Windermere Hut Plaque

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Just near the entrance to Windermere hut on the balcony, I noticed a small memorial plaque.

It was a tribute to Glenn someone, but I can't remember what the surname was. I have a faint recollection of Glenn Miller, but then that's probably just because of the musician.

Anyway, the plaque was in this man's memory and said something like "perished near this place in 1977".

Unfortunately I forgot to snap a photo, and Google is giving me nothing. These stories always completely fascinate me, like Clare Hutcheson at Pine Valley.

Any one have any further info, like the full name and details of what happened?

[norts]

I dont have all the details but here is what I remember.
He was a student from a mainland school who persished between, Waterfall Valley and Windermere. In those days there was only the old WFV hut so when the party arrived at WFV it was full so they pushed on to Windermere and he died of hypothermia.
This tragedy precipitated the building of the the Cirque Hut as a back up to WFV.

Roger

[whynotwalk]

This is taken from Nic Haygarth's book "A View to Cradle" (p. 193)

Whether the ranger should have the legal power of veto over walkers remained a matter of debate in 1971, when 15-year-old Melbourne visitor Glen Matters perished in a November snowstorm near Windermere Hut. Against the advice of ranger Joseph Otterli, Matters' weakened party of 21 decided to continue south rather than crowd out the Waterfall Valley hut.

cheers

Peter

[South_Aussie_Hiker]

Thanks all. Can always rely on bushwalk.com!

[Ent]

Thanks for that whynotwalk as I was not aware of the particular story but it does back ground why my parents were so keen to reinforce safety as this would have followed on from the tragedy of Scott-Kilvertt. Back in the sixty/seventies it appears that such stories become major news for a longer time than nowadays.