Thought I'd start a thread to collect news on which huts and historic buildings have been lost / saved: Here's what I know so far NSW Kiandra Courthouse / Chalet - lost Wolgal Hut (Kiandra) - lost (has been some conjecture the hut was only damaged but sadly it is gone) Pattison's Hut (Kiandra) - lost Matthew's Cottage (Kiandra) - lost Sawyers Hill Hut (KNP) - lost 4 Mile Hut (KNP) - lost Delaney's Hut (KNP) - lost Happy's Hut (KNP) - lost Round Mountain Hut (KNP - Jagungal Wilderness) - lost Boobee Hut (KNP) - safe Mackeys Hut (KNP - Jagungal Wilderness) - safe Bradley and O'Briens Hut (Cabramurra) - lost Brooks Hut (Cabramurra) - safe Cabramurra Ski Club House - lost Tantangara Hut (KNP) - safe Broken Dam Hut (KNP) - safe Brayshaw's Hut (Sth Namadgi) - unknown but I think I saw firebreaks were put in around it Yarrangobilly Caves House - safe (just) Witzes (KNP) - safe Hains (KNP) - safe Patons (KNP) - safe Wheelers (KNP) - safe Tin Mine (KNP) - safe Cascade (KNP) - safe Gooandra (KNP) - safe Long Plain (KNP) - safe Ingeegoodbee Hut (KNP) - safe Schofields Hut (KNP) - safe Gavel's Hut - safe Valentine's Hut - wrapped and safe Wheeler's Hut (Jagungal Wilderness) - appears safe on RFS map Under Threat (unknown but possibly affected): Circuits Hut (KNP) Black Jacks Huts (KNP) Vickerys Hut (Tumut District) Bill Jones Old Currango Currango Long Plain Cooinbil Millers Hainsworth Coolamine Homestead Pedens Townsend Oldfields Pockets VIC Towong Hill Station (home of Tom and Elyne Mitchell) (Corryong) - lost Wallace's and Cope Huts (near Falls Creek) have been wrapped and are safe. Lovick's Hut (near The Bluff / King Billy) has had a fire retardant drop over it and is safe. Bluff Hut has also been marked safe with clearing work around it done Have heard Spargo's Hut (near Hotham) is ok and being wrapped tonight. JB Hut and Dinner Plain CRB Huts (Dinner Plain) have escaped the flames at this stage. Cobungra Station - apparently mostly safe but 1 building lost. Large dozer dropped off today near Moscow Villa hut and Bentley Plain hut to do a fire break. McNamaras Hut on Buckety Plain has had clearing work done around it and been marked safe. Vallejo Gantner Hut (Mt Howitt) - safe Howitt Plains Hut - safe Guy’s Hut (Howitt Plains) - safe Craig's Hut (near Mt Stirling) - safe Upper Jamieson Hut (near Mt Buller) - safe Have also heard CFA is working with VHCHA to protect and wrap a number of other huts in Vic... Please keep adding to this thread (or correct anything I'm wrong about). Note: I will keep editing and updating this first post as a consolidated list.
Sad news... I'm a bit sad now that we skipped dropping by 4 mile and Happys a couple of weeks ago. Many good memories of them.
Think of it as a time of renewal for the better. The new Ropers is much better than the old. Timber & corro was never going to last forever.
I think the mood will be positive so long as folks put their hands up. Both NSW & Vicco Parks have been receptive to supportive of hut rebuilds in recent years.
This thread was started yesterday for a slightly broader version of the same - maybe combine them? https://www.ski.com.au/xf/threads/snowy-region-towns-locations-huts-survival-rollcall.86662/
Up to the mods. Other thread is area/ resorts focused. Not as helpful on specific hut / building damage.
Four Mile Hut History Brief History The hut was built by Robert Hughes in 1937, and used as a mining residence for gold panners. It remains the only complete mining hut on the Kiandra gold fields. For many years (until about 1981) there was a box of very live dynamite under one of the bunks, presumably to give any resident silly enough to light a really big fire in the hearth, a night to remember! Four mile is a very popular ski destination, and has saved the lives of a number of people over the years. However, skiers should be aware that it is very small, and therefore not reliable shelter for parties un-equipped with tents. Construction This hut was made from anything left lying around, but its main elements included slab walls and floors and corrugated chimney and roof. Many of the from materials from former Elaine Mine which Hughes managed from 1926 to 1936. Use of flattened five gallon cans is a feature. There is an external toilet and a pot belly type heater, in the old stone hearth fireplace, one of the key reasons it still stands. A unique feature is that a small leather washer was put under every nail used to hold the roof (and much of the timber work) together. A recent renovation team had to duplicate this work. Caretakers - In the early 1970's The Bogong Group undertook the first clean up and found the first dynamite. In 1978, Klaus Hueneke organised the first major restoration with members of KHA. Since then the NSW Nordic Ski Club maintain it. Value Four Mile is one of the most critical huts in the KNP, both for historical reasons, and survival shelter. Source: https://khuts.org/index.php/the-huts/kosciuszko-national-park/704-four-mile-hut
VIC huts see pic of Lovicks hut in pink retardant Towong Hill Station (home of Tom and Elyne Mitchell) (Corryong) - lost Wallace's and Cope Huts (near Falls Creek) have been wrapped and are safe. Lovick's Hut (near The Bluff / King Billy) has had a fire retardant drop over it and is safe Bluff Hut has also been marked safe with clearing work been done around it Have heard Spargo's Hut (near Hotham) is ok and being wrapped tonight or in the morning Cobungra Station - apparently mostly safe but 1 building lost. Large dozer dropped off today near Moscow Villa hut and Bentley Plain hut to do a fire break. McNamaras hut on Buckety Plain has had clearing work done around it and been marked safe. JB Hut and Dinner Plain CRB Huts have escaped the flames at this stage. There are several huts inside the burn zone that I'm worried about but no official word yet... I am waiting on confirmation Have also heard CFA is working with VHCHA to protect and wrap a number of other huts in Vic... Please keep adding to this thread (or correct anything I'm wrong about).[/QUOTE]
Tom Mitchell's ancestral home was a splendid example of a traditional old style homestead in its own right, but it was also the home of the man who did far more to promote skiing in Australia than anyone else. From memory, here's just some of what he did: Captain of the Australian ski team and four times national ski champion in the 1930s. The first to systematically ski explore the Western Faces of the Main Range. His wife Elyne's book about their experiences published during the war was the main stimulus to post war interest in skiing the area and the construction of things like Albina Lodge. He was also the first person to ski at many other places like Mt Pinnabar. Promoted skiing across Victoria and NSW, both privately and publicly. For example in 1936 he discreetly paid for the construction of Australia's biggest ski jump at the then ski resort of Mt Donna Buang. Wrote the first ski instruction book in Australia. When he married Elyne, she had never skied, but within a few years he had trained her into an expert who won international ski races including the Canadian downhill championship in 1938 (?). Being the super gung-ho type he was, he joined the army as soon as World War 2 broke out. He was captured in the fall of Singapore and detained in shocking conditions in Changi Prison. There he founded the Changi Ski Club which became famous for talks and lectures that boosted the morale of the prisoners of war and for being the only ski club in the world where no member ever saw snow during the existence of the club. It took him a couple of years after the war to recover, but he was soon elected to parliament, where he rose to become the Attorney-General of Victoria. He was also infamous for knitting when parliament was in session to stop him falling asleep. But of most interest to us, he was always lobbying for ski interests, pushing ski friendly legislation through parliament and interfering where bureaucrats were about to thwart ski projects. He was probably responsible for pressuring the Forests Commission to make the 1949 subdivision at Buller and forcing Kiewa hydro to allow skiers to use their road to access Falls Creek as well as doing literally dozens of other important things for skiers when he was an MP. After he retired from parliament he continued to support skiing, wrote heaps of stuff and established the Corryong Museum which had the first collection of ski material of any museum in Australia. So if you ski, you owe a lot to Tom Mitchell. In some ways Buller, Falls Creek and Thredbo partly owe their existence to him and backcountry skiers owe him just as much. So when you drive past what is now the ruin of Towong Hill Station on the Victorian side of the Indi River on the Corryong - Khancoban road, spend a few seconds acknowledging what Tom did for all of us.
I assume OP will keep the original post updated with latest info? Some info I've picked up at this stage: Lost: Happys, Brooks, Round Mountain, Bradley O'Brien Intact so far: Tin Mine, Witzes, Hains, Patons, Wheelers, Cascade, Gooandra, Long Plain Many of these have had breaks cut around them
[/QUOTE] hope they are protecting faithful while they are at macnamaras. I know mittagundi use the later but faithfuls is one of my favorites - idyllic setting.
Quite a few that are still unaccounted for in KNP that haven’t been mentioned. These are close to or within the fire line Boobee Lineman’s hut on 15 Mile Spur Gavells Schofields Circuits Vickerys Plenty more further north as well.
I seem to remember a story from the 2003 incident, went something like ~Some weeks later~Didnt that hut burn? Guess not, its right there.....amidst fears it may not be rebuilt. Could be a myth. but was connected to the way parks sometimes decide that one should not be rebuilt. An argument that goes both ways I guess. @zac150 would know a heck of a lot more about this topic currently than me, I imagine KHA would lobby hard to rebuild every one? My involvement through my dad was back in the 70's, and we did quite a few things that would likely not be permissable now, or at least not so easy to do.
Ok so I will correct a few on here as I have now had it from the horses mouth so to speak (and seen pictures of all but round mtn). four mile and happys are gone, somehow brooks, Boobee, mackays, broken dam have survived. The email we received (via alps committee +1) suggests round mtn survived as they are worried it will go in The next front coming over, this would likely also put patrons and wheelers at risk then. In terms of the rebuild, I’ll keep my thoughts on KHA out but I’ll say the care takers do a great job. I don’t think there will need to be any lobbying as the insurance money will kick in and parks will facilitate. I know several historians are already started on putting stuff to make sure the huts are rebuilt correctly. +1 is already fielding emails on timber selections etc (her field).
@Chaeron no fires particularly close to Hannels at this stage The Geehi fire is close to Opera House Hut but based on the last mapping its safe.
these are from an email the boss is included in, she is speaking to David directly as they are both really concerned about Currango.
No word yet but It should be safe for now. Although, seeing Tantangara Mountain hut with burnt bush all around it makes me question the accuracy of the fire maps.
@Total Whiteout to update your list for NSW Kiandra Courthouse / Chalet - lost Wolgal Hut (Kiandra) - lost Pattison's Hut (Kiandra) - lost Sawyers Hill Hut (KNP) - lost / damaged 4 Mile Hut (KNP) - lost Delaney's Hut (KNP) - lost Happy's Hut (KNP) - lost Round Mountain Hut (KNP - Jagungal Wilderness) - unconfirmed (but at this stage beloved safe) Boobee Hut (KNP) - safe Mackeys Hut (KNP - Jagungal Wilderness) - safe Bradley and O'Briens Hut (Cabramurra) - lost Brooks Hut (Cabramurra) - safe Tantangara Hut (KNP) - safe Broken Dam Hut (KNP) - safe Brayshaw's Hut (Sth Namadgi) - sage Yarrangobilly Caves House - safe (just) Witzes (KNP) - safe Hains (KNP) - safe Patons (KNP) - safe Wheelers (KNP) - safe Tin Mine (KNP) - safe Cascade (KNP) - safe Gooandra (KNP) - safe Long Plain (KNP) - safe Unknown but possibly affected: Circuits Hut (KNP) sage Schofields Hut (KNP) safe Black Jacks Huts (KNP) ? Gavel's Hut sage Vickerys Hut (Tumut District) unknown to add to the list at threat Bill Jones Old Currango Currango Long Plain Cooinbil Millers Hainsworth Coolamine Homestead
That’s pretty good all things considered. I’d like add the following to the threat list. Pedens Townsend Oldfields Pockets
It’s one of my favourites. So many to remember. Goes to show how historically rich the park is and this is only the top half.
Well, most of the huts in the business end have been removed. The northern end is much more rich in that regard!
The thinnest hut I've ever visited. It's fairly long, but it's very narrow. Also the place where I was the coldest I've ever been. I was there one combined late Easter - Anzac weekend with a sleeping bag rated to minus 8 that I'd comfortably used for light snow camping. I wore all the clothes I had, but I still froze my ****'s off that night.
I got a crush on a rather hot girl there once. Gosh, so many of those NSW huts bring back fond memories. Perhaps it's something in the water up there that reminds me of the fun (and freezing cold) times I had.
A short anecdote about Delaneys. Called in there for a lunch stop on Sat 28th Dec. A gentleman was also lunching in the hut, having a break from removing graffiti and re-oiling the weatherboards which he does every year. The place was immaculate inside and out and a credit to his skills and enthusiasm. Turns out he was a 5th generation descendent of the original Irish Delaney - convict stock sent out to the penal colony of Oz in 1834/5 for putting a note on some toffs plough. He had helped with the 2007 rebuild and we had a friendly discussion about the original hut and rebuilding process. A week later and it's burned to the ground!! Sawyers just up the road has been a starting point for a lovely walk through the forest while snow falls and a welcome stop while enjoying the scenery enroute to the east or west.
just a little gutted, Rnd Mtn, Okeefes and Jagungal are kind of how I met my wife, I looked in at her room at uni and saw pictures on the wall, we got chatting and the rest is history. Our first hike together was in round mtn hut, first ski trip four mile. Just a little gutted. And to hear Currango is at risk... would be devastated if that goes.
I have a feeling this may be the family member we met on site during the build. He oiled and stained the hut then put a varnish on the hut that made it really easy to remove graffiti.
The NPWS has plenty invested in Currango, and we have enjoyed our visits and drives there. But will they attempt to save it? How about a big dump of retardant over it? If the fire map is to be trusted then the front is still at the Snowy Mtns Hwy about 15 km to the west. They've lost Kiandra Courthouse and had sunk plenty of $$ in that. Still, I'm just an armchair critic 500 km away.
Things have changed a lot since 2003 in Victoria with the communications between parks and the huts association strengthening over the years. The huts are all in the public eye now, they are more known and loved by everyone now. Before 2003 they were secret that locals wouldn't talk about, so much history was lost before people started sharing the stories, importance and history of the huts in Victoria. Now they are a state asset
