MT. TARRENGOWER


Grid Reference BV 373013
Department DEPI
Work Depot Maldon
Region North West
Grading Primary
Elevation (ASL) 571m
Height 20m
Construction Steel
Cabin size ?
Public access to site Yes
In use since 1924 as lookout
1948 - as fire lookout
CFA Region 2 - North Western

The Advance Maldon Association brought the tower from Bendigo to Maldon to attract visitors to the area after the goldmining had almost ceased. The tower was originally the poppet legs of the Comet Mine in Bendigo, and was brought to Maldon by rail in 80' (24m) lengths. It was carried up the mountain on a timber jinker drawn by a team of horses, along a track cut from Butts Reserve to the summit. A Mr. William Adams put up the money for the project, approx. 600 pounds. It is not known for certain if Mr. Williams ever got his money back. The tower was officially opened on 26th Jan. 1924, Foundation Day (Australia day). During the Maldon Easter Fair, held annually since 1877, the lookout tower is illuminated. Prior to the 1950s, this was done by wiring up over 100 makeshift lanterns, using stone ginger beer bottles, hemp wicks and kerosene. The bottles were hidden in a disused mine shaft until the next Easter. The tower caught fire once and the Fire Brigade had to be called. Since "electrification", the tower has been illuminated by a string of globes and can be seen from up to 50 kms. The illuminated tower is still a delight to locals and visitors alike each Easter.
In the early sixties, the spotters cabin was moved from the first landing to the top landing because trees were obstructing the vision.
The tower survived the 1980 fires with only minor damage. Only the first landing and approx. 5% of the second landing had to be replaced. It did also get a new cabin in 1980

This information and the photo is reproduced with permission. Thanks to Steve and Sandra Marsden and Keith Laity who contributed this information to the book; Historic Maldon.

In april 2018, we received a message from Mark Stump (see Fryers Ridge tower):

"I can also tell you that a new tower cabin was placed on Mt Tarrengower in 1979 also. This cabin came close to being lost in its first fire season as the lower decks of the lookout were badly burnt. The upper deck had a very large hole in it, certainly more than 5 %, probably 30% by my memory of it."

Please click on thumbnails for enlargements
Angle view up Car rally
at tower 		View View
Above thumbnail photos supplied by Gerrie Bussem (West of England tower).
Gerrie thinks that these photos were taken in the 1950's

Photos (2001) supplied by Andrew and Merilyn Johns


2 photos (2006) supplied
by Andre Belterman 		Photo (1958) supplied by the
Melbourne Walking Club
(Robin Bailey)


Photo of the official opening in 1924, supplied by John Stancombe via Peter Skilbeck Tradition continued; Easter 2019, photo supplied by Peter Skilbeck


Mt. Tarrengower had some major works done during the winter of 2018. The cabin was removed and replaced with a new one that meets current occupational health and safety requirements. The new cabin will improve working conditions for the fire lookout observer, who can spend up to ten hours a day in the cabin. The new cabin looks quite similar to the old one but is slightly bigger, has larger windows with UV protection and better access for the fire lookout observer. Instead of the fire lookout observer entering the cabin via a trapdoor in the floor, entry will be via the walkway around the cabin.
The old cabin was donated to the Maldon Vintage Machinery Museum where it will be an integral part of the Museum’s fire display.
As well as replacing the cabin, DELWP also removed old-lead based paint from the Lookout Tower and undertook some structural repairs.
The Tower was then re-painted and all work was completed before the start of the 2018-19 fire season.

To view a clip of the old cabin removal, please click here
To view a clip of the new cabin placement, please click here

Photo of the tower with all work completed and the tower fully operational; as a tourist attraction and as an operational fire lookout tower.

Thanks to the DELWP Media section for supplying the updates and for giving permission to use the footage.

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