Mt. Matlock had its first tower build shortly after the 1939 Black Friday Fires. After the Coroner's inquiry into the deaths at sawmills in the Matlock area it was found that: "Had there been a Fire Tower on Mt Matlock with telephone connection to the sawmills and Woods Point, many lives might have been spared." The tower was a wooden structure and telephone lines were run to Wood's Point, 3 miles east and also to the then new Matlock Forestry Office some eight miles west of the tower. In approx. 1953, the first Matlock tower was replaced with a new 60' wooden tower (see photo above), which was of much better construction. This new tower was in service until 1977 when the disused 70' steel tower from Crossover near Neerim (there since 1963?) was erected in it's place. Telecom needed a tower on Mt. Matlock as part of its telephone upgrade for Woods Point and Matlock and in 1994 the current 37m tower with viewing cabin was built.
GZ is approx 1350m above sea level and is the highest firetower in Victoria and the 3rd highest firetower in Australia. The firetower overlooks the villages of Marysville, Warburton, Eildon, Rawson and Buxton. In summer, some great views of the area can be had. But in Winter, Mt Matlock generally takes on some often large downfalls of snow. It is a popular place for 4 wheel drive enthusiasts for a day drive.
GZ is close to the firetower and generally accessable within a few metres of the firetower fence. In times of snow, like the day we placed the cache, there was approx 25cm fresh snow fallen overnight. This did not impede the location of GZ. The cache is a Eclipse mints container.
First to find will get a treat of a Signal Tag Fleet Flint to sed on its way.
Congrats ahomburg on ftf