TRIP REPORTS
Restoring History
14 th -15 th December 2019
Participants Member
No.
Alan Sellars (TL)
Ed Reddick
Karen McLean
Bob Aitken 1548
1623
1737
978
Vehicle Details
Patrol
FJ Cruiser
Passenger (Ed)
Landcruiser
Two Years ago, Noel Lees, a ranger at Erica
DELWP, contacted me and said he had
another hut that needed repairing. Bells
Hut is in the Baw Baw area which is my
designated area to look after. On the 14th and 15th of December 2019,
members of the Pajero Club of Victoria
formed a volunteer work group which
went on site and started the restoration of
Bells Hut.
Derek Bardsley and I met with Noel one
weekend and he took us to the area were
the hut is. After climbing over rocks and
through blackberries, we had our first look
at Bells Hut. Bells Incline Hut was built after the 1939
fires by the Forestry Commission, for
workers to stay in while collecting the burnt
wood. A tramway line was built into the area
to take out the timber. Bells Hut also had a
stable and horse yards. It is believed Bells
Hut is the only forestry hut still standing.
I subsequently contacted Wayne Peterken,
CEO of VHHA, and told him about the hut.
We followed this up with some calls to
David Vaskess ( Forestry Manager DELWP
Baw Baw) and then got the go ahead to
restore the hut. Additional information accredited to Noel Lees
Noel Lees, who has since retired, arranged
to cut some Yellow Box timber for use on
the rebuild. Mark Turra of DELWP also
arranged some timber and iron sheets for
the roof.