Aborigines were once drawn to the area in summer by the large
numbers of bogong moths which were seeking relief from the higher
temperatures of the plains. After roasting them in strips of bark
they ate the bodies or ground them into a paste. It is said the
moths tasted like prawns.
The first Europeans to record the Plateau were William Hovel and
Hamilton Hume on 24 November 1824. They named the mountain Mount Buffalo from
its supposed resemblance to this animal from where they were viewing it from.The mountain's highest peak is The Horn. It was first climbed by
Baron Ferdinand Von Mueller in 1853, a government botanist, who
collected many unrecognised species on his excursion. Visitors were
drawn to the magnificent views as early as the 1850s and an alpine
club was established in 1883 to promote tourism. A local guide book
came out in 1887 featuring local walking tracks and bridle paths.
Some of these historic tracks are still in use. The first land was
set aside as a national park in 1898 and the now National park has been enlarged several times since its first inception and now takes in most of the mountain and its slopes and surroundings. The Mount Buffalo Chalet was built in 1910. Australia's first ski tow and
ski lifts were installed here in the 1920s and 1930s.
