MT. GELLIBRAND


Lat / Long GDA -38.233120, 143.792087 (GDA)
Department CFA
Work Depot Colac
Region South West
Grading Primary
Elevation (ASL) 261m
Height Original: 6m
current: ?m
Construction Steel (both)
Cabin size Original: 2.4m x 2.4m
Current: ?m x ?m
Public access to site No
In use since Original: 1977? - 2019
Current: 2021 -
CFA Region 7 - Central
Photo (May 2004) supplied by Matthew Brennan.

In November 2020, the news filtered through that Mt. Gellibrand would be removed from service following the results of an engineering report. The Fire Authority (CFA) played down concerns from the locals, saying that there were other nearby towers which have vision across the general area. A petition to provide an immediate short-term solution or to repair the Mt Gellibrand fire tower was launched in November 2020. Opposition Ministers brought it up in State Parliament.

Then in November 2021, we learned that a brand new tower was being erected on site and CFA media reported on the 20th Dec 2021, that the new tower was now operational.
For a copy of the CFA media release, please click here.

The Surf Coast Times published an article on the 24th Nov 2021 re the construction of the new tower with some photos. The article can be found here.
If the link no longer works, a transcript can be found here


Please click on thumbnails for enlargements
The above photos of the new tower were supplied by Sue Spencer in March 2022. Sue is the long time FLO on Mt. Gellibrand.

There was a FaceBook post in Oct 2023 which mentions Frank Moloney, a 15 year veteran FLO on Mt. Gellibrand. The post also contains a photo of an article in The Colac Herald, dated 25th June 1993. The article is about Frank's retirement from Mt. Gellibrand. The FB post can be found here. If the link no longer works, the photo can be found here

Mt. Gellibrand was visited as part of the FLO end-of-fire-season-get-together in early May 2024.
Photo suplied by Paul Jones

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