Mt Disappointment State Forest
Named by Hume and Hovell.
When crossing the Great Dividing Range they had hoped to see Westernport from its peak, but were disappointed when they could not.
In the 1880's Mount Disappointment State Forest was riddled with tramway lines and logging settlements and the Wandong Railway Station boasted a large timber seasoning and joinery works (built in 1884/85) with several rail sidings for the loading and transport of timber.
The following is an extract from the NRE website:
"The Australian Seasoned Timber Company cut large amounts of hardwood timber in the Mt Disappointment forests north of Melbourne in the 1890s. This timber was treated and seasoned by the company and sold to furniture makers. The company operated sawmills at Yarrawonga in Northern Victoria and Warburton, east of Melbourne. However its main operations were in the Mount Disappointment forests near Wandong, north of Melbourne. Here the Australian Seasoned Timber Company worked two sawmills in the heart of the forest, known as 'Comet Mill' and 'Planet Mill'. These mills were surrounded by a network of tramways which carried logs to the mill for cutting. These tramways included a notorious section ironically called "The Bump" - a steep incline with a winch to haul logs
The Comet sawmill expanded rapidly during the 1890s, processing 800 logs a month. At this time Mt Disappointment was the site of some of the largest hardwood sawmills in Australia. A thriving community developed at the Comet Mill. One hundred men were employed and many of these had families. About twenty children attended the mill's State School (no. 2799) after 1887.
The Australian Seasoned Timber Company's finishing and seasoning works were located in the township of Wandong, north of Melbourne on the edge of the Mt Disappointment forest. This seasoning plant treated messmate timber. The Wandong seasoning works were established by a different company in 1889 and were one of the earliest attempts to season hardwood in Australia.
The Comet Mill closed in 1902. The machinery was dismantled and sent to Western Australia although the foundations of the mill are still evident among the tree ferns. The Planet Mill site now lies under the Sunday Creek reservoir and no traces are now left of the Wandong seasoning plant. Remnants of the tramways can still be discerned near Wandong, although many were destroyed by fire in 1982. Enormous sawdust heaps are the main remnants of the sawmilling activities and are clearly evident in the forest."
The forest today ........
Mt Disappointment is one of Melbourne's most accessible forest areas with many activities available including... Forest Drive Circuit, Walking Tracks, Picnic Sites and Camping areas.
The forest was devastated by the Black Saturday bushfires of 7th February 2009 and over the past two years VicForests has been salvaging much of the timber.
