Feb 2021, Briagalong, Vic

From our base at the Maffra Golf Club we venture up into the hills behind Briagalong to check out the Quarry Reserve in the State Park. It is a well-maintained camp beside Freestone Creek.

Tiny ‘Briag’ is looking so much better than when I used to come here as a kid. The little timber workers cottages are now painted and cheerful. In the old days, my Dad’s mate’s house had the distinction of being the only painted house in town and visits were always peppered with stories of the hard living folk up here who eked a living from the abundant forests.

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We have a hearty lunch at the Briagalong Pub. How genteel it now seems and it must have a good reputation in the area. There’s a woodfired stove in the corner of the cosy dining room and it is packed with seniors munching through large pots of Beef and Guiness Pie. Up to ‘pussy’s bow’ we wonder where they’ll all fit the towering cream topped scones that keep coming out from the kitchen.