Hotham history timeline project - collecting storiesMount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board is planning to construct an information timeline on the history of Mount Hotham. We are gathering stories this summer and we need your help! The timeline will celebrate and honour the milestones and the people that shaped the Hotham we all know and love today. From early indigenous times to the pioneers and early cattleman, to the discovery of gold, and the birth of skiing at Mount Hotham. Cultural Heritage and Tracks & Trails Coordinator Andrew Swift has done a fantastic job in bringing the indigenous and gold mining history to life in his interpretive walks around Mount Hotham, and his passionate work with signage and information along the The Three Huts, the Brabralung Trail and the Cobungra Ditch walks which tell stories of the indigenous and gold mining history. A research document written by Research Officer, Peter Cabena, in 1979 for the Department of Crown Lands and Survey documents the early history of Mount Hotham up to the 1950s. This document is a great read and has many stories of early pioneers, and how the Mount Hotham that we know today came to be. [For full document see Latest News on website] Mr Cabena’s document is an insightful read and a great overview of the years between 1850s -1950s. Now, we are looking to pick up the story from the birth of the Hotham Village commencing from around the early 1900s, which includes the formation of the clubs, lodges and businesses. Displayed in chronological order, a creative display of stories and pictures will highlight pivotal events in Mount Hotham’s history. This will also be reflected in a “Hotham History Village Walk”, where plaques are to be contructed to tell their stories. If you have any interesting information on lodges, influential people of Hotham, or any significant info about Hotham, we want to know! You can email your stories to info@mthotham.com.au. Mt Hotham Dinner Plain Fire Brigade 20th Anniversary Dinner and Presentation NightMt Hotham Dinner Plain Fire Brigade celebrated its 20th Anniversary at The General Store in Hotham Heights on Monday 4 September. The night recognised the teams’ achievements over the past 20 years, and included a welcoming to the guests, presentations and the cutting of the cake to finish the evening. A five-year award was presented to Cole Vanderberg and a 20-year award to Captain of Mt Hotham Dinner Plain Fire Brigade Larry Doyle. The awards were to commemorate their outstanding service to the CFA and recognised long service to the CFA and local fire brigade. Scott Ryan, Second Lieutenant at Mt Hotham Dinner Plain Fire Brigade, said that the event was a “great opportunity to bring everyone together for a social event and reflect on the year gone”. “It was a fantastic night and everyone really enjoyed themselves with 30 people attending, including key representatives on the mountain and all the CFA members of the brigade,” Mr Ryan said. “We had a representative from Mount Hotham Resort Management, Mt Hotham Skiing Company and a representative by one of the Assistant Chiefs of the CFA. Throughout the years, we have maintained the high skill of all the members and responded to any incidence that we are paged to in a timely manner, and we couldn’t be prouder of what we have achieved as a team,” he said. The local brigade’s boundary stretches from Cobungra over to the other side near the old ticket box in Buckland Gap. During the large bushfire campaigns in recent years the brigade largely operated as an incident control centre and helped resource all the fire fighters that came in to town. They activated, planned and assisted the incident controller and gave key information of the local area. The local brigade welcomes new members. For more information contact fbmhdp@cfa.vic.gov.au. Moogji youth experience X C skiing and Biathlon camp at Hotham Young members of the Moogji Aboriginal Council from Orbost in far East Gippsland travelled to Mount Hotham last Saturday to participate in a ‘Come and try X C Skiing and Biathlon Camp’ which allowed them to participate in, and experience, the fun of snowsports. The program was initiated and run by East Gippsland Biathlon Club (EGBC) who saw a real benefit in encouraging the indigenous community to participate and become more involved in alpine sports over winter. The camp commenced on Saturday morning at the Moogji Centre in Orbost, where supervisors and the children travelled to Mount Hotham in convoy. A skiing lesson at Wire Plain saw some of the kids attempt cross country skiing for the first time with a lesson to help them learn new skills, before tackling a second lesson after lunch and skiing their way up the Wonderland Trail. EGBC Secretary, Cameron Morton said the camp facilitated the children to learn important skills and knowledge about cross country skiing. “The participants learnt about the importance of drinking lots of water and how to dress for cross country skiing, amongst other things,” Mr Morton said. “Everyone was amazed at the natural beauty of the environment and were in awe when it began snowing with a rainbow emerging in the east. “It was amazing to see the kids pick up cross country skiing quickly and enjoy the challenge,” he said. Saturday night saw the group camp out at Swifts Creek Secondary College, where they played card games and socialised. Overnight, high speed winds resulted in several trees fallen over the road on the drive to Hotham. Due to these high winds, the group decided not to undertake the Biathlon shooting session at Whiskey Flat on Sunday. Instead, a tour was organised for the group to walk around the range and learn about the sport from ex-Olympian and EGBC club coach Cameron Morton, before spending the remainder of the day tobogganing and enjoying the snow. The EGBC and Moogji Aboriginal Council would like to thank Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management for their support of the program and the Swifts Creek P – 12 School for their generosity in letting them camp out at the college. With the weekend being a major success, and everyone enjoying themselves, they are going to work towards making the ski camp at Mount Hotham an annual initiative for the youth of Moogji. The season so far... The Mount Hotham season 2017 so far has been a great one! From ski and board demo days to centimetres of fresh powder and more bluebird days than we could ask for! Mount Hotham has also seen its challenges with Blizzard of Oz and Blizzard of Oz 2 hitting the mountain early August, and then Blizzard of Oz 3 hitting in early September. However, the storms came as a blessing with 105 centimetres falling over four days and then some further 70-odd centimetres falling during the next passing storm. The conditions have seen Mount Hotham exceed the 24-year snow base average which has been recorded since 1993, and allowed the Mount Hotham Skiing Company to officially open and operate all 13 chairlifts which provided guests with more than 320 hectares of skiable terrain. We had some minor hiccups with the road closures on the Harrietville approach which was necessary to keep guest safety the mountain's priority. The Resort Management Board, bus operators, Stadelmanns Pty Ltd, VicRoads, Victoria Police and other emergency management services worked hard to get the roads open as quick as possible. Mount Hotham Free Ski programs saw some of our young talent challenge themselves for numerous titles, including Hotham Hammer Dual Moguls, Hotham Junior Free Ride Series - Rail Jam, Hotham Junior Free Ride Series - Rail Style, Hotham Junior Free Ride Series – Rider X and also the opportunity to partake in the SSA SBX Futures Camp. Also, a key part of the season included the Victorian and Australian Biathlon Championships which saw Italian Chief Coach, Luca Bormoilini, and his Italian Assistant Coaches train the high-performance team, where they also ran a Biathlon fun camp and the NSW Biathlon Championships. In September, ex-Biathlon athlete Cameron Moreton helped to facilitate the Moogji Aboriginal Council youth camp ‘Come and try X C Skiing and Biathlon Camp’. The youth participated in ski lessons, tobogganing and participated in a tour of the Biathlon Arena in Wire Plain. They will be organising another trip next year. August saw the “Big Gig Fundraiser” take place at the General with a night of music, social drinks, laughs and over $16,000 raised for the Mount Hotham Ski Patrol Volunteers to assist them financially with their gear that only full-time Ski Patrollers have access to. Spring is where it has all been happening! A line-up of great events throughout the month included a mountain collaboration for a Deck Party, Retro Day with DJ Eddy spinning tunes on top of the summit and a firework display to finish it off. Chicks with Stix also made, yet, another appearance at Hotham this year with a power pack group of girls hitting the slopes. Visitation has soared compared to the same times last year and some of the best visitation stats on record! The season is not over just year with the Spring Cup, Grand Final weekend and the season extension until Sunday 8 October – first time in 17 years! Camp Quality Fun Walk at Mount Hotham raise more than $5,000 It was a children’s fashion parade at Mount Hotham last week which hosted their fifth Camp Quality Fun Walk Fundraiser to raise awareness and funds for children suffering from cancer and terminal illness. The Fun Walk was a great way for the kids to dress up and raise money, with over $5000 raised and more than one hundred people attending the outside event. Operations Manager of Snow Stuff Park in Wire Plain, Steve Bellie, runs a fortnightly trivia night over the winter season and contribute all proceeds to the cause on the day. Every year, the Miss Hotham Award is awarded to one of the workers on the mountain who dressed up for the occasion. Mount Hotham Ambassador and Committee member for Camp Quality, Tracey Williams, said that the support by mountain individuals and operators was outstanding. “We have pro forma for everything we do and each year we can run on a very small committee, but very reliant on the generosity of businesses at Mount Hotham, Dinner Plain and also a couple external businesses,” Ms Williams said. “Former CEO of Mount Hotham Resort Management, Jim Atteridge, backed the project very heavily and that today allows us to use resources from the RMB in a way we believe is fit and proper. “We also have the cooperation of the Ski Patrol for first aid on the day and in conjunction with the walk, the Vic police assist us in traffic management.” In 2016, both the Alpine School and Bright P-12 School amalgamated and have made the Fun Walk Fundraiser as part of their curriculum to raise funds for Camp Quality every year. Mount Hotham Alpine Resort Management Board have been coordinating the event for five years with a team of four committee members. The idea behind the fundraiser started as a dare for someone to walk from the garbage centre to Hotham Central in ladies red lingerie for $100. However, when he was offered $200 to do the dare he decided that he would donate it. From this, Camp Quality was contacted and was happy to except any funds raised. Today the walk aims to do just that, by dressing, sharing laughs and raising money. Ms Williams said that the creativity of the costumes worn on the day showed how much thought went into helping the cause. “This year’s event would have shown the most creativeness, with most of the children dressing up, and every year the creativity gets better – we have had more children participate than ever before. “The Alpine School made their own costumes and some bought them with them for the term they have up here. The comments were great and the children were smiling; laughter is the best medicine. “We had one of the year nine students going back on the bus who had won a prize and was amazed because she had never won anything in her life and said it was the best day ever. So, if you get unsolicited comments from teenagers and children you can’t do much better than that. “From very, very humble beginnings to today, every year for Camp Quality, this single day event we raise around $5000” she said. Next year, the Mount Hotham Camp Quality Committee are hoping to have the puppets visit the Bright P-12 School and Alpine School the day prior to the Fun Walk to further enhance the cause and enrich the children about the relationship between children who are affected by cancer and other terminal illnesses. |