Falls Creek Historical Society
Photograph - Jack Maddison Leading horses on the Bogong High Plain
... Maddison Family Mt Beauty... Maddison Family Mt Beauty Maddison's Hut Aertex Hut A black ...
The images in the Bogong Village Collection were displayed in Bogong Jack’s Tavern for over 20 years and were donated to the Falls Creek Museum when the Tavern closed in 2021.
In 1939, the State Electricity Commission of Victoria established a field headquarters at Bogong to house workers and their families for the Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme which ran from the 1930s to the 1960s. The workmen's camp was originally started with tents and was called Junction Camp. By 1947, the village supported 300 workers and their families. It included 40 houses, a hostel for single staff, a post office, a police station, a medical centre, and a primary school. The staff hostel was known as Kiewa House.
At the completion of the Scheme, in the 1960s, the village was opened to public/tourism use. In 1968 the Victorian Education Department acquired the camp buildings and four houses from the State Electricity Commission of Victoria to establish an Outdoor Education Centre which operated for over 50 years.
The Kiewa Hydroelectric Scheme was privatized in the 1990s and sold to Southern Hydro, before being acquired by AGL in 2005. In 2023 the Grollo Group signed a 73 year sublease on Bogong Village and has plans for its redevelopment as a workers’ village.
John Maddison and his wife Mary Padman emigrated from London to Australia in 1850 with their five sons. Jack (John James William Maddison) was one of their great grandsons. In 1877 Jack’s grandfather George Maddison selected land between the East and West Kiewa branches of the Kiewa River - known as the "Island". It is now known as Mount Beauty. The Maddison family built Aertex Hut at the top of T Spur at Mt. Bogong for use when grazing cattle. It later became known as Maddison's Hut. Staircase Spur walking track at Bogong was formerly known as Maddison’s Track as it is the path once used by the Maddison family to drive their cattle on to the high plains. These images are significant because they feature the son of a pioneering family on the Bogong High Plains.A black and white photograph of Jack Maddison leading horses on the Bogong High Plains.bogong alpine village, bogong high plains, maddison family mt beauty, maddison's hut, aertex hut,
Falls Creek Historical Society
Kiewa Valley Historical Society
Kiewa Valley Historical Society