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.
