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Vale Noel Gough

Mark, Noel Gough's son, has informed us today 23 January 2010, that Noel Gough passed away quietly in his sleep in Melbourne this morning. Noel was reknowned as a tireless worker for KHA in particular on the Geehi Huts and will be remembered as a strong advocate for KHA and the SMA. His bio reads in summary;

He was born in Warrnambool, Victoria, on the 25th December 1929. He retired to Moonee Ponds, Victoria, he was researching and recording a biography of Major Clews, an early surveyor with forty years army service and eight years with the Snowy Scheme.

After completing his studies in Melbourne and Nth Queensland and gaining early experience in NSW power stations, he joined the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Authority in July 1950 aged 20, as one of those early employees of the Authority who contributed to the construction of the Scheme. He spent ten years there, working as an electrical engineer, a power station manager, a search and rescue co-ordinator, and even a real estate agent. Along the way he rubbed shoulders with some of the 100,000 people from the thirty-two nationalities who worked on the Snowy, and saw first hand how the scheme played a central part in the re-shaping of a new multi-cultural Australia. Author of the book “Mud, Sweat and Snow – Memories of Snowy Workers”, an account of his own experiences and those of the many dedicated and adventurous people during the first decade of the Snowy.

Noel maintained a keen interest in the preservation and recording of early Snowy Mountains history. During his ten years with the Authority's Electrical and Mechanical division Noel worked at diverse locations such as Kiandra, Three Mile Dam, Tumut Pond, Island Bend, Jindabyne, Guthega, Alpine Way construction, Eucumbene and Cabramurra. In 1960, Noel left the Snowy to commence a 30-year career with the State Electricity Commission of Victoria as a District Manager, serving in several Victorian metropolitan and regional centres including Berwick, Pakenham, Tallangatta, Corryong and Sunbury. From 1972 until its completion in 1982, he was responsible for construction power supply associated with the construction of Dartmouth Dam and Hydro Power Station on the Mitta Mitta River in North East Victoria.

Noel was been a member of Rotary for 33 years; he joined Kosciusko Huts Association in 1990 and currently is Huts Maintenance Officer, Geehi, responsible for the restoration and maintenance of the historic stone huts along the Swampy Plain River at Geehi, and involved with the production of a Conservation Study of Major Clew’s Cottage at Indi. He served as Australia Day Ambassador for the Snowy River Shire Council at Jindabyne in 1999. Noel leaves wife Anne, three children, Alison, Stephen and Mark, plus two grandchildren Emma and Alexander.

The 2009-10 KHA Commitee
President - Carl Bazeley
Vice President - Clive Richardson (re-elected)
Secretary - Vacant
Treasurer - Peter Law (re-elected)
Publicity - Peter McGaghey (re-elected)
Newsletter - Vacant
HMO North - David Mitchell
HMO South - Ian Frakes (re-elected)
HMO Geehi - Jim Roche (re-elected)
HMO Namadgi - Richard Stanley (re-elected)
Committee - Lyn Sebo (re-elected)
Committee - Tim Geoghegan (re-elected)

Huts and History group update
Check the Projects page for KHA's History Groups
"Aims and desired outcomes" statement

From the KHA History Committee - Sound Files!

Following completion of the new Delaney's and Patons huts, KHA's Huts and History Sub-committee is working on updating the history associated with huts scheduled for rebuilding. To listen to extracts of interviews with the builders of Brooks hut click on the link below. The two attached sound files are

1) Bill Brooks speaking on the building of the hut, (3.40MB), and

2) Alan Reid on how Arsenic Ridge got its name (1.01MB)

3) Alan Reid on some of the tough times they had (4.23MB)

4) Alan Reid on the building of Brooks Hut (2.13MB)

Enjoy! If you like this material please tell us and we will build a whole lot more - thanks to Graham Scully and team!

The KHA Publicity Officer is Peter McGaghey who can be contacted via email at publicity@kosciuskohuts.org.au

NOTE ON EPIRB's - Emergency Positioning Radio Indicator Beacons, sometimes known as PLB's (Personal Locator Beacons) - the 121MHz system will be closed on 1 February 2009. Please replace your EPIRB with a 406MHz Device, available now!

The CORRECT and Latest version of the KHA Constitution is here in Word Format and HERE in HTML format, for those who wish to review it. Regulations are also being formed with the first draft in place.

To Join KHA - Go here!

Over 500 members of the Kosciuszko Huts Association work within the Kosciuszko, Namadgi and Brindabella National Parks to retain, restore and re-build the mountain huts and homesteads, that form a key part of Australia's cultural heritage.

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Outdoor Equipment Suppliers! Past Presidents

The Kosciuszko Huts Association was formed in 1971 and on May 26, 2001 celebrated its 30th anniversary at Sawpit Creek in Kosciuszko National Park. The first meeting was held there in 1970 by a group of concerned people, bushwalkers and skiers. Their greatest fear was the deliberate destruction of the vernacular huts and homesteads that lay within the Park Boundary. These structures were built by our pioneer graziers and gold miners, and suited their basic needs. Many of these buildings were aged and desperately needing conservation.

In the hard years, our committees and members struggled to hold onto the High Country huts, in an age before Government or Australians benefited from recognising and appreciating their history, albeit a short space of civilised history compared to the rest of the world. Now we share a partnership with National Parks and Wildlife Service that respect the huts and their heritage value.

Today, we recognise Australia's heritage in many ways from grooves in sandstone shelf near a watercourse to stockman's huts. The huts we help to conserve and caretake are a polygon of styles suited to the needs of pioneers, of grazing and goldmining. Basic structures mostly, but each one as any caretaker knows, imbued with the character of the scavenging capabilities or leanness of wallet of the builder.

There are huts still standing that seem to defy gravity. Over the passing years since grazing ceased, there are many which have succumbed; a pile of weathered timbers and corrugated iron. In some places is just a pile of stones, the remains of a crude chimney.

The remaining 100 huts have become a haven for safety from blizzards, a social centrepiece and a full dimension of history, a heritage of how people lived in the first half of the 1900s. They are not relocated to a "village" or reconstructed, they are maintained as close as possible to the original fabric, structure and method of construction as the owners built them.

Destructive fires in January and February 2003 destroyed more than 20 of the huts remaining at that time.

2003 Fires - A list of burnt huts is shown here. Also see the VHCHA website for details of those lost in Victoria.

Fire Photos - Set 1 - Huts Destroyed.

Fire Photos - Set 2 - Huts Saved.

Fire Photos - Set 3 - Fireys in Action.

The photo of Mackays Hut in snow, at the head of each page - © Klaus Hueneke 2000.

This Page last updated 2 October 2009.