Hotham Hosts Victorian Indigenous Surfers

At the tail end of the 2023 snow season, Hotham welcomed seven of Surfing Victoria’s most promising participants from their Indigenous Surfing Program for a special pilot program to showcase the mountain environment and highlight the bridge between summer and seasonal work.

“The group was made up of young Indigenous surfers from across the state of Victoria as a reward for being such good young role models in our Indigenous surfing programs — these are our future leaders and mentors,” said Jordie Campbell, Surfing Victoria’s Indigenous Aquatics Manager. “Some had been to the snow before, but others had never seen the snow — the vibes were high and everyone was really stoked to be at Hotham.” As well as learning to snowboard under the guidance of Hotham’s expert instructors, the youth were given a tour of the operations, including getting to sit in Hotham’s new snow cat grooming vehicle and hearing about employment opportunities while inside the operation control room.

“We were thrilled to have this group of Indigenous youth here at Hotham and loved showing them around,” said Tina Burford, Hotham’s Vice President + General Manager. “One of our corevalues is to Be Inclusive and we couldn’t be happier that Joe liked what he saw on the visit and is joining us for the winter season in the maintenance team.”

“They are beach kids and spend a lot of time at the ocean, but there are other fantastic opportunities within sport, and itwas an amazing opportunity for them to come to the snow and see how they could make a career in the snow industry,” said Jordie. “As soon as they saw the snow on our drive up their eyes lit up and they were so excited.”

As part of Hotham’s emphasis on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, a special Welcome to Country and naming ceremony was held for the Bunderool carpet, a new addition to the mountain that reimagines the beginner experience at Hotham. Namedwith the help of the Gunaikurnai People, Bunderool means “hill covered in snow”.