Last week I was sweltering in a bushfire story and this week Sepia Saturday has suggested we look for our snowy photos. So I will go to the Mount Buffalo Chalet in the Australian Alps in Victoria in the winter of 1929 and this time let the pretty pictures tell the story.
The Mt Buffalo Chalet is a guest house which was built in 1910 and was run by the Victorian Railways. Unfortunately it was burnt down in 2006.
Take the steam train to Wangaratta, bus along the Ovens River valley to Porpunkah then up the mountainside to the grand old dame. Well swept of snow.
The honeymooners, Charles and Vera Fricke (nee Tansey) from Castlemaine.
Time to make some new friends. Vera second from left, back row.
Stop off at a hut for a cuppa. Notice in these photos how the women are all wearing jodhpurs. They were fashionable wear at the time and not just for horse-riding.
Time to build a snowman.
Or to practice this increasingly popular hobby of skiing
And admire the dramatic landscape.
On another matter I recently read the book Journey to the Stone Country by Alex Miller. At one stage it was discussing whether conserving old properties was the right thing to do or whether conservation destroyed the spirit of the people who had lived there, I don’t necessarily agree with that but I can appreciate the point they were making and have written a little about it elsewhere, illustrating with an example from my family’s past.
Journey to the Stone Country – Alex Miller and Ideas on Conservation
Click on Sepia Saturday to find links to more Snow Stories.
Bound for Australia 
What am I looking at in the last photo? A rock formation or a hole? I hope it’s rock. Those hats and scarves look just as current as today’s hats and scarves.
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Definitely not a hole but the side of a rock or even a small cliff or cut-out.
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Everyone looks so happy to be doing something fun together. A nice collection of amiable pictures.
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I didn’t know there were Australian Alps. At first I thought it said Austrian Alps.
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A common mistake, understandable where snow is concerned! We Australians are still struggling to establish a real sense of identity, but today we celebrate Australia Day, commemorating the landing at Sydney Cove of the First Fleet from Great Britain on 26 January 1788.
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I don’t think we can talk of identity for any country. Every country is a mixture of many identities. It just needs people to go to the trouble of learning about other countries, their faults and their good points. I couldn’t give you an identity for Australia any more than I could give one for America
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The Australian Alps in NSW and Victoria are part of the Great Dividing Range which runs down the east side of Australia
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Jodpurs strike me as an appropriate item to wear for skiing.
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Great snowy honeymoon photos from that time, but did they go in a group?
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Yet one more place to add to my travel list. At 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) the Australian Alps would seem to be closer in elevation to the Appalachian Mountains rather than the Swiss Alps.
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I had never heard of the Australian Alps, so thank you for enlightening me. Great pictures and they all look as if they are having fun.
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What a shame that magnificent building was destroyed. Wonderful photographs – I was vaguely aware of the Australian Alps, but now I know much more about it.
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Sure enough! Lots of jodhpurs here!
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