Mount Buffalo Chalet revitalisation reaches new milestone

Mount Buffalo Chalet lessee Belgravia Outdoor Education (BOE) plans to spend $2 million to renovate the south wing of Mount Buffalo Chalet to accommodate 200 visiting students at a time. The company, which entered into a 40 year lease with Parks Victoria in 2024 to resurrect the historic property which closed in January 2007, announced its intended investment last Thursday, during an official launch for the re-opening tomorrow of the chalet's cafe after a major renovation. The cafe is stage one of the revitalisation of heritage listed 1910-built chalet, with stage two being renovation works inside the historic 'Grand Old Dame of the High Country', to provide future accommodation for key workers. Project works have been ongoing for more than a year and are expected to be completed within four months, delivering 38 rooms and 40 beds for regional workers to support industries across the Alpine region, including tourism, hospitality, sport and recreation and outdoor education. Victorian Minister for Regional Development, Michaela Settle, said the worker accommodation - which is being supported by the state government's 'Regional Worker Accommodation Fund', would help ensure key industries across the Alpine region have access to the workforce they need to expand and thrive. BOE chairman, Alex Lord, said thanks to the fund, the newly refurbished rooms will help "activate the area". "All three stages of the chalet's revitalisation are scheduled to be completed over the next nine months," he said. "We're more excited about the Belgravia Group investing a further $2 million dollars, to renovate the south wing of the chalet for 200 student bed accommodations and that's when the real fun happens. “In terms of the size and scale of reactivating ‘the grand old dame’, we knew how big the project was going to be and we’re not afraid to climb mountains. “However, sometimes it’s a comedy of errors. "We have encountered everything from, ‘Where are the diagrams of the pipes from 100 years ago?’ to the classic, ‘Hang on, is this imperial or metric?’, as well as different stakeholders working across multiple departments to make sure they preserve every piece of this building's important history. “However, every single person has been invested in this project and wants to see it be successful.” Mr Lord said accessibility would also be an important part of the chalet’s outdoor education program. “It’s really important to note the new program won’t just be for privileged schools to come up here," he said. "There’s a role for the Belgravia Foundation to play to make sure it can subsidise student cohorts or schools which may otherwise miss out on such opportunities. “We also want to prioritise access for local schools. “I think the more people we can get here, the better and we want to make sure no one misses out.” BOE chief executive officer, Richard Thornton, said initial school stays will start from November this year. “By June next year, we’ll have 200 student beds in the chalet available to schools Monday to Friday, across the 40 weeks of the school year," he said. “We expect to see 5000 students a year stay here on outdoor education programs. “Those beds will then be available to the public on weekends and during school holidays.” Mr Thornton said the benefits could extend beyond the students themselves, helping introduce more visitors to Mount Buffalo and the wider region. “Our hope is those 5000 students will go home and tell 10,000 people about their experience and we’ll see the visitor economy here develop," he said. “We’re working with a few schools in northern Victoria, but we’re keen to see schools from Canberra, Sydney and regional New South Wales as well. “We’ve also started to work with some schools in Southeast Asia, so hopefully we’ll see some international tourism coming in." Mr Thornton said the chalet would give visitors another reason to travel further into Mount Buffalo National Park while providing a base for a broad range of outdoor education experiences. “There’s nothing like this mountain and this building anywhere," he said. “There are things you just can’t see anywhere else, such as lyrebirds, kookaburras and other native wildlife. “[As part of the outdoor educational experience] there’s caving, canoeing, mountain biking, bushwalking and environmental activities, we have an Indigenous educator who works with us up here; so the experience is huge. "Now there’s a destination at the top of the mountain, not just accommodation, but a café as well. “We hope that has an impact on the local economy too.” Refurbished accommodation at the Mount Buffalo Chalet is expected to become available from 1 October, located at the rear of the building. For more information, visit: www.mountbuffalochalet.com.

Mount Buffalo Chalet revitalisation reaches new milestone

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