Epilogue
I have been interested
in the Warburton district for many decades!
I was introduced
to the town in September 1951 on a school-holiday day bus trip arranged by the YMCA here in Melbourne, which was one of many
excursions available to boys aged 10 to 13, who were members of the YMCA Boys’ Club.
We were taken
to the summit of snow-covered Mt Donna Buang, climbed the Lookout Tower, built a snowman, and then had some free time back
in the town before the drive back to Melbourne.
I had just bought
a Kodak 620 Box Brownie Camera, and the very first photos I took at Warburton were on that camera, which is still in good
working order, some 61 years later!
It was to be six
years later, in 1957, before I visited Warburton again. By that time, I was working in the PMG’s Dept as a Trainee Technician,
and with a mate I went to Warby by train and spent the day there wandering around the town and the River.
In 1959 I got
my driver's licence and bought a car, a 1948 Ford Anglia Tourer and in 1960 I took my family to Warby, on the way through
to a trip to the Upper Yarra Reservoir.
In the mid-1960s
I was involved in a Bushwalking Club and did some day hikes to the Warby region.
I never returned
to Warby until 2005, when I completed a series of shorter hikes which included Mt Boobyalla, Mt Donna Buang, Mt Victoria,
Ben Cairn, Mt Littlejoe and the Big Pat’s Creek region.
In mid-2006, the
first sector of the O’Shannassy Aqueduct Trail was opened, and in the years until the present I completed most of the
Trail.
In the years since
the early 2000s, I have travelled extensively throughout the Yarra Ranges National Park.
During my travels
in the Warby area, I had come across artefacts and remains of early sawmilling activity, and this present Project brings together
many heritage, contemporary maps and drawings, with personal photographs and videos, depicting the evolution and development
of the Warburton Forests, and its timber industry.
The graphics are
supported by descriptive text.
During 2012, I
made many trips to Warburton, researching the original mill sites, tramway alignments and logging inclines, identifying their
locations, and what is there now! Several of the small concrete timber tramway bridges across the O’Shannassy Aqueduct
survive, which can be inspected along the O’Shannassy Aqueduct Trail.
Enjoy your journey
in time and space in the Warburton Forests!
Comments are feedback
from readers would be appreciated!
Bob Padula
September 2012
