Wednesday 22/02/2023 Sandy Creek Road – Hughes Gap – Middle Mountain
Alpine National Park, Wulgulmerang, VICTORIA
Bidawal, Gunaikurnai, Monaro Ngarigo, and Nindi-Ngudjam Ngarigu Monero Country
Participants: Stephen Davies (Photos, Report), Sue Davies
This is a very short walk we had picked out simply by noticing a track marked on one of our maps. It was just off our route, so why not have a look?
Max elevation: 730 m
Total climbing: 123 m
Total descent: -113 m
Average speed: 3.21 km/h
Total time: 00:43:52
In order to reach the starting point just past Hughes Gap we found ourselves driving through a number of farms and waiting for a flock of sheep to walk off the road. Once we reached our starting point we also arrived at a gate marked with a private property sign. Fortunately, the track we wanted to follow was on the right side of that fence.
View east from Middle Mountain
It was a short, sharp climb up a rough 4WD track alongside the farm. Lots of grasses and moderate tree cover. The views from the top of the hill, Middle Mountain were pretty good, giving us another perspective over the Snowy River drainage system.
The descent was steep enough for us to walk slowly with short steps, as you were almost guaranteed the occasional loss of traction and slide along the way.
Suggan Buggan
Further south we paused at Suggan Buggan and checked out the historic schoolhouse.
Suggan Buggan School House – Restoration completed 10-12-1974
Information on Victorian National Parks signage along the way
About Suggan Buggan
According to the records obtained from the N.S.W. State Archives by the late Wakefield, the first official granting of a Depasturing Licence for Suggan Buggan was issued to William Woodhouse in April 1843. He is known to have been there in 1842 and it may have been even earlier.
In 1845 the run was transferred to Benjamin Boyd, and in 1849, to William Boyd, and in subsequent years there were further changes.
On January 22, 1858, the licence was transferred from James McGufficke to Edward O’Rourke, who established the first permanent home in Suggan Buggan and there a family of ten was reared. It was a well built house, the timber used being Sire were not neglected, and the large family was brought up, so isolated, and of course with no road access, the amenities of chiefly the local pine that was sawn by pit saw nearby. Though to as far as possible, to observe the more gracious manners and traditions of those days.
The services of a tutor named Ballantyne were employed few hundred yards from the homestead was built for the purpose to help with the children’s education and a special building pose. The O’Rourke family records would indicate that it was two rooms with a large stone fireplace at one end, and was first used about 1865. It consisted of built of slabs and a shingle roof. The smaller room was the teacher’s bedroom. this part of Gippsland that we are commemorating, and which is the use of this building as the first school house still standing in its original form today. Ballantyne evidently reported that he was responsible for a good supply of vegetables and had other interests than that of the schoolroom, since it is of the once flourishing establishment. The run supported large garden beds and the nearby Acacia trees are all that is left today and other amenities for the home. The stone borders of the herd of cattle.
a short time, before he bought Omeo Station near Benambra. before moving up to the Wulgulmerang area where he lived for Edward O’Rourke lived in Suggan Buggan for about 25 years merely a camp for drovers when using the adjacent stock route. The old home in Suggan Buggan was soon neglected and became select land there. However, dry seasons and rabbits put an end of this century were Ted Connor and his wife, who applied to The only people to live in the old dwelling in the early part of the venture.
the past. He was a “ticket of leave” man assigned to Tom Dillon’s grave on top of the hill is another link with a horse he was crippled, but remained on and did the carvings O’Rourkes, and helped on the property. After a fall from a that ornamented the verandah and the living room mantle piece. He was a man highly thought of by the O’Fourke family.
It was not till about 1948 that a Suggan Buggan settlement scheme brought new interest to the area, and an official State School was built further down the slope and functioned for a while.
The historical significance of the original O’Rourke school building prompted Mrs Gwynneth Taylor to organise a party of bushwalkers to carry out a repair job as the schoolhouse was fast becoming a ruin with all and sundry camping in it. They restored the chimney, and even re-roofed the building with shingles, so as to be in keeping with the original. Through Mrs. Taylor the National Trust became interested in the venture.
In 1972 a local Historical Society was formed and was greatly assisted by an initial donation by Mrs. W. Charlton of the Wombargo Partnership. The complete restoration of the schoolhouse soon became the society’s No. 1 project.
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