History of LochSport - In the beginning

The holiday haven that we know as Loch Sport developed from an idea to subdivide a hard to sell stretch of goat-farm land and burnt out pine plantation, called "The Narrows, a long thin stretch of land between Lake Victoria and Lake Reeve with the 90 mile beach behind that.

Mr. Leon LeGrand and his wife, Phyllis(left) came to this decision after being asked by many friends if they could erect camping huts on his land, so they had somewhere to stay while enjoying the fishing and hunting in the area.

Thus the township of Loch Sport was born.

The subdivision took place in three stages over a number of years commencing in the early 1950's.

The first stage comprising of 70 blocks, was to be marketed by a Real Estate firm called Finn and Kemp. Mr. Phin the owner of the agency, developed an enticing full page advertisement for the "Australasian Post" and started to create interest in the development. However the estate did not have a name. It was commonly referred to as "The Narrows". By law the estate had to have a name before publishing any advertisements etc.

There have been many versions of how the name came about but the facts are that ensuing from a discussion between Ned Phin and Mr. and Mrs. LeGrand, the name Loch Sport was born from the fact that Mrs. LeGrand's mother was from Scotland and Loch meant lake in Scottish, and sport denoted the pursuits of the area. Thus the name Loch Sport.

The first recorded sales took place in December 1954. The marketing was later taken over by Clarke and Power Pty Ltd, these being two men who worked as salesmen for Finn & Kemp. Leon LeGrand Jnr. also joined this new firm and began a career in Real Estate. (Ambrose Power later became the principal director of Tool Properties P/L in Richmond, well known for buying country properties for subdivision and creating Time Share holiday resorts).
The second subdivision took place in 1960 and the third in 1965. A total of 2826 blocks were made available for sale. It should be noted that as this area is surrounded by National Parks and water, the township can not expand any further.

For a brief history on Loch Sport - Click Here........

For further anecdotes on Loch Sport - Click Here.....

For students or history buffs we recommend you obtain a copy of the book "Where the Pelicans Fish" by Phillip G. Gittens. This is available for loan from the Wellington Shire Mobile Library which visits Loch Sport twice weekly.

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