7 . 8 .
1 . PETER BRUCE WENZEL , PRE-1964 WINTER OLYMPICS TRIALS AT CABRAMURRA , NSW . 2 . SNOWBOARDERS WITH COACH , CAM BOLTON – 2014 . 3 . PERCY EDWARD HULL , BEING RESCUED ON STRETCHER – 1936 . 4 . SCOTCHIES LEAVING FOR THE MT KOSCIUSKO ALPINE SKIING CARNIVAL – 1927 . 5 . IVOR KINGSLEY WHITTAKER - WORLD WAR II
PORTRAIT . 6 . PERCY EDWARD HULL . 7 . RODNEY CLAUDE BRETHERTON ,
IN 1937 . 8 . JOHN BRUCE HILTON-WOOD . 9 . SCOTCHIES RETURNING FROM SKIING FOR LUNCH – FROM DECEMBER 1927 SCOTCH COLLEGIAN 9 .
In 1937 Percy Edward ‘ Mick ’ Hull ( born 4.10.1909 , SC 1918-26 , died 26.3.1995 ) was awarded a silver medal for gallantry by the Royal Humane Society of Australasia . On 5 August 1936 , with other experienced skiers – Cleve Cole and Howard Michell – he set off from Hotham on a trek across the Bogong High Plains , over Mount Bogong for Tawonga . Terrible conditions , injuries , days in a snow cave , getting lost , and diminishing food saw them stagger to the Summit Cairn on 12 August . Two days later , they had no food .
On 16 August a rescue party was led back to them by Howard . Mick lost several toes to frostbite , and Cleve died in hospital on 19 August . Mick helped build Cleve Cole Memorial Hut . He was a significant contributor to the development of Mount Hotham , especially through the Alpine Club of Victoria . On his 80th birthday he led a ski tour down Mount Bogong .
During the 1937 polio epidemic , boys from specific suburbs were not permitted to attend school . Rodney Claude Bretherton ( born 7.3.1919 , SC 1934-37 , died 22.2.2002 ) took advantage of this by going to Mount Buffalo for six weeks , and won the Mount Buffalo Open Championship .
On 2 August 1943 , three experienced skiers – Edward Neave ‘ Ted ’ Welch ( born 28.5.1920 , SC 1936-37 , died 2.8.1943 ), Georgina Gadsden ( sister and daughter of Old Boys ) and John McRae left Bivouac Hut on Mount Bogong to climb ( on skis ) the steep 1.5 miles ( 2.4km ) to Summit Hut . Other skiers at Bivouac Hut abandoned attempts later that day and the next to follow them , due to heavy snow and strong winds . On the third day , 80 yards ( 73m ) from Summit Hut , three bodies were found in the snow . Summit Hut could not be found , buried under the snow . They had not dug holes for shelter , and an empty rum bottle and near-empty brandy flask ( then standard emergency provisions ) probably sealed their fate .
By contrast , when Matthew Gray ( SC 1988-94 ), Charles Millis ( SC 1982-94 ), Tristian Douglas ( SC 1986-94 ) and Jonathan Knight ( SC 1984-95 ) were lost overnight at the 1990 Mount Buller Ski Camp , they survived by following modern safety instructions given before the camp . They dug a snow cave , huddling together for warmth , with the older boys taking the outside position to protect the younger ones , and , the following morning , all walked to safety .
Mount Buller ’ s development was in large part due to John Bruce Hilton-Wood ( born 15.11.1925 , SC 1940-41 , died 15.5.2016 ). An
engineer and a skilled skier , he helped construct Buller ’ s first tow rope in 1949 . He started a business , towing skiers on a Tucker Sno-Cat , and , in 1953 , built Buller ’ s second ski lift .
John ’ s company , Bull Run Enterprises , became Blue Lifts , and built many early lifts . Its competitor , Orange Lifts , was chaired by David Hamilton Hume ( born 14.10.1923 , SC 1930-40 , died 7.9.2019 ). John introduced snow grooming in 1963 , and in 1965 opened the French Ski School . He introduced snow guns to Buller in 1985 , and that year took over Orange Lifts to create Buller Ski Lifts .
On the Scotch Ski Club ’ s 1956 Mount Buller trip it encountered some Melbourne Grammar School ( MGS ) boys , and races were arranged , with Scotch winning . The Scotch racers were David Bruce Wenzel ( born 19.2.1941 , SC 1946-58 , died 8.10.2015 ), Allen Broad ( SC 1949-57 ), Simon Leonard McInnes Brown ( born 6.10.1942 , SC 1954-60 , died 9.10.2017 ), Norman Peter James Trace ( born 31.1.1939 , SC 1951-56 , died 10.2.2010 ) and Ian Hay McGregor Lonie ( born 31.10.1940 , SC 1948-58 , died 16.2.2016 ). Brown and Wenzel competed for Australia at the 1964 Winter Olympic Games .
Scotch won in 1957 , and , in 1958 , won the new Bruce Wenzel Unofficial Inter-School Challenge Trophy . The trophy became ‘ official ’ from 1959 , but what has become the Victorian Interschools Snowsports Championships dates itself from 1958 . Now with almost 6500 entries per year across nine disciplines , it is believed to be the world ’ s largest inter-disciplinary snowsports event . After a lengthy period of MGS domination , Scotch has had recent wins , on the strength of its superior snowboarders .
Robin James Peter ( born 3 February 1934 , SC 1945-50 , died 17 July 1989 ) was President of the Akla Ski Club and the Ski Club of Victoria . A member of the Mount Buller Voluntary Ski Rescue Service and the Mount Buller Ski Patrol , he played a vital role in establishing the Alpine Resorts Commission . Mount Buller named Robin ’ s Run in his memory .
Scotch ’ s most successful skier is Andrew Warburton Swan MBE ( SC 1967-73 ). Competing as a deaf skier at the ( then ) Handicapped Olympics in 1975 , 1979 , 1983 and 1987 he won six gold medals , three silver and two bronze .
Undoubtedly many more Scotch boys are yet to add their contributions to snowsports in Victoria and around the world . May they all be triumphant contributions .
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