The Bogong Centre for Sound Culture is a remote-regional cultural initiative situated in the foothills of Victoria’s Alpine National Park. Established by Philip Samartzis and Madelynne Cornish the B-CSC supports projects focusing on the processes and impacts of sustainable energy production; effects of climate change in wilderness areas; ethnographic studies of remote communities; the chronicling of vanishing industrial procedures; and systems of representation used to render natural and built environments.
Additionally, the B-CSC facilitates a broad cultural program comprising, festivals, exhibitions, publications, master classes and artists’ talks focusing on site-specific art practices. These programs establish a connection with place, its inhabitants, geographic space and memory. They engage a wide range of audiences, bringing together local, interstate and international artists across multiple disciplines and fields to realise ambitious works.
The B-CSC is situated at the newly restored old school at Bogong Alpine Village located 350 kilometres from Melbourne in North East Victoria.
Acknowledgment of Country
The B-CSC acknowledge the Dhudhuroa, Gunai, Taungurung, Waywurru and Yaitmathang peoples as the First Nations and Traditional Owners of the land upon which the Bogong Centre for Sound Culture is located. We pay our respects to the Elders, past, present and future for they hold the knowledge and traditions of the land and waterways upon which we depend.
About Bogong Village
Bogong Alpine Village is 325 kilometres North-East of Melbourne situated at an altitude of 800 meters in the Alpine National Park between Mount Beauty and Falls Creek. The village was established in the late 1930s to service the first hydroelectric scheme in mainland Australia. More recently it has become a popular site for alpine sports, recreation and ecotourism. Click here for directions.
A Short History
Work on the Kiewa Scheme commenced in 1938 with the construction of a road from Tawonga to the High Plains. Previously the only access was by foot or horseback along tracks that had been forged by cattlemen of a bygone era. Bogong Village was established once the road from Junction Camp was trafficable (March 1939); this paved the way for the construction of permanent buildings. Prior to that life was tough; large canvas tents and flies were used for sleeping quarters and smaller tents were set up to house the kitchens. By 1940 Bogong Township had grown considerably with a general store, staff offices, recreational mess, police station, and a variety of accommodation such as single men’s quarters and residences for married staff and families.
Bogong State School
In 1941 the Primary School at Bogong Village enrolled its first intake of students comprising nine pupils. Initially the school consisted of a large classroom, storeroom and boys and girls toilets. Extensions were carried out in 1944, which expanded the capabilities of the school. A library, storeroom, pupil’s lunchroom and shelter shed were added and rock gardens were established. By 1947 the number of students had grown to 46 all of whom were children of local SEC workers. Over the years class sizes fluctuated and the building remained unchanged. In 1980 it ceased to operate as a school and sat idle, eventually falling into disrepair. In 2004 it was sold along with many other buildings in the village.
Madelynne Cornish and Philip Samartzis bought the Old School and set about restoring it to its former glory. The rotting weatherboards and floorboards, smashed windows and flaking paint are now a distant memory. The newly refurbished building occupies it’s original footprint and bares a strong resemblance to it’s former self. Although the internals have been modernized remnants of it’s past history remain. The Old School once played a significant role in the fabric of village life. It inspired the community and helped shape the minds of those who studied there. It is our intention as custodians that the School once again functions as a place of inspiration.
Reference: Kiewa Kids School Days at Bogong & Mount Beauty by Graham Gardner
Weather: Overcast, smoky. Cold and blowy at Mt Loch.
Snake count to date 5
Smells: Smoke hits the nostrils first thing; the air is full of it; controlled burns in lower Mt Beauty and Harrietville. Animals: Serious blowflies on Razorback Ridge. Activities: I drive through Harrietville to Hotham in an attempt to walk to Mt Loch through Derrick Col, but the visibility is pretty bad due to the smoke, so I start down the Razorback for a couple of hours before turning back. This part of the world was so familiar to me as a child: I am shocked by how little I remember.
I visit University Ski Club lodge, where I spent many winters playing ‘Spit’ and ‘Cheat’ card games, eating tomato soup, and catching the tiny pygmy possums as they ventured out from behind the oven each night (this population of mountain pygmy possum had previously been considered extinct). We would tempt them with bits of bread slathered in lard, and grab them by their curly tails. They would sit happily on your hand, munching bread and getting fat in their whiskers, their tiny paws gripping your fingers and their large eyes bright and black.
I look in the lower windows of the lodge to see if I can see the storeroom, which in the 70s was dusty, powdery and full of treasures from the real old mountain days: preserved eggs (what are they anyway?), old cans of Bartlett pears, tins of sweetened condensed milk. The food was kept on wooden shelves protected by wire mesh. As I look now I can’t see anything; it seems as though it’s been refurbished.
Nothing ever stays the same. Childhood is a different universe. Everything shifts and droops and breaks down and is rebuilt into unrecognisable things.Bold text
