2000s as a mature-age student, pursuing studies in creative writing and literature. Her decision to return to higher education reflected her lifelong belief in the power of curiosity, imagination, and personal growth - values she would later instil in her grandchildren and in the mission of The Lorraine Foundation.
Like many hardworking Australian families of the time, the Saltmarshes also faced adversity. When economic hardship forced the closure of Max’s construction company, Lorraine’s resilience became the family’s anchor. Through determination and optimism, she helped rebuild both business and home - an enduring testament to her strength of character.
A Pillar of the Community
Lorraine’s contribution to her region’s cultural life has been immense. She established long-running community art exhibitions, organised touring displays for renown Australian artists Noel Westgate and Jan Barnett (amongst others), and spent decades ensuring that visual arts remained central to local schools and community events.
Lorraine also founded Two States Driving School, which continues to operate across northern Victoria and southern New South Wales. True to her generous nature, Lorraine provided countless hours of free driving lessons to people experiencing disadvantage - including young people, survivors of domestic violence, refugees, and adults rebuilding independence.
During the 1990s and 2000s, Lorraine led the Art Pavilion Exhibition for the Cobram Agricultural Society Show, a highlight of the regional calendar. Over the decades she has also published poems, short stories, artist biographies, and was the author of a popular long-running column for the Central Murray Informed (a Riverina region newspaper).
Her deep community spirit was formally recognised in the early 2000s when Lorraine Saltmarsh received a special acknowledgement from the Berrigan Shire for services to the community, and, the Moira Shires’ Citizen of the Year Award.