Babbling Brook Cabin

Falls Creek Accommodation History Victorian Ski Resorts

Falls Creek was first called Horseshoe Creek by the early cattlemen. Due to the boggy conditions, horses often lost a shoe in this area. The creek was renamed by the Country Roads Board, while carrying out a road survey for the State Electricity Commission in 1938. The first building to be erected in the Falls Creek area was a weather recording hut for the SEC – this was around 1946-1947. Mr and Mrs St Elmo-Beveridge lived in this hut and around 1949 they built a rope tow on the site where the Summit Chair is now situated. The Skyline Lodge was the first lodge to be built and this was in 1948. In 1949, Bogong Ski Club lodge was built. Mr Tom Mitchell's lodge called Dawn was built that year. It was later called Magpie and has since been pulled down and Rocky Valley Flats now stands on that site. Mr Bob Hymans built a small lodge in 1948/49 called Four Seasons and in 1950 he built a large two-storey lodge called Grand Couer. This lodge accommodated around 60 people. It was burnt down in 1954 and not rebuilt. Mr Hymans also built the first chairlift in Australia at Falls Creek in 1957. By 1961 the St Elmo's rope tow and Hyman's chair had become unreliable and Alpine Developments Pty Ltd was formed and two lifts, the Summit and Village T-bar were installed. In 1984, Alpine Developments was sold to a new company Falls Creek Ski Lifts P/L. By 1996, the Mount Hotham Skiing Company, through BCR Asset Management, purchased Falls Creek Ski Lifts and continue to trade as Falls Creek Ski Lifts P/L.