March 1973 - the beginning of the rebuild of hut by
Steve Morgan, Ron Collis, Tim Apps, Ian Castell, Colin Gray, Peter Gray(?) Craig Swindon, Bruce Jones, John Gloz, and also 2 of the Newborough crew (Howitt Rovers?) Ray Bates & Perry Black.
During my time in the Rovers, we decided that it was time to embark on the 2nd phase of the J. W. McMahon lodge improvements (1st phase had been done in the late '50s - early '60s), and we were very fortunate that the original Yallourn hospital (Latrobe Valley Comminuty Hospital) was being demolished at the same time, so we were able to acquire all the timber that we needed (in abundance!) at very reasonable cost - i.e. pocket money almost. Unfortunatley the same couldn't be said for the corrugated iron for the roof - that had to be bought new. We were also fortunate that one of the members (Ron Collis) had a small truck to transport all the materials to the mushroom rocks car park, so we didn't have to pay anyone else for that. Bruce Jones was very involved with the Latrobe Valley Aero Club at the time, and tried to wangle a helicopter to air lift the hardware the rest of the way - at no cost to us of course. Needless to say that idea fell over, so we were left with no other option but to lug it on our shoulders, and our heads where the corrugated iron was concerned! (All with suitable padding of course, but then maybe that explains some things about us now?!) We were very ambitious about it, and I remember that we initially thought that we could do the whole job in one weekend (including lugging the gear up the mountain), boy were we wrong on that! I think it ended up taking about 3 or 4 months and we only just got it all finished in time for the snow season. The attached B&W photos were all taken in March '73, I didn't get any photos of the completed work until I returned 12 years later (colour photo - Aug 1985) with my own children in tow, even though I did make several more trips there that year while we finished it. Members that I remember being involved with that re-build are: Steve Morgan, Ron Collis, Tim Apps, Ian Castell, Colin Gray, Peter Gray(?) Craig Swindon, Bruce Jones, myself, and also 2 of the Newborough crew (Howitt Rovers?) Ray Bates & Perry Black....John Gloz
I remember being part of
I remember being part of that, although I was only a Scout at the time. We took up loads of timber flooring, with about three people per a bundle (they were VERY heavy)!. We did a couple of trips taking the shortcut track back to the car park, and walking the long way up (not so steep)
Then I recall the opening of the refurbished hut, with lots of folks taking the walk up the Mt to have a cuppa, hear some speeches, reminisce then walk back down again.
Steve Gray
As a scout back in the mid
As a scout back in the mid 50's I loved going up to Mt Erica with the Schole's Victor and his father George. So much so I always hoped that ther was snow. To get to the huts it was a feat to be believed as we had to carry everything that we wanted for that time. Yes the huts were basic but comfortable but the views from mushroom rock was totally out of this world.