My Involvement in the MUMC

I joined the Melbourne University Mountaineering Club (MUMC) during Orientation week in 1962. I had done a fair bit of bushwalking connected with the 1^st Beaumaris Sea Scouts, so it was a very natural choice. I had not done any rock climbing or snow/ice climbing.

I went on many trips – day trips to Hanging Rock (climbing), weekend trips to Mt Sugarloaf near Buxton for climbing, the Grampians and Mt Arapilles (climbing), Mt Baw Baw as well as several winter trips to Mt Feathertop. The Cross Cut saw, Mt Speculation, Bogong, The Pilot, Mt Kosciuszko and north to Mt Jagungal.

Most of the club trips had about 30 people and the common form of transport was to pile into a furniture removal van that had been fitted out with four rows of bench seats in the back. The engine was rather gutless and often going up the muddy track to Mt Sugarloaf we all hopped out and pushed.

In terms of starting rock climbing, I developed a close friendship with Doug Hatt who was doing Post-Grad in Zoology. I distinctly remember him merely walking up the 60 degree smooth “practice slab” at Sugarloaf with hands in pockets – such balance!

The Federal Member for Banks held a Photography competition for residents of the Banks Electorate. Over 300 different photographers entered one image each. There were several given Commendation certificates and another few were Finalists. My infrared photo of the Oatley train station was a Finalist.

In Bundanoon there is a local group that have a small competition every month. For the November 2024 "Portrait" topic my picture of an interesting chap taken in the Rocks area of Sydney shared the President's Cup.

Images by Peter Kneen (C)

Measuring 1800mm x 1050mm across this magnificient bespoke solid piece of red gum would make a very distinctive dining table.

Images by Peter Kneen - Artisan and Photograhy

Design Work on the Spire from 1973

My initial involvement with Sir Roy Grounds and the design of the Spire followed on from a meeting with senior engineers from John Connell and Associates (JCA) at a Conference about Tall Buildings at the University of Sydney in 1973. As a result I was engaged to carry out a complete design check on the four large spaceframe roof structures proposed for the Collins Place Project and another four roofs for the Canberra Hospital Services Complex.

At the end of being briefed on these two projects, we were in Andrew Goad’s office (JCA) and on the wall behind there was a drawing of a tall tapering lattice tower. It turned out that this was the state of play for the design of the Spire for the Victorian Arts Centre - later renamed the Melbourne Arts Centre.