Mt Buller ski hire industry stalwart remembered

George Aivatoglou Obituary Born May 3 1938 Died December 24 2023 A LONGTIME legend of Mt Buller and Merrijig, George Aivatoglou passed away on Christmas Eve. George was simply known by everybody by the name “George”. I doubt many knew his surname. George left an indelible lifetime of vision and hard work behind him. He was in his 86th year. George arrived from Greece in 1962 at the age of 24, then found his way to Mt Buller somehow, and started work as a carpenter on the first Auski Ski Hire building at Buller. He had just a few basic words of English when he arrived, the clothes he stood up in and his little old wooden tool box. He didn’t know anyone. But he worked hard on the building and before winter began Tony Aslangul (owner of Auski) asked him if we would stay the winter to work in the ski hire. George had never seen a ski before in his life. However, he took on the challenge; he was a fast learner and soon got into the swing of things. He met his wife to be Margaret in 1963 at Auski in Hardware Lane, Melbourne, By 1967 they were married and went to Greece for their honeymoon. In the meantime Tony Aslangul decided to sack George and Margaret, so that when they returned from their honeymoon they were both unemployed. George received a call one day from Geoff Henke who was building Molony’s apartments at Mt Buller. Geoff offered him the job of managing the ski shop which he intended opening in the Molony’s building. George took on the challenge and built the Molony’s Ski Hire from a small business into a very large one. Geoff had always told George that he would sell the ski hire to him when he decided to retire from Mt Buller. Being a man of his word that eventually happened, and George and Margaret became proprietors of George’s Ski Hire Mt Buller. In the meantime, as ownership changed on Auski, Bill Duff’s and Kooroora, George became owner of Horse Hill Ski Hire also. In 1984 he purchased a farm at 1915 Mt Buller Road and built a motel on the site including a ski hire. So he had his hands pretty full. He then sold off his ownership in the Horse Hill ski hire to BSL (Buller Ski Lifts) which meant he only had George’s and the motel ski hires to deal with. Bill Duff’s ski hire came up for sale in about 1990/91 and he also bought that. There were supposed to be two other partners in that deal, but they dropped out at the auction. So he renovated Bill Duff’s, called it Summit Road Ski Hire and filled it with stock from George’s ready for the season. That night he went to Melbourne and received a phone call to tell that the Duff building had been burnt to the ground. He never did find out who did it, but it was definitely arson according to the investigators. In 1992, he built the new Summit Road Ski Hire with the Alpine Institute on the top floor, rented by BSL. However, after one season, he decided he would turn that site (22 Summit Road) into flats, which he did. In between seasons he was also renovating ski clubs and other buildings on Buller. A pretty busy guy. George certainly deserves his rest. He leaves behind his wife Margaret, son Robert and his wife Andrea, two grandchildren George and Peg, daughter Lia and husband Joel and grandchild Zoe. A memorial service will be held for George on March 13 at W.D. Rose, corner of Marriage Rd and Nepean Highway, Brighton. The service will also be online.

Mt Buller ski hire industry stalwart remembered

Vale Brian Dixon: Demon great, reformer, and tireless public servant

Book highlights police role

A gem of a store, Angela Cunningham Jewellery brings bespoke design to Mansfield

Is there more to life than this?

Chilled fingers and a warmed heart

Rufous Whistler – arrival of a summer songbird

Bombers go back-to-back in A grade

“No stone unturned” – Police committed to the long-haul in manhunt

Start your engines, Wilby Drags are back

Most popular stories