Three years ago, late June 2009, the family spent a night at Port Fairy, on Victoria’s south west coast. I got up early on the Monday morning and found the Bernie Baxter Scoreboard was unlocked. There were no numbers on the board, so I hopped on my bike, bought the local paper, checked the weekend scores and pedalled back to the ground. After putting the scores up – and wondering who Bernie Baxter is – I had breakfast with the family.
Then I hopped back on the bike and headed for Koroit, about 20 kilometres east.
At Koroit there was an old fenced-off scoreboard on the far wing with a sign saying ‘Authorised Personal [sic] Only. Keep Out.’ The scoreboard had seen better days but it wasn’t totally derelict.
A coat of paint and some tender loving care might have revived the corrugated scoreboard but the club had opted to go modern.
Port Fairy and Koroit both play in the Hampden league against Terang Mortlake, Camperdown, Cobden and three Warrnambool clubs.
Port Fairy, the town, is flooded with 20,000 folk music fans each Labour Day Weekend. (The footy ground becomes a camping ground.) Koroit, a sleepy dairy town, is where Shane Howard – singer songwriter par excellence and regular performer at the Port Fairy Folk Festival – lives.
Scoreboard pressure 
Hey Vin…getting nice and musical the last couple of posts! Love the Port Fairy ground… visited the ground while at the music festival a few years back. I just love the drive into the ground, old stand etc…the whole shebang! I love that you bothered heading to get the local scores to put on the board, it’s that slight eccentricity I admire! And that new Koroit board looks like the new prototype scoreboard…a bit Williamstownish! Great stuff
Hi Vin
Scott here again. Just a bit of info on Bernie Baxter for you.
Bernie was recruited to Port Fairy from Carlton where between 1949-1951 he played 28 games and kicked 22 goals. Prior to playing at Carlton he played for Werribee
At Port Fairy, Bernie kicked 692 goals (league record) between 1952 and 1963 and played in the 1958 senior premiership and 1963 reserves premiership (Sorry, I am not sure how many games he played all up). He was the Hampden leagues leading goal kicker in 1953 (77), 1956 (97) and 1957 (87).
Unfortunately, Bernie passed away yesterday after a short illness. He will be missed by all in the Port Fairy community.