Mt Donna Buang Pictorial Heritage - 1890 to 2011

Snow Sports

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About this Project
History of Mt Donna Buang
Warburton History
Heritage Timeline
Gold, Logging, and Timber Tramways
Ben Cairn
Acheron Way
Snow Sports
Family Snow Photos of 1925
Bushwalking Tracks
O'Shannassy Aqueduct Trail
Mt Donna Buang Rainforest Gallery and Skywalk
Mt Victoria Towers and HF Radio Reception
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References and Bibliography

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1940 Walkers on Summit Road

In July 1924, the newly formed Ski Club of Victoria, with the help of local timber workers, built a ski run at the top of Donna Buang and a mountain hut, as did the Melbourne University Ski Club. Niall Brennan, author of Tales from the Australian Mountains, has fond memories of the early days of skiing at Donna Buang. ``We would arrive at the Ten Mile Turntable car park about midnight on Friday and hike to the hut in the moonlight and skied all weekend on the short, steep slope at the summit now used for tobogganing."

Earle Parkinson, another local writer and founder member of the Warburton Ski Club, says skiing at Donna Buang was eventually ruined by over-popularity. In the 1930s, thousands of sightseers would arrive on the mountain in buses, crowding the slopes and clogging the carpark.

By the late 1930s, serious skiers abandoned Donna Buang in favor of Mount Buller but the mountain remained a favorite winter day trip from Melbourne. For thousands, it was their first sight of snow.

The Black Friday 1939 bushfires destroyed most of the Ski Club Huts - the buildings which remained were shifted to Mt Baw Baw and Mt Buller. By the mid-1940s, there was no further large-scale organized skiing at Donna Buang, and the two ski runs became toboggan runs.

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1935 Ski action

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1940 Snow action

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1940 Snow scene

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1930 Snow scene

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1938 Ski scene

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1940 Ski run


Photos by the author, taken on July 2, 2010

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2010 Snow action

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2010 Snow action

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2010 Snowman

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2010 Snow at Summit

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2010 Ten Mile Turntable Track under snow

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2010 View from Mt Donna Buang Rd

Feedback, submissions, ideas? Email bobpadula@mydesk.net.au.