W.F. Waters Lodge
The name ‘Baw Baw’ is an aboriginal word meaning ‘echo’. The first European exploration of the Baw Baw plateau was made by botanist Baron Van Mueller in 1860. He named it Mt. Mueller and Mt Erica.
 
The Yallourn Rover Scout Crew was one of the first to be interested in the Baw Baw plateau as a skiing area. Originally skiing around Mt Erica the Rover Crew was encouraged in the early 1930s to commence skiing at Mt Baw Baw by W.F. (Bill) Waters, then Victorian Branch Rover Commissioner.
 
In 1945 Bill Waters negotiated with the proprietors of the Neulyne's Mill at the foot of Mt Baw Baw for weekend use of the mill buildings as a base for Rover skiing on the Baw Baw Plateau.
 
With the gradual conversion of the mill to a car park for the growing Baw Baw Alpine Ski village the huts fell into disrepair and were finally removed. In 1964 a village site was granted to the Rover section of the Scout Association of Victoria and with a grant and loan from the Association, the Lodge was constructed in readiness for the 1967 season

Many projects have been undertaken since 1967 and have included:

Crew
February 1977 saw the formation of the Baw Baw Action Committee to carry out maintenance and management of the W.F Water Lodge. The committee wanted to make the management of the lodge available to all rovers so on the 26th of September 1977 the Action Committee changed its name to the Baw Baw Rover Crew. In March 1979 the Crew was registered as the Baw Baw Service Crew with Victorian Branch Rover Council affiliation.

Friends of W.F. Waters Rover Lodge
As the nature of service within the Baw Baw Rover Crew required significant regular involvement, and indeed the constitution of the crew required active involvement to remain a member, a need was identified for a method of affiliation for those former rovers who still wished to stay involved with the crew and yet couldn't maintain an active role. As a result of this, the Friends of the WF Waters Rover Lodge was formed.
This group still regularly involves itself within the running of the lodge but does not have any explicit voting rights. Many member of this group also utilise the lodge as part of larger family groups that have become regular annual bookings.

The Baw Baws: A short history of the plateau, from its discovery to the present day
By: WF Waters

The Baw Baw Mountains situated in Upper Gippsland are an outstanding granitic plateau over 5000 feet in height visible from all places in that part of Victoria.  The Plateau is elliptical in shape with the major axis about ten miles long extending from Mt Whitelaw (4875 feet) south easterly to Mt Erica (5000 feet) and with the minor axis of about four miles on which Mt Baw Baw (5130 feet) and Mt St Phillack (5140 feet), the highest point, are located.

The Baw Baw Transport Company
From the W.F. Waters Lodge Log Book: August 12-13 1967, 4th Camberwell Rover Crew

Man has devised many wondrous ways of transporting his kind over this earth, may not spectacular, but, the Baw Baw Transport company is one of these.
 
The company’s prime justification for its existence is that it provides very expensive transport over the last four miles of track from the car park to the summit of Mt Baw Baw.
 
The first leg of the journey is achieved in a Toyota truck which provides a quick and efficient service for patrons to a point just above the snow line.  At this point you are changed over to and stacked in, a four wheel drive truck (with chains) which probably had its origin carrying troops in the Western Desert.  You may cheerfully note before the journey starts that only one wheel has it’s full complement of wheel buts, but on full examination you realised this only conforms with the general tendency for odd bits and pieces to be missing all over the vehicle.  After barely covering 200 yards you will find that if you are one of the ten passengers nearest the door you will be told to “Get out and Walk” so that the truck can recover momentum.  Though no appreciable gain in speed is noticed from the off loading, it does make the lot of the sixteen or so remaining inside the vehicle a little more bearable, as well as making us realise why the “Transport Regulations Board” licensed it to carry fourteen passengers only.
 
On arriving at the next change over point at a time somewhat later than those ten person on foot, you find an employee of the company making some mechanical adjustments to a snow cat, which is to take you over the last one and a half miles of the journey.  Our experience suggests that the time take to complete the journey on foot is less than the time taken to complete the adjustments to the snow cat.
 
However, the “Baw Baw transport company does achieve something unique, this being that for $1.50 it provides a means of ascending Mt Baw Baw slower and more frustrating than walking.
 
Reproduced from “Challenge” magazine.  December 1966.
Challenge was produced by the Somers Area Rovers (per 4th Malvern Rover Crew, from a previous experience)