The bushfires of early 2020 that tore through parts of Kosciuszko National Park destroyed several historic huts. In January of that year, I wrote in this column about the places lost. Well, the good news is that the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has agreed to rebuild a large number of the lost buildings.
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Prior to the 2003 fires which burned many huts, the NPWS policy was not to allow rebuilds. However a cultural heritage review found that lost places still have social significance for the community. Besides, fire has been a part of the mountain story for ages and many historic huts have been rebuilt in their lifetimes anyway, due to fire or decay or other reasons.
Perhaps the happiest element of the recent decision will be the rebuild of Four Mile Hut near Kiandra. Built by gold miner Bob Hughes in 1937, its slab walls had sections of flattened kerosene tins too, and nails with hand-cut leather washers. Miners' huts are rare in Kosciuszko and so the building had particular heritage value. The building was tiny but a welcome refuge in blizzards, and known to many ski-tourers and bushwalkers who had used it for decades. The beaut four-pane window allowed a lovely view out to neighbouring snowgums and the Four Mile Creek valley. The hut is included in my 2009 YouTube doco, High Stakes: Snowy Mountains Winter.
One person who felt the hut's loss keenly was Canberra's Klaus Hueneke, whose books (especially Huts of the High Country) have been cherished reading for many. His howls of despair when the hut was destroyed are now matched by hoots of joy.
It will be an interesting and worthwhile challenge to recreate the rustic sense of place that previously pervaded that little hut at Four Mile Creek.
Also in the Kiandra area stood Sawyers Rest House. Built in the early 1900s, it was vital shelter for those brave souls venturing to Kiandra, especially early skiers who had to leave the horse-drawn coach at around that point and take to their skis to get to the snowed-in town. Over the years it became a landmark on the Snowy Mountains Highway, visited by many. My 1960s childhood memories of the place revolve around Dad barbecuing chops in the outside fireplace, after having scooped out the snow from it!
Vandalism and bushfire took their toll on Sawyers, to the extent that when rebuilt after the 2003 fires there was little if any original material in the building. But the site retains value in the landscape and so the Rest House will be re-erected.
Similarly, grazing huts not far from Kiandra like Delaneys (originally built in the 1910s) and Brooks (1940s) were both rebuilt following the 2003 fires but sadly were lost again in 2020. The Delaneys rebuild following 2003 saw input from Delaney descendants and this reconnection with mountain families has been a feature of other post-2003 rebuilds like Patons Hut near Tooma Dam, and no doubt will be seen again over the next few years as the new rebuild program proceeds. The huts and their renewal have been a point of reconciliation between the NPWS and former grazing families.
Grazing was the major historical theme in the mountains after the arrival of European settlers and so the majority of huts relate to the summer running of stock. Happys Hut, built in the 1920s by Bill McLachlan at Happy Jacks Plain, Bradley and O'Briens Hut beyond Cabramurra built in the 1940s and Round Mountain built in the 1930s were all grazing huts providing much-needed shelter for stockmen. All are on the rebuild list.
Mountain author Elyne Mitchell rode to Round Mountain in the 1940s and recorded her experiences in one chapter of her classic book Speak to the Earth, a work which helped set Elyne on her path as being one our most significant Snowy Mountains writers. She was with her sister Eve and mountain stockman Errol Scammell. The autumn cattle muster was under way at Round Mountain and the hut and environs were busy with men and horses.
All the huts have seen substantial recreational use by national park visitors for many decades. In fact many have been used by park visitors for longer than their original purpose. So, that recreational theme in the mountains' history is recognised in the decision to rebuild burnt structures.
The Snowy Scheme also saw many huts built in the mountains for shelter for Snowy workers. Original places like Cootapatamba Hut and Horse Camp luckily still survive, but the two Linesmans Huts on Fifteen Mile Spur were lost in 2020 and so rebuild work will take place there (though whether both huts will be reconstructed is as yet undecided).
One hut badly damaged in the fires was Tantangara (also known as Harveys or Palfreys) built for Kiandra Chalet Hotel owner Harvey Palfrey in the 1960s as a day-skiing shelter for his guests. Repair work will be undertaken there.
Another hut to rise phoenix-like in the park will be Vickerys, built by Jack Vickery in 1945.
Leader of the rebuild program is long-serving NPWS officer Megan Bowden, who oversaw the post-2003 program and was closely involved with the building of Burrungubugge Hut by volunteers of the Kosciuszko Huts Association (KHA) in the 1990s, which was a rare policy change by NPWS in allowing a new hut to be built.
Traditional wood skills will be used where relevant, keeping those old skills alive. Alongside NPWS staff and contractors, KHA volunteers will once again be part of the teams continuing the story of our Snowy Mountains huts.
- Matthew Higgins is an historian who has written several books about the mountains, including Bold Horizon and Seeing Through Snow.
- To contribute to this column, email history@canberratimes.com.au.
