BLUE COW SKI CLUB: 50TH ANNIVERSARY MARCH 2010 by Theo Hooy, past President of the Club

Guthega Dam was completed in 1955 and the workers lodging removed. The founding president, Doug Anderson proposed that a lodge be built on the top bench, where the men’s camp was, at the Guthega construction site and sought permission from the Commissioner of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme, Sir William Hudson, during winter 1959. Building plans were prepared by (later to become Sir) Roy Grounds, of the architectural firm, Grounds, Romberg, and Boyd (Melbourne) and finalised in the winter of 1959. The original building plans are on the Blue Cow web site here.

​Roy Grounds was involved in the design of the club house and was already well known for designing the Australian Academy of Science, also completed in 1959, the CSIRO Phytotron Building, completed in 1963, and the National Gallery of Victoria completed in 1968.
Construction commenced in the late summer of 1959 and 9 cubic yards of sand and gravel and 1.5 ton (36 bags) of cement were delivered to the site by Mr J.K. Thompson of Jindabyne just before Boxing Day, 1959, and members began constructing the foundations on Boxing Day.
The final building plans were drafted on Jan 18, 1960, and a quote obtained from Mr Tietz of Berridale Building and Joinery Works for £2,415 and 15 shillings, with work to be completed to lock up stage in a month. The quote was accepted on Feb 8, 1960 and the lodge completed one month later, with the water, power and septic being connected in mid-March.

​The roof of the lodge blew off in about 1963, during a winter gale, and was quickly replaced. The building was originally sheeted in white-painted, vertical, radiata pine, tongue and groove weather-boards. In the summer of 1980, Western Red cedar shingles were fitted over the pine, at the suggestion of National Parks who thought the stark white surface was too dominant. The lodge was re-clad in Colorbond sheeting and the windows replaced in Summer 2011. Pictures over the years are saved at this link; compiled by a former member, Greg Tanner.