MT. HICKEY

	Grid Reference	CU 359837
	Department	DEPI
	Work Depot	Broadford
	Region	North East
	Grading	Primary
	Elevation (ASL)	805m
	Height	18m
	Construction	Steel
	Cabin size	2.2m x 2.6m
	Public access to site	Yes
	In use since	1947 - 1976? (original) 1977? - (current)
	CFA Region	12 - North Eastern

Mt. Hickey is situated in the Mt. Tallarook Ranges and is sometimes called Mt. Tallarook

The original wooden tower was replaced with the current steel tower in 1976.
This tower had a new cabin installed in 2000 and then again in 2013
Information and photos supplied by Phil Searle, a veteran in the job

Please click on thumbnails for enlargements

View from tower	Inside (old) cabin	The Original Mt. Hicky in 1975-76

In a memorandum dated 12th February 1970 is a mentioning of the cabin being completely beyond repair.
"The cabin on Mt. Hicky has no apparent means of fastening to the top girts, but a combination of 4" (100mm) nails, iron brackets, coach bolts and skew nails all must contribute to the reason why the cabin is still on the tower. Knee braces in opposite corners have stopped the cabin from rocking, so I can only assume that the cabin wrecked itself by bouncing up and down prior to the towerman managing to fix it to the tower".
The recommendation was to prefabricate a well designed timber cabin and then to be erected on the tower for a cost of approx. $1150.
The memo also states: "To strip the legs of the remaining sapwood, replace a few structural braces, strengthen and repair landings and handrails plus a general tightening of bolts and coating with creosote, can be carried out for an estimated cost of $350".

Please click on thumbnails for enlargements

Old cabin down	New cabin arrives	New cabin nearly in place	2009, supplied by Richard Webb

3 photos above of the 2000 cabin replacement were supplied by Tony Scicluna and used with permission.

The 2 photos left, of the 2013 cabin replacement, were supplied by Phil Searle and used with permission. Phil is the long-time FLO at Mt Hickey. For the drawings of the cabin in pdf format, please click here

The 2 photos left, are of the original wooden tower. The b/w photo (1952) was supplied by the Melbourne Walking Club via Robin Bailey. The color photo (1971) was supplied by the Melbourne Bushwalking Inc. Both photos are used with permission.

Photo (Sep 2013) supplied by the Ian Michie in July 2019. It shows the new ladder installed, but before the new cabin was installed.

Back to North East
Back to Victoria Page
Back to Home Page mthickeysep2013