ADA

DOGS GRAVE HUT MAINTENANCE DAY

By Martin Auldist

Mar 3, 2025

A group of volunteers from the East Gippsland Branch of ADA recently held a maintenance day at the Dogs Grave Hut, located between Dargo and Omeo in Victoria.

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On November 16, 2024, the East Gippsland ADA Branch held a maintenance and social day at the Dogs Grave Hut, located between Dargo and Omeo in the Victorian High Country. The hut was originally rebuilt in 2015 by the East Gippsland Branch, so we decided at one of our branch meetings that it would be the perfect place to hold an event and give it a little bit of TLC.

Our committee had originally planned and organised for this maintenance day to be completed in 2023, however sadly we were forced to cancel due to inclement weather causing road closures at the time. The next 12 months went by very quickly and second time round we were able to successfully lock in another planned date.

The hut itself is still in fantastic condition and for the best part has been well looked after and respected by all bush users that have visited or stayed in it since it was constructed. We gave the inside of the hut two full coats of ‘Smoky Gum’ colour and it came up an absolute treat. Not only did it cover up some unsightly graffiti, it will also help the timber to last for many more years to come.

David and Elaine Pettman who are long time stalwarts of our branch, kindly put together a visitors’ book and made a great little holder for it that we installed in the hut. It really was a nice finishing touch to the day. The little ones, Bella and Demi, also did a great job going around and picking up the rubbish from the surrounding area.

A delicious barbeque lunch cooked over the camp fire was supplied by the branch to feed the hungry members after all their hard work. Our branch is really proud of how the hut turned out and we are already looking to plan another event in 2025 where we can do something constructive and positive related to deer hunting in our region.