DetailsLorna Pass in Thornleigh is named after Lorna Brandt a young local resident who was very upset by the hardships caused by the Depression and who did her best to help those in need. Lorna was the daughter of a railway ganger based at Thornleigh. Blond, curly haired Lorna worked in a cake shop in Thornleigh and from her position in the shop she saw unemployed men trudging the streets especially Pennant Hills Road looking for work of any kind. Lorna pitied the men and wished she could help in some way. Relief committees had been established throughout the Shire to canvas door to door for the sustenance of the unemployed men. Hornsby Shire Council was prepared to match any monetary donations collected for the unemployed in this way with £1 for every £2 raised by the community. The money was used to pay relief workers. In July 1931 council received a donation of £20 in this manner. This donation inspired Lorna to join a relief committee and she canvassed the streets of Thornleigh, Pennant Hills and Beecroft collecting money to help the unemployed. Lorna persisted when others flagged and so became a well known figure in the district. The money which relief committees raised was used to pay the unemployed to construct walking tracks throughout the Shire. One of these tracks led from the present day Thornleigh oval down to the valley of the Lane Cove River. In recognition of the major part Lorna Brandt had played by collecting money the walk was called Lorna Pass. This Pass, constructed during the 1930s, followed the tracks along which logs had been hauled to both Parkes and Short Streets where there were local sawmills. For Lorna Brandt, later Lorna Mearns, collecting for those less fortunate than herself became a way of life. After the depression she collected for Hornsby and District Hospital and during the years of the Second World War she collected for the Australian Comforts Fund.
Biography supplied by T. Mearns.
Lorna Brandt was born in Gunnedah in 1910. Her father George worked for the railways and the family moved to Tamworth and Wyong before moving to Sydney and settling in Thornleigh.
While she worked as a hairdresser, she also spent many hours helping others, and during the Depression she was instrumental in using the unemployed men of the district to construct the 'track' between Thornleigh and Wahroonga. She was formally recognised for this work by Hornsby Shire Council naming the track 'Lorna Pass'. Lorna Brandt married George Mearns in 1939.
They moved to Pennant Hills in 1957. Lorna worked for Tiffens Butchers for many years, and after George died in 1965, she continued her fundraising activities and became a foundling member of Pennant Hills Central Womens Bowling Club.
Lorna passed away in 1987.Geotag[1] KeywordsLorna BrandtLorna Pass TrackThornleighPennant Hills Womens Bowling Club
