Demandering and Mac and Bert Oldfields Huts Namadgi National Park won't be rebuilt after Black Summer bushfires

Across the border, the NSW Parks and Wildlife Service has already committed to rebuilding almost all its historic alpine huts damaged by the catastrophic 2019-20 summer bushfires, following an extensive assessment process.

Simon Buckpitt, the president of the Kosciuszko Huts Association, said the heritage-listed Demandering and Mac and Bert Oldfields Hut were both destroyed in the Namadgi during the fires, but a very different attitude had prevailed towards a rebuild process on the ACT side of the border.

In explaining its decision to rebuild, NSW Parks described the huts "as an integral part of the cultural landscape of Kosciuszko National Park demonstrating different construction materials and techniques, past land uses, travel, communication practices, past times and continue to be visited today by people enjoying the park including walkers, riders and skiers".

Meanwhile, the ACT government has commissioned a report on the two Namadgi huts from a Canberra-based heritage architect, but won't release the report to the association.

The ACT Heritage Council also has opposed a rebuild.

"The [Heritage] Council advised that given the extensive damage and loss of fabric, the condition of the huts does not allow for their restoration ... and that the huts be managed as ruins with appropriate heritage interpretation," the government said in a statement.

This sparked an angry response from the volunteers, who said words had been nuanced and cherry-picked from the governing charter to justify the ACT decision.

"These huts are an intrinsic part of our national heritage," Mr Buckpitt said.

"How is it that we can have two separate jurisdictions, both making expert assessments, and then both coming up with different conclusions?

"If a heritage-listed pub in the city burnt down, they [the government] wouldn't let that site sit as a ruin.

"There are examples all over the world where historic buildings have been destroyed and sympathetically rebuilt."

The volunteers said they had access to the necessary skills, materials and equipment to rebuild the huts and would use old-fashioned hand-tool techniques, as has been endorsed by NSW Parks in its program.

NSW Parks described its decision as one which "retains peoples' connections with these places; from the families who built them, to current caretakers and people who visit them for recreation".

Mr Buckpitt said there were also safety considerations to support a rebuild.

He said that more bushwalkers preparing to roam the national park during the coming summer months, the two Namadgi huts had performed a valuable function to protect people who needed shelter when the weather closed in.

"People often use the huts as waypoints and shelters on their walks," he said.

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