Victoria’s High Country is dotted with huts, some dating back to as early as 1860. These small structures were originally built by cattlemen as a place to stay when they drove their cattle into the mountains to feed during spring and summer.1 Initially the cattleman took tents, but these proved inadequate given the variable weather on the mountains.2 To withstand the conditions, they started building huts, both on the way to their runs and at the runs themselves.3 At first, the huts were simple structures – the earliest were built from timber, then later galvanised iron. They were mostly single room affairs, with most of the space taken up by bunks or sleeping platforms.
Dargo H.P. [i.e. High Plains] Treasures H.S. [i.e. Homestead?] Old Hut, 1967. Photograph by John Collins; H95.200/6
In the twentieth century, as people began visiting the mountains for leisure activities, walkers and ski tourists started to use the huts. Cope Hut, pictured below, was one of the earliest huts to be built specifically for walkers and skiers. Each hut would house a log book where visitors would note the names of their party and the dates they were there. The log books served as a safety measure were something to go awry in the mountains.4
Cope Hut (Menzies of the High Plains) 1929, 1991. Photograph by David Tatnall. This item is in copyright; H92.195/8
The Cleve Cole Memorial Hut was constructed in 1937 in honour of a Victorian skiing pioneer who sadly perished on Mount Bogong the previous year. Cleve Cole is recorded as the first Anglo-Australian person to ascend Mount Bogong from Tawonga during winter, which he did with cattleman Walter Maddison, in 1932.5 He had a vision of building a resort for the Ski Club of Victoria on Mt Bogong.6
On 5 August 1936 Cole, and fellow skiers Mick Hull and Howard Michell, set out from Mount Hotham with a plan to travel to Mt Bogong. Their destination was a hut on Staircase Spur (later known as Bivouac Hut), where Cole had earlier sent food in preparation for their arrival (The Herald, 17 Aug 1936). Travelling towards Big River, they crossed the Bogong Plains. The men passed through Cope Hut on their journey to Mt Bogong. State Library Victoria holds the Cope Hut visitor book for this time. The Victorian Rover Scouts Party were staying in the hut, and note that Cole, Hull and Michell pass through.
Cope Hut Visitor Book : manuscript, typescript, sketches, paintings, maps 1928-1945 (MS 16143)Cope Hut Visitor Book : manuscript, typescript, sketches, paintings, maps 1928-1945 (MS 16143)
Once they reached Mount Bogong, the three skiers climbed 3,500 feet from Big River to the summit of the mountain. It was here that their trouble began. A blizzard hit, and the men could not locate the cairn (marker) on the summit. Trying to get off the mountain, they were faced with a steep precipice whichever way they looked. With the weather turning bad, they were unable to leave and decided to take shelter on top of the mountain.7
The skiers managed to dig a shelter, 4 feet wide with a snow roof of 3 feet. This became their home for the next three nights, with weather too bad to find a way off the mountain. They kept themselves somewhat warm by lighting meta tablets, a kind of portable fuel used by campers. They staved off hunger with a broth made from Oxo cubes, but their rations were running out.8
Detail of Bogong High Plains and adjacent peaks, 1937. Staircase hut, which the skiers were trying to reach, is on the north-west side of the mountain.
After four days, they decided to leave their shelter and attempt to find their way to Staircase Hut. Their rations were perilously low – a square of chocolate each, a packet of PK gum, and a pint bottle of rum.9 Eventually they found a way off the mountain, though not in the direction they thought they were travelling. They accidentally descended the south side, and ended up in the valley below. They made very slow progress as they followed the river downstream, contending with steep ravines and icy water crossings.
On 15 August the men decided that Howard Michell should go ahead while the other two sought shelter in a hollowed out log. Cleve Cole was in a bad way, and couldn’t keep walking. Michell eventually stumbled into Glen Valley, a mining center, on 17 August. He managed to explain the situation, and a search party was quickly organised.
A rescue party of 18 people set out on 18 August, carrying with them supplies of brandy, eggs and milk (The Riverine Herald, 18 Aug 1936). The country was so rough that horses could not be used. When they eventually found the men, Cole was so delirious he did not recognise his own mate and struggled with the rescuers, not wanting to be taken away (Weekly Times, 29 Aug 1936). The rescuers had to carry the men in their arms for ‘five miles over rough country through tangled scrub which horse men cannot penetrate. At times the rescuers [had to] step perilously from rock to rock with their burden’ (The Herald, 19 Aug 1936). Sadly, from the time of the rescue, Cleve Cole never regained consciousness. The men were taken back to Glen Valley and Cole died that evening (The Age, 20 Aug 1936).
Soon after this terrible tragedy, the Ski Club of Victoria raised funds to build a hut in honour of Cole (The Argus, 30 Sep 1936). The hut was designed by architect and fellow skier Malcolm McColl (The Sun, 23 Sep 1937) and was completed in time for the 1937 ski season. The hut still stands in the Alpine National Park today, with the area surrounding it popular with campers. Many of the other huts are also still standing and can be visited on hiking or camping trips. The Victorian High Country Huts Association works to keep these conserved and maintained – a worthy endeavor to preserve this unique slice of Victorian history.
Cleve Cole Memorial Hut, 1937, 1991. Photograph by David Tatnall. This item is in copyright; H92.195/18
References
Siseman, J & Brownlie, J, 1986, Bogong National Park, Algona Publications, Northcote
Holth, T & Holth, J, 1980, Cattlemen of the high country : the story of the mountain cattlemen of the Bogongs, Rigby, Adelaide, p6
As above
Siseman, J & Brownlie, J, 1986, Bogong National Park, Algona Publications, Northcote, p18
Magnussen, F, 2003, Victoria’s alpine heritage huts of the High Plains: Bogong, Dargo and Hotham regions, Staffback, Henty, p96
As above
Australian and New Zealand ski year book, 1936, ‘The Mount Bogong Disaster, 1936’, The Australian and New Zealand ski year book, p45
Thank you for this article Blair.
Relating to it is the ‘Don Bennett Alpine Collection’ of photographs that I gave to the SLV.
It is curated and relates to your BLOG.
My father, Don Bennett, initiated and installed, with many others, see photo collection), the Emergency Radio network at Clevecole, Bivowac, (Bogong); Hotham and Buller.
I grew up with memories, in Brighton, the Melbourne Base, listening to evening calls from skiers on their trips to Bogong. It kept them safe.
Some year ago the original emergency radio was found at Cleve Cole by the Bogong Ski Club.
I have sent your article on to others.
Wendy Coates
Hi Wendy,
Thanks so much for your comment and for sharing the post with others who might be interested. The emergency radio network must have been a life saver for skiers in those days – how amazing that it was part of your childhood.
I didn’t come across the photographs you donated during my research (possibly because the collection is not yet digitised), but am now fascinated to have a look. It sounds like a fantastic collection, and very relevant to this blog post.
Regards,
Blair
Cleveland Cole is buried at the beautiful Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery in Charman Road next to Cheltenham Station. Sadly his grave is overgrown with weeds and could definitely do with a working bee.
Blair, thank you for this article. The story of Cleve Cole was once well known in bushwalking and ski touring circles, but as sometimes happens, may not be so well known nowadays.
You include one error which I hope you can correct. You state that the Cleve Cole Hut is “on the Bogong High Plains”, but it is not. The High Plains are separated from Mt Bogong by the Big River. The Hut is in fact located on the Bogong massif, south west of the summit on the edge of a small snow plain named Camp Valley—as correctly shown on the map segment you included in your article.
Thank you for acting on this, Blair. Re-reading my post I see I made a mistake of my own—the hut is south east of the summit, not south west as I stated. I see no way I can edit my post, so in the interests of accuracy I add this correction.
Bill
I believe the first winter ascent of Mt Bogong was in 1928 by Bill Water, Kemble Gibson, Eric Stewart and Eddie Robinson.
Ref W.F Waters Biography – 1982 , by Harry Stephenson – ISBN 0 949847 6 7
Page 29
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comment. I have gone back to the source I used and see that Cole and Maddison’s was the first winter ascent “from Tawonga”, rather than the first ever. I have revised the text in my blog post to make this clear.
Regards,
Blair
I am a skier from a long time back and knew most of the people mentioned and skied with many of them. A few of those mentioned did not have their names quite right. For instance Howard was Howard Michell not as entered. I was at Bogong with Howard (I recollect at the well-attended 80th birthday party of Mick Hul). Howard lived in South Australia. He said to me (it was a nice day) “this is the fourth? time that I have been to Mt Bogong and the first time that I have ever seen it”.
The first time that we went to Bogong we had friends staying at Mt Hotham and we used to talk on Don Bennett’s radio each evening,
Bogong is a magnificent Mountain. I have many memories of it. The Mt Bogong Club is very active and has many members.
Dear Pat,
Thanks for reading and leaving this comment. It’s great when readers have a personal connection to the stories in our blog posts and can share their own experiences. Appreciate you taking the time to share your personal connection with Howard Michell.
Regards,
Blair
I have to endorse Wendy Coates’ comment. Don Bennett made a huge contribution as a pioneer skier and his photos were exceptional. So it would be great if they were digitised. Another superb mountain photographer was Kath Magill. The SLV has digitised one or two of her albums, but the remaining undigitised ones are just as good. So if there are any spare resources to scan mountain photos held by the SLV, I’d strongly recommend those two for a start.
My parents spent two weeks skiing on Mt Bogong arriving back at the Tawonga pub only to discover that WW 2 had been declared. During the stay at the hut my mother realised in the second week it wasn’t rats scratching at night but the unshaven men’s chin scratching on their sleeping bags!!
Is it fair to clarify that Cleve Cole is recorded as the first Anglo-Australian person to ascend Mount Bogong from Tawonga during winter? We don’t know how many Gunai-Kurnai people may have had a reason ascent the mountain by that route in winters before colonisation.
My ‘uncle’ (mother’s cousin’s husband) Eric Stewart, who was one of the group that made the first winter ascent of Bogong in 1928 was supposed to be on this trip with Cleve Cole, Mick Hull and Howard Michell, but came down with ‘flu and was too sick to go. He was a most admirable man, a great conservationist and a strong influence on my subsequent career. I’m grateful that he didn’t share the tragedy and privations of the other three, but I also sometimes wonder whether a fourth member of the party might have led to a better outcome.
Thank you for this article Blair.
Relating to it is the ‘Don Bennett Alpine Collection’ of photographs that I gave to the SLV.
It is curated and relates to your BLOG.
My father, Don Bennett, initiated and installed, with many others, see photo collection), the Emergency Radio network at Clevecole, Bivowac, (Bogong); Hotham and Buller.
I grew up with memories, in Brighton, the Melbourne Base, listening to evening calls from skiers on their trips to Bogong. It kept them safe.
Some year ago the original emergency radio was found at Cleve Cole by the Bogong Ski Club.
I have sent your article on to others.
Wendy Coates
Hi Wendy,
Thanks so much for your comment and for sharing the post with others who might be interested. The emergency radio network must have been a life saver for skiers in those days – how amazing that it was part of your childhood.
I didn’t come across the photographs you donated during my research (possibly because the collection is not yet digitised), but am now fascinated to have a look. It sounds like a fantastic collection, and very relevant to this blog post.
Regards,
Blair
Cleveland Cole is buried at the beautiful Cheltenham Pioneer Cemetery in Charman Road next to Cheltenham Station. Sadly his grave is overgrown with weeds and could definitely do with a working bee.
Thanks so much for your comment. Sad to hear that Cole’s grave is overgrown – I hope that working bee ends up happening.
Regards,
Blair
Blair, thank you for this article. The story of Cleve Cole was once well known in bushwalking and ski touring circles, but as sometimes happens, may not be so well known nowadays.
You include one error which I hope you can correct. You state that the Cleve Cole Hut is “on the Bogong High Plains”, but it is not. The High Plains are separated from Mt Bogong by the Big River. The Hut is in fact located on the Bogong massif, south west of the summit on the edge of a small snow plain named Camp Valley—as correctly shown on the map segment you included in your article.
With kind regards,
Bill
Dear Bill,
Thanks for your comment. I have updated the location of the Cleve Cole Hut. Appreciate the feedback, and thanks for reading.
Blair
Thank you for acting on this, Blair. Re-reading my post I see I made a mistake of my own—the hut is south east of the summit, not south west as I stated. I see no way I can edit my post, so in the interests of accuracy I add this correction.
Bill
I believe the first winter ascent of Mt Bogong was in 1928 by Bill Water, Kemble Gibson, Eric Stewart and Eddie Robinson.
Ref W.F Waters Biography – 1982 , by Harry Stephenson – ISBN 0 949847 6 7
Page 29
Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comment. I have gone back to the source I used and see that Cole and Maddison’s was the first winter ascent “from Tawonga”, rather than the first ever. I have revised the text in my blog post to make this clear.
Regards,
Blair
I am a skier from a long time back and knew most of the people mentioned and skied with many of them. A few of those mentioned did not have their names quite right. For instance Howard was Howard Michell not as entered. I was at Bogong with Howard (I recollect at the well-attended 80th birthday party of Mick Hul). Howard lived in South Australia. He said to me (it was a nice day) “this is the fourth? time that I have been to Mt Bogong and the first time that I have ever seen it”.
The first time that we went to Bogong we had friends staying at Mt Hotham and we used to talk on Don Bennett’s radio each evening,
Bogong is a magnificent Mountain. I have many memories of it. The Mt Bogong Club is very active and has many members.
Dear Pat,
Thanks for reading and leaving this comment. It’s great when readers have a personal connection to the stories in our blog posts and can share their own experiences. Appreciate you taking the time to share your personal connection with Howard Michell.
Regards,
Blair
I have to endorse Wendy Coates’ comment. Don Bennett made a huge contribution as a pioneer skier and his photos were exceptional. So it would be great if they were digitised. Another superb mountain photographer was Kath Magill. The SLV has digitised one or two of her albums, but the remaining undigitised ones are just as good. So if there are any spare resources to scan mountain photos held by the SLV, I’d strongly recommend those two for a start.
Dear Dave,
Thanks for reading and sharing this feedback. I have shared your suggestions with our Digitising team.
Regards,
Blair
My parents spent two weeks skiing on Mt Bogong arriving back at the Tawonga pub only to discover that WW 2 had been declared. During the stay at the hut my mother realised in the second week it wasn’t rats scratching at night but the unshaven men’s chin scratching on their sleeping bags!!
Hi Sue,
Thanks for sharing this personal connection to Mt Bogong. Must have been a relief to realise it wasn’t rats scratching!
Regards,
Blair
Is it fair to clarify that Cleve Cole is recorded as the first Anglo-Australian person to ascend Mount Bogong from Tawonga during winter? We don’t know how many Gunai-Kurnai people may have had a reason ascent the mountain by that route in winters before colonisation.
I think it’s very fair to make that clarification – I have updated the text. Appreciate you reading and taking the time to comment.
My ‘uncle’ (mother’s cousin’s husband) Eric Stewart, who was one of the group that made the first winter ascent of Bogong in 1928 was supposed to be on this trip with Cleve Cole, Mick Hull and Howard Michell, but came down with ‘flu and was too sick to go. He was a most admirable man, a great conservationist and a strong influence on my subsequent career. I’m grateful that he didn’t share the tragedy and privations of the other three, but I also sometimes wonder whether a fourth member of the party might have led to a better outcome.