Wonnangatta Station hut, Alpine Huts 1994-5 sheet 27 4
Victorian Alpine Huts survey, for Parks Victoria 1994-5.
The Wonnangatta pastoral lease extended from Mt McDonald on the west, the head of Coleman Creek on the south, Mt Darling on the east and Mt Selwyn on the north{ Spreadborough & Anderson run plans}. The property was taken up by William Bryce in 1866 and the homestead extended. A family cemetery was also established nearby, accommodating two of their ten children and William's wife Annie who died in 1914{ Siseman: 20-1}. After Annie's death, the station was sold to a Mansfield partnership who engaged James Barclay as the resident manager at the property. Barclay and his hired hand, John Bamford, were both found dead in 1918, resulting in an extensive unresolved police investigation of their murder and initiating a tale which has since been retold many times{ ibid.}. This aspect of the place is perhaps the most significant culturally to the regional community. In 1934 it was purchased by the Guys of Crooked River, a noted mountain cattle family, in the persons of Alex and his sons Arthur & Jack. They used it as a base for their large alpine cattle grazing holdings, along with Guys (Snowy Plains) and Howitt (Howitt Plains) huts, taking their cattle from the high plains into the valley for the winter. Left largely unoccupied the homestead fell into disrepair and was burnt in 1957, reputedly by a party of walkers. Then it consisted of two gable roofed verandahed wings clad with timber, one sited at right-angles to the other. To replace the lost homestead, this hut was built almost immediately (in 1 week) by the Guys, Eric Traill and George Annand, just below the homestead site, using some of the old home's roofing iron in conjunction with corrugated iron packed in by horse from Crooked River{ Griffiths, p23-4}. Timber harvesting in the area during the 1960s left tracks which provided ready but difficult access for 4WD vehicles and the valley became a challenge for drivers rather than just a destination for cattlemen and walkers{ see Griffiths: 22}. The traffic into the valley increased dramatically and with better road access has increased yet again more recently. After a period when it was owned by Bob Gilder of Glen Falloch (1972-), the Victorian Government purchased Wonnangatta in 1988, halting around 130 years of grazing on the vast river plain and provoking fears of fire in the valley{ see T Griffiths, p22}. The Alpine National Park surrounding the site was declared in 1989. Truscott (2002) notes that this place became a symbol of the mountain cattlemen's struggle to maintain alpine grazing leases in the face of environmental concern about the effect of summer cattle grazing in sensitive environments.
Wonnangatta Station hut, Alpine Huts 1994-5 sheet 27 4
Victorian Alpine Huts survey, for Parks Victoria 1994-5.
The Wonnangatta pastoral lease extended from Mt McDonald on the west, the head of Coleman Creek on the south, Mt Darling on the east and Mt Selwyn on the north{ Spreadborough & Anderson run plans}. The property was taken up by William Bryce in 1866 and the homestead extended. A family cemetery was also established nearby, accommodating two of their ten children and William's wife Annie who died in 1914{ Siseman: 20-1}. After Annie's death, the station was sold to a Mansfield partnership who engaged James Barclay as the resident manager at the property. Barclay and his hired hand, John Bamford, were both found dead in 1918, resulting in an extensive unresolved police investigation of their murder and initiating a tale which has since been retold many times{ ibid.}. This aspect of the place is perhaps the most significant culturally to the regional community. In 1934 it was purchased by the Guys of Crooked River, a noted mountain cattle family, in the persons of Alex and his sons Arthur & Jack. They used it as a base for their large alpine cattle grazing holdings, along with Guys (Snowy Plains) and Howitt (Howitt Plains) huts, taking their cattle from the high plains into the valley for the winter. Left largely unoccupied the homestead fell into disrepair and was burnt in 1957, reputedly by a party of walkers. Then it consisted of two gable roofed verandahed wings clad with timber, one sited at right-angles to the other. To replace the lost homestead, this hut was built almost immediately (in 1 week) by the Guys, Eric Traill and George Annand, just below the homestead site, using some of the old home's roofing iron in conjunction with corrugated iron packed in by horse from Crooked River{ Griffiths, p23-4}. Timber harvesting in the area during the 1960s left tracks which provided ready but difficult access for 4WD vehicles and the valley became a challenge for drivers rather than just a destination for cattlemen and walkers{ see Griffiths: 22}. The traffic into the valley increased dramatically and with better road access has increased yet again more recently. After a period when it was owned by Bob Gilder of Glen Falloch (1972-), the Victorian Government purchased Wonnangatta in 1988, halting around 130 years of grazing on the vast river plain and provoking fears of fire in the valley{ see T Griffiths, p22}. The Alpine National Park surrounding the site was declared in 1989. Truscott (2002) notes that this place became a symbol of the mountain cattlemen's struggle to maintain alpine grazing leases in the face of environmental concern about the effect of summer cattle grazing in sensitive environments.