What are work parties?

It's when a bunch of (mostly) members and prospective members go up to the Lodge and do various maintenance, renovation, repairs, new installations and so forth. The simplest jobs are painting, which has to be done every year. The tricky ones are things like completely building new bathrooms, which we did in 1995/1996. Typically, work starts at 9:00 a.m. and finishes at 4:00 to 5:30 pm depending on how things are going. There's morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea during the day.

If you are new to the lodge and are doing work parties for membership application, you need to ensure the Maintenance Officer has your details so that you can be credited for your attendance and subsequent eligibility for membership application.

2012 work parties

Confirmed 2012 work party dates are as follows:

• Australia Day weekend - January 26th -29th
• February 17-19
• Labour Day Weekend 10-12 March
• Easter - 6-9 April
• Kitchen installation - 2-3 June
• Queens Birthday - 9-11 June

Those interested in attending should contact Stuart Watson.  Places are limited so first come first served! Try and give as much notice as possible, because we need to organise supplies in keeping with how many people are going.

Changed Work Party requirements for those travelling long distances

In July the committee approved a change in the work party requirements for the increasing number of aspiring members who live some distance from Mt Hotham. For example, it takes Victorian members about 5 hours to drive to Hotham but it takes Sydney and Adelaide folk twice as long.  In the new arrangements the committee agreed that ”applicants of any age who travel greater than 9 hours to do a work party will be credited one work party day for travel day” (i.e. if you attend the Easter 4 day WP, to do 3 days WP at Hotham you get one day credit for travel).  Once joined, normal rules for work parties apply. Aspiring Sydney and Adelaide members should be able to complete their obligations easily over Easter