Bullocks Flat, New South Wales
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Bullocks Flat (or Bullock's Flat) is a flat portion of the Thredbo Valley adjacent to the Thredbo River, in the New South Wales, Australia.
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[edit] Skitube
The flat is the site of the lower terminus of the "Skitube Alpine Railway", a traction rack railway that takes skiers from beside the Alpine Way road (leading to the adjacent state of Victoria) below Thredbo, through a steeply inclined railway tunnel, into the Kosciuszko National Park at Perisher Valley and the associated ski resort of Blue Cow Mountain. (The resort complex is known commercially as "Perisher Blue".)
[edit] Heritage
The Indigenous Australian Ngarigo people first inhabited this area. Their lifestyle was disrupted in the 1930s when Europeans first began summer alpine grazing of sheep and cattle.
In the 1850s, gold was discovered on the Thredbo River (then known as the Crackenback River) although finds were not extensive.
Early in the 1900s, alpine ash trees were logged in this area, the logs brought to a steam powered mill on the western side of the river by bullock teams.
Trout were introduced into the streams in the early 1900s for sport fishing and this remains a popular pastime and tourist activity for the area.
[edit] Dr Howard Bullock
In the 1930s, Dr Howard Bullock, a medical doctor from Sydney bought a small parcel of flat land in the Thredbo Valley at the confluence of the Thredbo River and a side river known locally as the Little Thredbo River.
At that time, Dr Bullock and his family took two days to travel by car to this summer getaway where they enjoyed camping, fishing, bush walking, and horse riding.
In 1934, Charles Conway was contracted to build the one room cottage. It features built-in bunk beds on either side of the main room that has a central fireplace opposite the one door and two small shuttered windows. A separate kitchen building was added in 1938, and the garage and stables in 1947.
The cottage area is maintained by The New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
[edit] Lake Crackenback Resort
An artificial lake has been formed adjacent to the Skitube station around which has been build a holiday resort with chalets for accommodation in both winter and summer. The resort adjoins the Little Thredbo River but the lake is not fed by it.
