The Vallejo Gantner Hut is located at Macalister Springs near Mount Howitt and the Crosscut Saw. The construction commenced in late 1968. The hut was built as a memorial following the death of Vallejo Gantner, the grandson of Sidney Myer the founder of the Myer department store chain.

It was opened on April 17th 1971. The site was chosen because it was remote from all other huts, and is amongst what many regard as the best walking country and the most spectacular mountain scenery in Victoria. The hut was built on 2.5 acres reserved by the Forest Commission and Lands Department for public purpose and a refuge hut, being proclaimed in 1971 just prior to the official opening. Its opening on April 17th was reputedly one of great ceremony with Mirka Mora providing a poem for the occasion which involved a pilgrimage of many important figures to the site. Another poem, `The Summit’ was provided by Weston Bate. The unique copper roof, the stone walls and floor are a reminder that this hut was built as a lasting memory to Vallejo Gantner.

VALLEJO GANTNER
Vallejo Gantner was born in San Francisco in 1942 and immigrated to Victoria at the age of 12. Educated at Melbourne Grammar, he became heavily involved in outdoor sports. Vallejo died accidently at the age of 19 and his family and friends built this hut in his memory. Vallejo’s mother, Neilma Gantner, and a group of Vallejo’s closest school-friends, worked closely with the award winning architect David Mc Glashan. Mc Glashan sought out Vallejo’s background to allow his design to reflect the essence of the young man.

LOCATION AND ACCESS
The hut is on a short north-south ridge which connects the Howitt Plains, Clover Plain and the Wonnangatta Spur to the Mt. Howitt range and the Crosscut Saw. A short walk from the hut (5-10 minutes) brings one to the edge of the Terrible Hollow, looking E to the Devil’s Staircase, and north of that to the Viking, the Razor and Mount Despair. The Crosscut Saw is a jagged ridge of mountain peaks curving west of the Terrible Hollow to Mt. Howitt, taking in places like Mt. Speculation, Horrible Gap, and Mount Buggery. This, as the names testify, is some of the hardest walking country in the state.

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
The Vallejo Gantner Hut is modelled on the concept of a hiker’s tent. Two gabled beams at the front hold a long ridge-pole which is anchored by a stone buttress two metres behind the hut. The capital cost of the hut was borne by Vallejo’s family (Myers) and his family and friends who were involved throughout its design and construction. The designer was David McGlashan of the architectural firm McGlashan & Everist of Carlton{ Mrs Window Bate, pers. comm., Sedgley, 2004}. Like other architect-designed triangulated house designs of the 1950s (see Grounds, Boyd, McIntyre) and 1960s, this hut reflects a prevailing geometric structure-inspired theme in architecture of the time and earlier. The hut also adopts a form which appears to grow out of the hillside in the manner of another similar form (but quite different use), the Myer music bowl. The forward gabled beams (200 diam. log sections) tension the ridge which anchors to the earth at the other end. The use of natural materials as finishes, whether rubble stone floor, fireplace or vertical timber boarding on walls, or the copper roof, aligns with this theme of geometry and nature. The hut is arguably the most sophisticated design among the Victorian alpine huts, with the many built-in fittings being carefully and custom designed. The tapered chimney is central to and a room divider in a design which has a sleeping loft at one end, with a fully glazed wall (with triangular section w.r.c. glazing bars in a triangular layout)to the Howitt Spur and at the other end a `kitchen area’. The interior is lined with Stramit or similar lining boards, with timber and steel framing the roof ( Butler, 2005). Volunteers Took basalt and sandstone from the hill above the site, using a Landrover to cart it a ton at a time. They were based at Howitt hut. Box Hill High School and Melbourne Grammar pupils (from the Robinson camp at Breakfast Creek) also aided this process, eventually amassing a large quantity of stone for the foundations, retaining walls, chimney and floor. Heyfield builder, Jim Beha, took over the site in February 1970, erecting four tree trunks which were to make up the frame of the hut. He was helped by Maurie Tucker and the trees were supplied by the Heyfield Sawmilling Co (Bert Head and Ian Thomas). Stonemasons, Reg Bertram and his son Graeme (from Stratford), started the next stage with two Traralgon carpenters, Lal Hallawell and Jerry van Poppel, helping with the roof framing and insulation. Bob Fawaz and helper, Dennis, brought the copper roofing to the site and plumber, Barry O’Sullivan from Melbourne, supervised its fixing but the onset of winter meant the hut remained incomplete until work started again mid February 1971.

(Primary source of information : Victorian Alpine Huts Heritage Survey 2005, Graeme Butler and Associates)