MT. TERRIBLE


Grid Reference DU 236608
Department DEPI
Work Depot Alexandra
Region North East
Grading Primary
Elevation (ASL) 1335m
Height 22m
Construction Steel
Cabin size 2.7m x 2.3m
Public access to site Yes
In use since 1962 - 1992
1992 - 2022
2022 -
CFA Region 23 - North Eastern
Photo (1999) supplied by Ray Lucas

On the 5th February 1962, a recommendation was made for the approval of a quote of £791 for a steel tower on Mt. Terrible. This tower was to replace the Jamieson Lookout although the Jamieson Lookout was to be maintained to serve as a secondary lookout as required. Materials needed for the footings of the tower was as follows:
6 cubic yards of screenings, 3 cubic yards of concrete sand, 36 bags of cement, 950 ft of ¼" reinforcing rail.
Timber: 6" x 1" 14/8' and 16/9', 3" x 1" 4/8' and 1/10', 2" x 1" 4/8'. 3lb of 2" nails was also required.
The excavations for the four footings were 5' square by 3' deep, centers spaced 20' each way.
The construction and erection of a 12' x 12' hut was quoted for £ 330
Above information was found in documents supplied by David Bannear

A new cabin was installed in 19??

Please click on thumbnails for enlargements

1979, supplied by
Craig Robertson 		1979, supplied by
Craig Robertson 		1993, supplied by
Craig Robertson 		2009, supplied by
Richard Webb 		2009, supplied by
Richard Webb


The 2 photos left were supplied by Wayne Peterken, who is involved with the Victorian High Country Huts Association.
He states (Oct 2009): "You might be interested to know that we have been doing quite a bit of work on the Mt. Terrible Hut the past year.
The Hut was in a terrible (excuse the pun) state of repair and was about to be bulldozed by DSE (late 2008).
We have replaced one entire wall, fixed the fireplace and repaired / painted all walls inside.
A lot of the old Fire Tower Huts are now looked after by the the Victorian High Country Huts Association


Unfortunately, the hut burnt down on the night of the 8th-9th Dec 2012. Allegedly, people were staying in the hut and a log rolled out of the fire place and set the hut alight.
Photo and information was supplied by Peter McGrath, the FLO at the time and still the current (2015) FLO.

After a lot of hard work 'behind-the-scene', a proposal/request for re-building the hut was finally approved in July 2016. Construction is set to begin in early November. It's a collaboration (design, materials, labour and funding) between DELWP (Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning) the Mt. Torbeck A4-4 Memorial Restoration Team and the VHCHA (Victorian High Country Huts Association) and funding and support is also promised by VicForests and a few local businesses. Watch this space for progress reports.

Photos supplied by Anthony Dykes and the people from Artworkz eSplash.
Artworkz eSplash have a very detailed booklet on the history and the re-build
of the hut on their website


Photos taken on NYE 2016 and supplied in Sep 2017 by Sharyn Chambers.
Sharyn was the Social Media Coordinator for the Victorian High Country Huts Association when she supplied the photos


Photo of the hut in 1970. Supplied in June 2019 by John Wood from Queensland


Photos were taken and supplied by Anthony Dykes in June 2019. 1st one is taken from a drone 100m high and looking north,
2nd one is looking east through snow gums, 3rd and 4th ones speak for themselves.


Photos were taken (Mar-Apr 2019) and supplied by David Roberts in July 2019.
David was the FLO on Mt. Terrible for the 2018-19 season and hopefully for a few more seasons.


In late May 2022, we received the following message: My name is David Burns and I grew up in Kevington which is in the Goulburn Valley under Mt Terrible, when I was about 15 or 16 years of age around 1992 I was with a small group of people at the Mt Terrible fire tower the day the old tower was replaced with the current new tower that is there now. The old Tower was upgraded for Win TV to broadcast threw to Gippsland and needed a bit more height and strength for the dishes to be fixed to it. We all went up into the old tower before in was dismantled and then later in the day we all went up into the the new tower.

Mt. Terrible is earmarked for replacement again. There have been un-confirmed rumours about why and when for about 2 years now but as of January 2023, nothing has been confirmed/finalised yet. Watch this space.

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