Inspired by stories a friend told me of her mother Jean Chisholm and Godmother Marjorie Byron-Moore heading up on horseback in the 1930’s and 40’s to ski at Feathertop, my interest was piqued. This cache is a tribute to those adventurous self reliant, early women skiers.
In 1929, Marjorie Hood (later Leviny) and Kathleen Moore along with Jim Leviny rode to the Feathertop hut, stayed 3 nights, then skied the Razorback across to Hotham making history as the first women to make that winter trip. According to a newspaper report Marjorie said “Jim had an enormous length of rope which he said was to pull us back if we fell over. We shrieked with laughter because we skied much better than he did and wondered what would happen if he went over with the rope”. Needless to say, despite the comfort of the ‘Bungalow’ near Feathertop, these days technology has afforded us easier access and good equipment and it’s not unusual now to see us girls having “Girls Own Adventures” and a good amount of shrieking! I have included a few photos of Lucy’s mum on Mt Feathertop including the day WWII broke out in September 1939.
For further info check out David Sisson’s website https://www.australianmountains.com/. Also, the Harrietville Museum has an assortment of info, artifacts and photos.