Horse Hair Hut

Horsehair Plain got its name when a horses tail was pulled and the tail hairs left hanging up in a tree. Bush horses had to have their long tails "pulled", as they tended to pick up bits of scrub if they were not.

The original Horsehair was a selection of 912 acres, In many instances, the husband selected a property, then the wife and if the children were old enough, they too would make a selection, giving the family a quite substantial property.

In the late 1860s, documented evidence puts Fred Box was in the Cobungra area, and it is known that in 1873 he had the lease of the Darbalary run, and used the land from Cobungra to Horsehair to graze his cattle. Around the same time he employed Tom Goldie to build a hut on Horsehair plain for his stockmen.

The hut is of the original chock and log construction, the logs being cut with a cross cut saw, then broad axed at the top and bottom to enable them to sit flat on one another. The gaps between each log was then packed with pipe clay, and in later years sphagnum moss. When you pack this in wet, it expands as it dries and sets like cement. The rafters were split down to size from large logs.

After the 1914-1918 War, Horsehair was reserved for a soldier settlement. Nothing was done with the property and in 1927 the government realised that as the plain was in snow country and too cold to be of any use, so they put it open for selection.

It was during the 1927 bush fires that it was advertised in the Omeo Standard. The day it was advertised most people were out safeguarding their properties. Charlie Rundell Senior, read the article and took the paper out to his son, Charlie Jnr. Charlie Jnr returned to town and promptly put in an application, then returned to the fire front. Cobungra Station also placed an application, but Charlie Rundell Jnr was allotted it.

When Charlie bought it, the old hut had become rather dilapidated - the shingle roof had rotted, the packing between the logs had broken away and there was an earthen floor and the old chimney had all but fallen down.. Charlie, with the help of his brother Graham replaced the shingles with iron, rebuilt the chimney, building it with stone and mud for mortar, poles were used to balance it and iron used on the outside, supported with a timber frame. In later years he lined the fireplace with bricks from the King Cassilis mine and the old Omeo Hospital which had burnt down in 1939. A slab floor was laid in 1928 and has since been replaced three times, he then lined the walls.

Charlie's parents were the owners of the Rundell's Alpine Lodge, an accommodation house and a horse change station for travelers over the Alps. The lodge burnt down the same year that Charlie bought Horsehair, so Charlie and his brother Graham moved into the hut, whilst their parents moved into Omeo. The winter was the worst, shivering days and freezing nights, and the summer months brought the "blowies", big as birds, and march flies, as big as eagles

Charlie and Graham built the shed, this was used for the stores and held salt, chaff, saddlery, and an old Armstrong Siddeley. They made their own paint, a mixture of red-oxide, terebene and raw linseed oil, which lasted for years.

When Charlie married Jean Dyer in 1935, they a farm nearby and a house in Omeo and Charlie camped at Horsehair a lot, whilst he trapped rabbits, repaired the fences, drenched the sheep and built yards. Dingo's were a problem and would destroy a farmer within a week once they got the taste of a flock, so a boundary check was done once a week. Emus, kangaroos, native cats, wild dogs were often found caught in the fences.

Charlie junior and his sister Winsome would live at the hut off and on with their mother Jean and father, Charlie senior. Charlie junior was first taken up at two weeks old, in 1936, during a snowstorm.

When the 1939 fires swept the district, after two years of severe drought, the Omeo shire was one area in the state that copped the part of the core. In total the Black Friday Fires caused the loss of 71 lives, 69 sawmills, hundreds of buildings over 1.5 million hectares of forest and a quarter of a million hectares of farmland throughout the state. Horsehair, Cobungra and Omeo were all in the path.

At the time, Horsehair Hut was nearly 70 years old During the fires Charlie was at the hut and could see that the fires were heading that way. He cleared all the area surrounding the hut and got his personal belongs and placed them in his truck. He then dampened the walls and surrounding area, before leaving to make his way to Omeo to ensure his wife and children were safe. He left and got the Omeo side of Cobungra Station he was blocked by the fire and had to abandon the truck, which was destroyed along with all his personal belongings.

He made his way back to the Station, where he found out that a local by the name of Ernie Richards had gone to save his house and check on his wife and child. He didn't know that were in Omeo because the baby had the measles. He was incinerated along with his horse and dog. It was Charlie who found him and constructed a stretcher from a horse rug. Les Watts, Charlie McNamara and Charlie carried the body for about a mile when a party of searches from Omeo arrived and took the body into town.

During this time, his wife Jean, son little Charlie and daughter, Winsome, had been staying with Charlie's parents (Charlie and Catherine Rundell), who had built a new home following the loss of the Alpine Lodge. and although well cleared and immune from bushfires the flames just gushed like a tornado, leaping through the air and engulfing the house. Jean had just enough time to take the children to the river under the Memorial Bridge along with many others where they all took refuge. After the fires, which destroyed their truck, the family made the journey on an Indian motorcycle, whatever the weather.

Charlie ran cattle and sheep on the property, in the winter months all the stock grazed in Omeo and would muster them back to Horsehair for the summer months. The cattle yards were built by Charlie in 1945. In 1955, Charlie sold the property to Charlie McNamara, who later sold it to Carl Fletcher. It Change hands several times since then until a syndicated brought it in 1989.

The later owners only used the property for grazing purposes and the Rundell's were always welcomed to used the hut. Descendents of Charlie and Jeans all used it for their annual holidays Every time they stayed they would sign their names on the lining of the walls.

In 1993, Regional Historian of the Alpine District, Dianne Carroll decided to get married in the hut, being the granddaughter of Charlie and Jean Rundell, Winsome's daughter. Standing in front of the cupboard her grandfather, Charlie Rundell had made from ammunition boxes, she and her husband Peter took their vows, present was three generations of Rundell descendents, including Charlie and Jean's daughter Winsome, who passed away four months later.

In the mid 1990s, a company called BCR Asset Management formed the Mount Hotham Skiing Company and began major development at Mt Hotham, Fall's Creek and Dinner Plain. The company sent staff to Aspens to observe the operations of the ski fields and were impressed with the Airport. This prompted the company to look at the same for the Victorian Ski Fields, mainly to attract interstate and international visitors.

The geographical layout of Horsehair proved the most appropriate site and after negotiations with the owners, purchased the rear section of the selection. The Airport opened in 1999 and the new terminal in 2000, with further extensions in 2001. 

The loss of this hut is a huge lost to the history of the high county. Already plans are underway to erect a marble monument, to ensure its presence and history is never forgotten.