Kosciuszko Huts Association Inc. NEWSLETTER

Gooandra (Lampes Homestead) 1990s-2016

CELEBRATING 50 years of caring for and preserving the mountain huts of Kosciuszko and Namadgi 1971-2020 No: 189 AUTUMN 2021 Cover: Gooandra Homestead is located about 15 Km north of Kiandra, on an indistinct fire trail that leads past the Six Mile Diggings. The building was almost collapsed in the late 1990s and was recently restored, with some work remaining to be done. The new fireplace is a particularly excellent piece of work. Www.KHuts.org https://khuts.org/index.php/heritage-guest/grazing-and-pastoral/475-gooandra-homestead-history Gooandra Homestead 2016 image: Matthew Higgins

Committee 2020 - 2021 PLEASE READ THIS Please assist your volunteer membership team by renewing your President 0403 917 633 membership by one of our preferred methods below. Simon Buckpitt [email protected] Renew online at our website with a credit card, this Vice President method is fully automatic, requiring zero volunteer Tony Hunter [email protected] effort. Secretary Make a direct deposit into KHA's bank account BSB: 062 912 Account Number: 10140661 then login to Patsy Sheather [email protected] register your payment on our website by making an Treasurer 0412 020 150 'offline' payment. Deposit your cheque at your local Bob Anderson [email protected] Commonwealth Bank Branch to the above bank account, then login to register your payment on our Membership 0431 956 426 website by making an 'offline' payment. Instructions Pip Brown [email protected] for the above can be found under the 'RENEW' HMO Jagungal 0415 159 910 menu item on the website. Simon Plum [email protected] Kosciuszko Huts Association Incorporated (KHA) HMO Tantangara 0449 663 769 KHA (formed in 1971) provides volunteer support to Peter Charker [email protected] the NSW and ACT Governments to preserve the HMO Snowy 0411 407 441 ‘settlement era’ vernacular architecture of the northern Australian Alps as part of the continuum of Marion Plum [email protected] total landscape management. HMO Namadgi 0413 372 476 We are one of only a few organisations in Australia Jean Hammond [email protected] dedicated to the preservation of traditional Australian HMO Support/Liaison bush building skills. We research and document Clive Richardson [email protected] history associated with these vernacular structures and conduct public information sessions in conjunction Huts History with the various parks services and other bodies to Stefan De Montis raise awareness of this history. We are acknowledged Committee Members on both the NSW NPWS and ACT PCS Volunteering websites and we have a demonstrated track record of Jenny Charker Colin Howie performance. Jonathan Wills David Argall Newsletter Editor 02 46 55 3622 Pauline Downing [email protected] Snail Mail: P.O. Box 525 Camden NSW 2570 Public Officer Brian Polden

Notice of Annual General Meeting https://khuts.org/images/stories/ docs/KHA_Constitution_2018.pdf

(4) A member desiring to bring any business before a General Meeting must give notice in writing of that business to the Secretary at least two (2) weeks before the date appointed for the meeting.

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The Raffle commences on the 1st of January 2021, closes on the 6th of November 2021 and will be drawn on the 6th of November 2021 at Nsw Sport & Rec Club Jindabyne at 9:30pm. Details of the Winner(s) will be displayed at www.khuts.org and https://www.rafflelink.com.au/kha-kosciuszko-huts. State(s) where tickets are on sale ACT, NSW, QLD. This raffle is being held for Kosciuszko Huts Association GPO Box 2509, Canberra, ACT, 2601. If a prize is not claimed by 6th December 2021 then another winning ticket will be drawn via a marble draw at 16:00 at the Canberra Glass Works on Friday 10th December 2021. Permit/Licence for ACT R 20/00242.

Persons under the age of 18 years are unable to enter.

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More details at KHuts.org WELCOME NEW MEMBERS FROM THE PRESIDENT found out that quite a lot of people did not nominate for the course because they heard it was In the last Newsletter we summarised our raison ‘oversubscribed’ or thought they would be ‘too low d’etre into four primary activity groups: a priority’. My suggestion is, ignore the rumour mill, and nominate. Courses are not filled on a first come basis. They are filled to ensure a broad cross • Assist with the maintenance and section of members are included. If you don’t get conservation of the huts. panelled on the course, you will then get priority at • Maintain traditional hut building/ the next course you apply for. Your nomination also maintenance knowledge and skills. helps us to determine what skill sets people feel they need. For example, if 50 people nominate for • Research and document hut history. a joinery course and only ten for a traditional mortar course, then we know we need to offer • Advocate for the appropriate more joinery courses. management, use, and conservation

of the huts. The training we are providing you will generally not find at a TAFE or at an adult community learning I consider these the ‘Pillars of KHA’. These are the centre. Nor is the training we are providing taught things we must do. These are the things on which in modern trade courses. We are focusing on we are judged and measured. specific heritage craft skills needed for hut restoration and reconstruction. We are also focusing on training where the parks services have The thing we are most judged on is the quality of advised they would like to see improvement. work we do on the huts. We know when we are successful, because parks agencies and heritage officials will seek us out to help with restoration. The trainers we are engaging, are professionals The question is: “do they seek us out, or do we go recognised by either the broader heritage to them to justify why we should be allowed to do profession as experts in their craft and/or are work?” I will leave you to ponder this question. preferred contractors used by the parks’ services.

The answer to the question is not straight forward. I would love to see as many KHA members as There are lots of factors that shape how the parks possible, especially existing caretakers, taking the services and heritage officials will tackle any job. opportunity to attend these courses. Probably the only thing we are in control of and that Simon Buckpitt we can shape, is the quality of our work and, in particular, our attitude to heritage. I have another question: “have we truly embraced heritage conservation in both mindset and skills?” Again, I DONATIONS - THANK YOU! will leave for you to ponder this question. Newcastle Ramblers Bushwalking Club

Future Generations Joint Venture- We need the right skills and knowledge to do a Various donations of plastic bottles from workers good job. This is why we have embarked on a in KNP picked up and recycled. focused training program. We just completed our first training on traditional joinery and post scarfing. Robert Croll It was a great success, and everyone was buoyed up Colin Oliver by the end of the weekend, so much so that some Valentines Hut Donation Box people have committed to returning to former work and redoing it. That is a great outcome. John Hillard n the course of people nominating for this event I Historical re-enactment & www.thewalkact.com. His production website is documentary film-making at www.thewalkworldproductions.com where you can see some previews of the final ‘Finding the Namadgi Westermans Homestead Trail’ documentary. Mike Baker Steve is now also keen to produce a piece on the KHA, likely at a future work party in Namadgi. On the weekend of 12 & 13 December, local Canberran film-maker and bushwalking blogger The three characters in the documentary were Steve Cooke conducted a re-enactment of the death played by local actors Elaine Kennedy (Mary Jane of Elizabeth Shiels (the adult daughter of Thomas Westerman), Natalie Trafford (Elizabeth Shiels) and and Mary Jane Westerman) for the purpose of Gary Luck (Thomas Westerman). making a short historical documentary about that Here are some photos from the weekend: event. Setting up for filming the dining table scenes Elizabeth died of tuberculosis at Westermans Homestead, in the far South of what is now Namadgi National Park, on 26 July 1922, at the age of 45. At the time there had been a lot of rain, creeks were flooded, the ground was very boggy, and it was not possible for Thomas Westerman to get out of the valley to seek medical assistance for his daughter. Mary Jane cared for Elizabeth as well as she could, but was unable to save her daughter’s life. Still unable to leave the valley, Thomas had to take down some boards from the ceiling of one of the hut’s rooms to make a coffin so he could bury Elizabeth. Hair and make-up for Elaine (Mary Jane Westerman) There are two graves still on the hill behind the hut, being Elizabeth and her un-named infant brother who was still-born in 1886. The existing graves could not be used in the re-enactment or filming, because a fresh grave was needed for that. Steve was ably assisted in his efforts by his small band of volunteers (some of them were either studying, or already qualified in, cinematography and related fields). They even provided catering! The KHA caretaker of Westerman’s (Mike Baker) also provided some assistance with props, including simulating Elizabeth’s grave. The segment filmed at Westerman’s will be one of Some of the array of equipment required around 12 parts making up an overall documentary titled ‘Finding the Namadgi Trail’ and expected to be about 90 minutes long. Two full days of filming were necessary to get the raw material required just to complete this one short segment.

Steve is aiming to complete filming of all parts of the documentary by about May this year, with release of the final product tentatively scheduled for July 2021. Initial screenings may be at the NFSA (National Film & Sound Archive) or other venues. You can see his bushwalking blog at

year-old's first foray into what he likes to call faction - "fiction Spirit of special sanctuary remains intact - based on lots of facts" .Writing this book really took it out of Tim the Yowie Man me, I had to make judgements all along the line, it was hard going ... sure there's a back-ground of history, but I had to make some things up using oral interviews or documents as a guide," he explains.

"In the end I'm very happy with it, but some of it is a bit risqué as I haven't held back to all things that can happen in a hut," confesses Klaus.

He definitely hasn't. As part of the fiction (or is there a bit of autobiography here?), Klaus describes a series of romantic rendezvous that take place in the hut with detail that leaves even your well-travelled columnist blushing. Gee, if I wanted to engage in such back-to-nature activities, I definitely wouldn't choose a hut where at any moment a group of hikers could arrive to share the hut. Who knows, maybe that's part of the thrill?

(Photo: Tim the Yowie Man) This article was first published It's a foray which won't going to sit comfortably with some of in Canberra Times 5 December 2020. his regular readers. "They are generally quite conservative, but this book isn't just for them, it's aimed at a wider audience" I'm badly jet-lagged, the mercury is pushing 42 degrees and says Klaus. the air is laced with acrid smoke. But before I go home to bed, I have to visit Klaus Hueneke, Australia's foremost authority on Thankfully the hut is a great observer of many fully-clothed mountain huts. Just as I was boarding my flight back from a visitors as well, including, of course, its saviour, Klaus. At one family Christmas in the US, on January 3 this year, I'd heard point the 'hut' reveals, "I must have pressed some deep buttons that along with the heart-breaking devastation on the South in Klaus. He took to me in a big way". Indeed. In terms of the Coast, that Four Mile Hut near Kiandra had been razed. storyline, the January fire which destroyed the hut is an obvious yet heart-wrenching climax, but in a way it's this Klaus was among a small group of bushwalkers who, in 1975, disaster that makes The Life of a Mountain Hut an even better 'rediscovered' the dilapidated hut built by miner Bob Hughes read. about 40 years earlier, and to say it's been a special part of his life ever since would be a gross understatement. For Klaus the Sure, in the lead-up to last summer you follow with interest all rustic hut was a shrine. He lobbied to save it, toiled to rebuild the shenanigans that occur at the hut, including fictional visits it, meticulously documented its heritage and, of course, bunked by thrill-seeking nudists and budding yogis, along with down in (and around) it many times. Heck, he even dragged his historical accounts lifted straight from the hut's logbooks held young family there one year to celebrate a very Australian by the State Library of NSW (I love one visitor's encounter Christmas. Flies, snakes 'n' all. with the 'ghost' of Bob Hughes), but it's when the fire hits that Klaus writes with raw emotion. So it's no surprise that when he opens the door of his Palmerston home to greet me, the sense of grief is palpable. "I screamed, I flailed, I rattled my irons and I stamped the When I tell Klaus I'm here to offer my condolences about the floorboards but it was to no avail. I was a mute. The fire loss of 'Four Mile' he bursts into tears. We both do. I give him a couldn't hear. The fire couldn't care. I was rooted here, I big bear hug. Klaus' partner Patricia confides he's been bottling couldn't run. I had to watch it roar over and through me. I had up the grief since he first heard the hut had been destroyed by to feel the pain. I had to witness my own death ... In an hour or fire a few days earlier. "You've released the pressure-cooker two I was no more. Not in body anyhow". Classic Klaus. valve," gasps Klaus, still sobbing uncontrollably. This week when a much perkier Klaus than I'd encountered How a little old slab hut with an iron roof could come to mean earlier this year handed me a copy of his book, he explained, so much to one man is highlighted in the hot-off-the- "Four Mile Hut lost its walls, press The Life of a Mountain Hut (Tabletop Press) in roof, furniture and chimney but which Klaus chronicles the colourful history of the not its spirit. That spirit is alive lost landmark from the point of view of the hut itself. and well in this book and in Only someone with Klaus' appreciation for the hut hundreds of people who loved could even attempt to write such a biography, let alone the hut". It sure is. pull it off with such aplomb. But the fire almost proved to be the death-knell for this book, Klaus' Klaus hopes The Life of a fourteenth. After the fire, Klaus was in such shock that Mountain Hut isn't the last he stopped writing. chapter for his beloved hut and is leading a chorus of others, "I thought the hut's gone, so what's the purpose of the including your Akubra-clad book but then a few months later the spirit of the hut columnist, for it to be rebuilt. roared back to life and told me 'I want to tell my The Life of a Mountain story'," says Klaus. "At that point I knew I had to Hut ($30) is available just in finish come hell or high water." time for Christmas at www.tabletoppressbooks.com It's a very different book to most of Klaus' previous offerings, including the best-selling Huts of the High (Photo: Abigail Curtis Klaus and Country (first published in 1982) in that it's the 76- grandchildren at Four Mile Hut) Canberra Times PANORAMA 5 Dec 2020

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Sad sight: The loss of the hut in last summer's fires was felt by many, including Canberra bushwalker and photographer Stefan De Montis who recently hiked to the site. "When I came across the burnt ruins of the hut I was hit with a wave of sadness that stopped me in my tracks. As if the burnt snow gums, valleys and ridges weren't bad enough, seeing that pile of rubble was heartbreaking in different ways. I had got to know 'Four Mile' quite well over the past 14 years since my very first visit. I had spent a number of nights inside over the years when the weather was truly horrible and my appreciation for the hut and its location grew with each visit. After a while each visit was like seeing an old friend. I would walk away happy, comforted and content. I will Four Mile Hut Ruins: The hut site is a 5km walk always associate that beautiful valley with that from the ruins of the Selwyn Snow Resort (also razed unique and iconic hut." Hear! Hear! in the same fire that destroyed the hut). This area of Acoustic mystery: At Four Mile Creek, located just the national park is currently closed to vehicles so below the hut site, there is a peculiar acoustic check before planning a trip. phenomenon whereby noise made near the creek is amplified. This allows someone whispering near the Did You Know? The hut's creator Bob Hughes creek to be heard loudly and clearly at the hut, some attempted to reduce the winter gales blowing into the 50 metres away. Since first experiencing this peculiar hut by hammering small leather washers under every phenomenon with high country historian and nail used to hold the roof and walls together. bushwalker Matthew Higgins several years ago, this Ingenious. column has attempted to explain this amplification, but so far without any luck. Any ideas?

Beyond the Cotter If that Man Comes Here I’ll Shoot Him by Rosemary Curry 073 165 9139 $12.50 (Reminiscences of Published in 1979, this was the title of my High Country Women first proper high country book. It was the result Klaus has had a small number of this 1989 booklet reprinted - I of meeting Alan Mortlock, a retired academic who have a copy signed by Rosemary in 1994. It has been out of wanted to write about day adventures from print for some time. It sells in the UK on the pre-loved book Canberra to the Brindabellas and beyond. He took market for between $11-$28 on the areas close to home and I took on places like Kiandra and Coolamine homestead. The book https://tabletoppressbooks.com/ became part of a series called Canberra Companions published by ANU Press. Several members of the KHA and NPA contributed to other titles such as Rambles Around Canberra and Rosemary Curry is a South Australian presently living in Undiscovered Canberra. They were some of the Central West NSW. She is as a Registered Nurse who, between having five children and running Family first books to entice people to put on their Education groups, studied Psychology at University. She is walking boots and explore the ACT and Snowy also an enthusiastic amateur palaeontologist, and, when regions. not studying rocks and fossils, collects oral histories and occasionally writes articles for history magazines. In 1989 All books were illustrated. In Beyond the she published two small books based on her oral histories interviews. The most popular of these, If That Man Comes Cotter, my photos show Charles Warner, then Here I’ll Shoot Him, is about Australia’s High Country Women. writing his book Bushwalking in KNP, sitting above Rosemary now runs a creative writing group for U3A in Orange. Cave Creek with other bushwalkers and in https://bigskiescollaboration.wordpress.com/projects/ another, a group including Reet Vallak and Sybil skywriters/anthology/anthology-contributors-2019/ and Bob Story camped at Three Mile Dam. All three were very active in the KHA and NPA including stints as president and/or other supporting roles. I had already started to collect historic photos and was able to contribute shots of Yans Store in Kiandra and the Southwell family at Coolamine in 1903. The colour cover shows two families cooling off in Four Mile Creek in front of the recently burnt Four Mile Hut.

The other day, whilst ploughing through precipitous mountains of old books at Canty’s Bookshop in Fyshwick, I came across an almost mint copy of Beyond the Cotter for the grand sum of $3.50. I showed it to the owner, told him who

I was, and he gave it to me half price. It was an absolute bargain in almost mint condition, much better than the silverfish eaten and discoloured copy at home. I found that old copy and noted I had given it to my parents for Christmas in 1979. In it I had written:

‘For my mother and father, my first book marking the beginning of perhaps a few more. Who Knows? Perhaps you will visit me in your new car and we will go bush ‘Beyond the Cotter’!? Take care, your Klaus.

They did visit and I do remember we got as far as the gravel farming roads leading into Tuggeranong, and from there climbed the wooded western slopes of Mt Taylor. Now that I’ve written a few more books and had some success, ______it is heart warming to note that dreams can come true. It is also good to see that what goes around comes around in unexpected ways. I like that. Klaus Hueneke, February 2021

Huts of the Snowy Mountains slim yours truly making a cameo appearance Commentary to go with the 23 min, digitised, nailing boards at Four Mile Hut. Ted Winter is 16mm movie with sound track made by Klaus there in spirit and with his poetry. Hueneke for the Kosciusko Huts Association Once I had several ‘miles’ of film (it between 1976 and 1979. seemed like it), I had it developed, cut it into During studies for a Master of Science at numerous suitable scenes, sorted winter shots ANU (1973-77) I became much more interested from summer and hung it in some sort of order in making movies with a readily available Bolex on pins attached to a moveable rack or two or Movie camera than the life cycle of casuarinas on three. Then I spliced it together with a natty little the Canberra Hills. The Department of Forestry device and had the first nervous viewing. After supported the idea of short documentary films further cutting and splicing and the addition of about soil erosion and the management of a some experimental fades as well as a recording of coastal forest, and after I asked sweetly, trusted Mitch Burns on flute, I took it to a lab in Sydney me to take the camera, its telephoto lens and a where they added my learned thoughts and made heavy tripod into the wild and wonderful high several copies. country. The idea of a huts film was born. All up it took me three years, but a patient But movies cost money so I put a shoe- KHA committee was happy with the result. There string budget for time, materials and technical were a few lefties on the committee so they knowhow to the KHA committee and they went launched the film at a Labour Party function in for it. Against some reservations by NP&WS, I Queanbeyan. My parents (also lefties) came down believe, but that is in the past. So it came about all the way from Wamberal on the Central Coast. that I set off on many ski tours and bushwalks not Dad and I compared notes about film making - only with pack, food, tent, billy and sleeping bag he’d made many home movies including some on but also a chunky, two kg camera, an even heavier 1940s ski tours in the Austrian Alps - and tripod and many rolls of movie film, at times up everyone hoed into great piles of chicken legs, to 800 feet. Movie cameras eat film as though it’s cooked that is. For some years, the film was an Italian enjoying spaghetti. At the same time I shown here and there using motorised 16mm made many notes for the then embryonic book projectors but then, with digitisation, was mostly ‘Huts of the High Country’ and got a handle on the forgotten. When NAMA offered to digitise it, I lie of the land, or should I say snow. donated my last film copy. With their help, it can now continue to pass on the lore of the high Journey destinations included huts like country and travel to new audiences. Klaus Coolamine, Albina, Four Mile, Tin Mines, Grey Hueneke AM (February 2021) Mare and Wheelers, and places such as Kiandra, [Original film copies held by the National Alpine the Main Range, Jagungal, the Snowy and the Museum of Aust (NAMA) and possibly the National Film Thredbo River. The longest was a 1977 winter and Sound Archive and/or the National Library. Digital crossing from Kiandra to Guthega via Grey Mare, copies kindly made by NAMA and held by NP&WS in Tumut, Pretty Plain and the Rolling Grounds. I was with Simon Buckpitt President of KHA, my daughter Abigail, John Paynter, Karl Robertson and Gerry O’Byrne. Stefan De Montis (history consultant KHA), my brother Wally Hueneke and me.] They were prone to hamming it up. The most historic occasion was a celebration of the 50th View the film here on YOUTUBE anniversary of the first ski crossing from Kiandra https://www.youtube.com/watch? to Kossie. Two survivors from 1927, Bill Hughes v=vlmrz3euwEo and Bill Gordon, came to Kiandra for the day. They were gobsmacked. KOSCIUSZKO NATIONAL PARK

The film features Reet Vallak (with plaits) Huts of the Snowy Mountains - A film by Klaus and Charles Warner (with boot sole) at Pig Gully Hueneke - The Kosciuszko Huts Association KHA Hut, Pieter Arriens building an igloo with his special saw, the Bogong Group including Mike Hinchey (red beanie) and Tony Preston (bare chest) restoring Witses as well as Boltons Hut on the Finns River, Ralph Jeffries at Albina Hut, John Paynter on old skis at Kiandra celebrations and a A RARE CLOUD FORMATION WORK PARTY - O’KEEFES HUT -1995

There was a small autumn work party scheduled for O'Keefes, the walkers coming by Round Mountain and Grey Mare trails assembled at the hut on the Friday evening. We were joined by the permitted motor vehicle, a ute that had come in from Eucumbene. This time we decided to improve the fireplace, which until then had been a wide pit of soil. To make a good job of it we decided to use a fireplace from the ruin of Farm Ridge. (Incidentally, Farm Ridge is an ideal location for a restored hut). Hi Pauline, It took most of the day and two trips to load the massive 4 blocks of masonry and cart them to That cloud in the newsletter I think is O'Keefe's, but by evening the job was done, two Undulatus Asperatus, a type of cloud newly discovered and named by The blocks about 80 cm square and 50 cm deep on each Cloud Appreciation Society, https:// side of a convenient gap of 80 cm. So we lit a fire in cloudappreciationsociety.org/ of the new fireplace and enjoyed sitting in front of it, which I'm a member as well as KHA. Cheers, Terry Linsell relaxing after the strenuous labour, when suddenly there was a deafening explosion as one of the blocks shot off a fragment at high velocity. We retreated in https://www.google.com/search? q=asperatus+clouds&rlz=1C1CHZL_enAU849AU849&tbm=isc haste from the hut and heard the pistol shots of h&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=g4V5tz-ywFME0M% 252CSxi4Rojop0_d-M%252C%252Fm% pieces of rock being flung into the interior. Gradually 252F064km39&vet=1&usg=AI4_- kSnyMNPDVBkdvLfLuW3Ylv2B2m3rw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjd- the noise died down and we ventured in again as the NzNhL3tAhXgxjgGHbK5AtkQ_B16BAgmEAE#imgrc=g4V5tz- ywFME0M fire died down. Next day we returned, not having ignited the fire again. I can't recall whether we wrote a warning in the log book, I hope we did, and that the initial saturation had evaporated, the rocks being under cover. I expect the fireplace is still visible in the remains of the original hut; worth a look. Did anyone else have a problem with the fireplace? Jack Palmer Baking cookies A word from Dr. Google (as a bushwalker this wisdom was passed on to me last century – Ed) with a conservation twist 21 Jan 2021 Primary schools throughout southern NSW have partnered with Sandstone, river rocks, natural rocks, and gravel are Saving our Species and NPWS to bake Bogong moth biscuits. not ideal fill for fire pits because they are more likely to crack or explode under high heat. ... Rocks The delicious nutritional treats will be a life- can absorb a lot of water, especially river rocks, saving, emergency food source for endangered and rocks that get too hot near a fire can (and mountain pygmy-possums in Kosciuszko National sometimes do) explode. Even wet lava rock Park, following the devastation of the Dunns Road can explode. fire during the 2019-20 summer. Kenn Clacher recounts his ascent of the Pilot we planned on only a four-day trip so we would have in winter of 1998 had somewhat lighter packs than David’s group. On the drive in from Sydney, the snowdrifts began I read with interest in the Summer KHA Newsletter just after passing through Cooma, promising a David Poland’s account of a ski trip from Dead Horse reasonable chance of actually being able to ski all the Gap to the summit of the Pilot and back in August way to our destination. There was no chance of 2020. David says that he has “never met anyone who driving into Thredbo Diggings or Ngarigo to camp on had achieved or even attempted such a feat”. I was Thursday night, so we had to make do with the side in a party that attempted this in 1998. of the road near the entrance to the Diggings. It was appearing at that stage that if there were to be any It was a NSW Nordic Ski Club trip led by Ian problems with the snow, it would be that there Wolfe. There were three other participants including would be ample, but that it would be somewhat soft Iris (surname forgotten) and me. I forget exactly who and hard work to push through. And so it turned out the other participant was but it could have been Bob to be. Horder or Graeme Mitchell. We were away from Dead Horse Gap by 9:30 and The Pilot is an impressive feature (hill, mountain, arrived at Cascade Hut in time for a late lunch. Snow peak) on the Great Dividing Range between cover in the upper Thredbo River and around Kosciuszko and the Victorian Alps – something of a Cascade Hut was not thick, but there were no bare Jagungal of the South. It is visible from many parts of patches. All the way nevertheless we had to plough the Main Range in the vicinity of Mt Kosciuszko. In through some heavy going, so we had to change turn, views from its summit take in a large part of the front man (and woman) frequently to give the track high country in the South-Eastern part of Australia. It breaker some relief from his and her toils. It will be attains an altitude of 1830m (Jagungal is around better on the way back, we told ourselves, with a 2050m) and is only 5km from where the straight bit firm track laid down by our outward exertions. and the wiggly bit of the NSW -Victoria border meet. At this stage, because of the thinnish cover around A ski trip to the Pilot is not something that you can Dead Horse Gap and Cascade Hut, at elevations of do any day, or any week, or even any winter. It around 1500 – 1600m, we were still not convinced requires impeccable timing, or perhaps the right that our quest would be successful. We pressed on connections. Our approach would be from Dead regardless and the snow cover became a bit thicker, Horse Gap, about 35km each way, along the Cascade but not firmer, as we left Cascade Hut in our wake. and Cowambat Fire Trails, mostly more or less along the top of the Great Dividing Range. For about 15km After camping about halfway between Cascade and of the journey from Dead Horse Gap, the elevation of Tin Mines Huts we skied on, helped by some firmness the route is only 1250 – 1300m, hence the need for a in the snow in the cold of the morning. We arrived at good snowfall if one wants a ski trip rather than a Tin Mines Huts around midday and decided to head walking trip. towards the Pilot that afternoon with daypacks to groom a trail to help on the following day, when we This trip appeared on the ski club’s trips programme would attempt to ski to the top. My recollection is many months before it happened, scheduled for mid- that snow cover that afternoon was good but the August, but a month or so before the trip the timing going was pretty slow because of the soft snow. We was adjusted to July 31 – August 3 to take advantage skied around 5km before turning around and were of a bank holiday. Ian, with his usual foresight able to cover the return trip in just over half the time published a “plan B” in case there would be not of the outward journey, thanks to the hard work of enough snow, but by the weekend before the trip the trail groomers. was considering plan E – Friday Flat or Front Valley I think it was. As the departure date neared a big After a comfortable night at Tin Mines an early start storm dutifully approached from the west, dumping the next day had us at our furthest point of the snow in places that rarely see it, including the Stirling previous day by around 9 o’clock. A further slower Ranges in Western Australia and even near 4km or so along the fire trail brought us to the start Adelaide. Our timing was exquisite, with the storm of our climb through tricky open forest, with a good leaving lots of snow down to low levels before easing cover of fallen timber which also slowed us down. on the day before our Friday departure. Unlike David,

Left: Ken Clacher straddling the Mighty Murray River nearby its source. Below: Close up of The Pilot

(Photos: Ken Clatcher)

PILOT LOOKOUT— The exceptional view is dominated by the Pilot (1828m) and the Cobberas (1883m) in the south. The NSW/VIC border runs between the two mountains. The stands of tall trees with rough brown bark are Alpine Ash (a fire sensitive eucalypt). https:// www.discoverthredbo.com/ Photo - Pauline Downing

Also everyone seemed to consider that he or she had SCHLINK HILTON WORK PARTY the best route so the party became rather scattered. Time constraints meant we had to turn Hi Pauline: A brief outline of our last work party at around in the late morning. No one got to the top, but Schlink - we must have been pretty close. Obviously electing to sleep in the comfort of the huts rather than camp on Sanded and undercoated the window frames then the flank of the Pilot didn’t help our cause. painted the entire hut. On returning to the fire trail we headed back to the hut Unfortunately we didn't have time to apply to pick up our packs and head for home. On setting a another top coat so will endeavour to do this in ski onto the track of two days before, so painstakingly February. formed by four pairs of skis surmounted by struggling Attached a 'bush' handrail at the front steps. skiers with heavy packs, we found to our horror that Replaced the board behind the rear rock step the going was just as soft and sticky as on the outward entry. trip. So it was a matter of just slogging through it all Painted the vestibule. again, having to change lead skier frequently to Replaced a missing roof section inside the SMA maintain some degree of evenness of pace. On the area where it looked a possible rat entry. return trip we utilised the ‘tween-huts campsite we had Boarded a gap in the vestibule ceiling and applied used on the first night. a coat of paint. Throughout the whole trip from Cascade Hut The quick fix seems to have stopped the leak in the southwards the snow cover had been excellent, front room. It had a very good test thanks to the averaging perhaps 15 – 20 cm, even at elevations of serious storm on Saturday night. around 1250 – 1300m. It seemed to be lightest near the Pilot, at elevations somewhat higher than on the There is a small leak coming from the flu, which fire trail between the two huts. Nevertheless, cover then runs along the inside tin lining before throughout the trip was never less than 100% and we dripping intermittently to the floor. We need to had to do no walking at all, though it was getting a bit check the sealing around the flu and fix this in thin in parts on the return leg. Even the side creek February. crossings were generally covered in snow, except for There is also a leak in the first large room on the the flanks of the Pilot. Indeed on some occasions the road side which we will investigate in February. absence of surface water, not usually a feature of We removed quite a load of 'junk' from the SMA Australian ski trips, was something of a problem. end of the hut and dropped it off in Jindabyne. At our mid-hut campsite, Ian had to make an Whipper snipped around the hut and cut back a impressive scrub bash to find free water. few bushes on both the tracks to the creek. We did eventually make it back to Dead Horse Gap, Collected a large load of timber. Cleaned out the helped from Cascade Hut by the tracks of the many wood storage box inside and removed the rubbish weekend skiers who had obviously taken advantage of previous users of the hut always seem to leave the cover to ski in to the hut. No one seemed to have behind! Cheers, Gourmet Walkers ventured beyond Cascade Hut however.

The obligatory stop was made on the slopes above the (Ed: Phew! By the time I read this report I was exhausted! Thredbo River to crank out the first serious teles of the There surely was a lot of work done by the Gourmet Walkers, season, but the snow was – well – challenging, so we hope they had time to cook their gourmet meals also). were soon off again to ski the fire trail down to the (Photo - Gail Barton) cars. That section too was not without interest, as the previous day’s traffic had left a smooth and icy surface which required some desperate snow ploughing to negotiate with any degree of control. We all survived it nevertheless and finally arrived back at the end of the trail having completed what is a once-in-a decade (or perhaps a little more frequent) experience. ‘I had also walked over The Pilot a few years before 2003 when there was a magnificent snow gum forest around the top of The Pilot, and they were huge, by far the largest snow gums I have seen. ‘ Ken Clacher

Schlink Hilton looking SCHMICK again! (Photos: Gail Barton) Campground hosts enjoy the holidays

A big thank you to our team of campground hosts that answered the last-minute call to host at a small number of campgrounds across the state over summer. Many of our experienced and long term campground hosts once again provided great support to both local staff and February 2021 visitors during the busy holiday period. We We hope that you had a chance to recharge in were pleased to be able to add Mill Creek nature over the holidays. Thousands of people campground near Wiseman's Ferry to our visited NSW national parks each week in program. A special mention to long term hosts January, and we have many new applicants for Lexie and Richard Goryl (pictured) who made volunteering keen to join programs across the this happen, providing welcome advice and state. information to campers during their stay. With New for 2021, from this week the mandatory the limitations and uncertainty with COVID-19, method to log your attendance and hours within we are not actively recruiting for new 24 hours will be on VIP (MyImpact app). As you campground hosts - however, if you are would appreciate, all our staff must comply with interested in exploring and registering for future the NSW Health requirements for digital records intakes, please read more on the NPWS of staff, contractor and volunteer movements. website. We are very fortunate that it has been decided we can use VIP - which can be done in the field or at home. It also adds up your hours (which staff also have to report on). We can see that people in each group are using; so if you haven't started yet, ask a fellow volunteer, your supervisor or the Volunteer Team for help. The FAQ is on the last page.

New process for applying for All Parks Pass - coming in February 2021 You are eligible when you reach 50 hours within a two-year period. Then the count starts again. Hours must be logged in VIP, and you must be registered in VIP. Individual park access passes are free for all volunteers who volunteer

Lexie and Richard Goryl at Millwood Campground. Photo: Wendy at that specific location (paper passes fine for Connelly now). Look for an email when the new system launches. Looking back on 2020: It has been more than 12 months since the Contact us summer 2019-20 bushfires ravaged NSW, Please contact us with any questions or if you leaving an impact on us all. For our conser- would like to send in a story (short or long) and vation work, fire and other natural disasters a picture or two that we can share with your have undoubtedly created setbacks, but it fellow volunteers and staff. Write to us hasn’t stopped the work of the Saving our at [email protected] Species (SoS) program to secure a future for our threatened species, often on national parks and reserves. We hope that you are staying safe and keeping well and look forward to hearing back from you SoS has looked back and reflected on 2020 and with ideas, stories, images, and any great tips to marvelled at the strength and resilience of our help us all stay in touch! natural environment and the many people who dedicate their time and work in helping protect,

conserve and save our species. See an inspiring short video about 2020 at https:// www.environment.nsw.gov.au/news/12-months- of-recovery

Hills alive with the sound of music ... Crawford in about the 1920s, Hughie was looking for Craces Hut at Kellys Plain (near today's Tantangara Reservoir) in the dark. They couldn't find the hut but then heard a well-known song, The Letter Edged in Black, drifting through the gum trees. It led them to the hut where two rabbit trappers were playing a gramophone.

Fiddle-players were popular, including at long-gone Napthali's Snowy Plains House. Dances were held at homesteads like Coolamine in today's Kosciuszko National Park (even spawning a memorable poem by Bunty Morris in 1903), Gudgenby and Crawford's Old Station. Woolsheds became dance venues and Andy Cunningham opened his Orroral shed with a dance in the late 1920s. For generations, music was a part of life in the remote mountain areas of the ACT and NSW. Prior to the era of Rock Valley shed at Tidbinbilla was another dance spot recorded music, people made their own and musical ability where accordionists like Kevin Flint and Bill Blewitt played. was widespread in the community. Of course music was Kevin's sister Phyllis told me these dances were "a real heard in the mountains for thousands of years before night out. Then we had to go home and milk the cows." settlers arrived from Britain. For Ngunnawal, Ngambri and Tharwa Hall was a popular venue and it opened with a Walgalu people, music was a key element of their lives. dance in 1926. Singers there included the talented local Ted McMahon, who also was heard on early Canberra radio. In Canberra, Corroboree Park is a local reminder of the significance of corroborees. Out in the mountains, the But Tharwa Hall was known for more than music and summer feasts on bogong moths were just part of a larger dance; Louis Margules remembered: "They used to hold a time of ceremony and social and sacred gathering, where dance every month. And you had no chance of having a different nations met, traded and intermarried. They paid dance, but you might have two or three fights. Because homage to Dreaming ancestors. Wiradjuri from over the there was never enough girls." Tumut side, Yuin from the coast, and Ngarigo from the Monaro came to the mountains as part of that annual Ralph "Stumpy" Oldfield was a mountain musician. Aged movement. The rhythm of foot-stomp and the chant of song nine he commandeered brother Everard's mouth organ and helped form that music that for so long was heard around soon graduated to the piano accordion. When not taking the big hills. stock into the mountain leases or doing all the other laborious work on the land, he and wife Lesley held dances Songs also told of Dreaming beings forming the landscape, at their Glendale home (near today's Namadgi works and the movement of people between mountain landmarks: depot). Stumpy played at Tharwa Hall dances with other the songlines, as Wiradjuri national parks officer Dean bush musos like Harold Beer or Vince Oldfield on drums, Freeman told me a few years ago. Scottish settlers the Bob Morrow on accordion, Una West on piano. Stumpy also McKeahnies recalled seeing 500 Aboriginal people in the played at various towns surrounding Canberra. Gudgenby valley in the 1840s, so one can imagine the size of these summer gatherings. Similarly at Uriarra, another Down near Adaminaby, the Clugstons, Ron and Trixie, entry point to the mountain country. performed a memorable role in local socials in the mid- 20th century, with Ron on banjo. Not far away at Shannons Once settlers began arriving in the high country from the Flat, grazier Greg Luton played accordion. When I late 1820s, European musical traditions and instruments interviewed Greg for the National Library's oral history started to be heard among the valleys and high hills. Song program, he got out his accordion and played several tunes was important, especially before instruments were widely from his younger days. available. Archibald Crawford lived in the Bobeyan area in the 1850s and in the 1920s remembered how remembered Once the Snowy Hydro Scheme got under way in the how with his neighbours the Cochrans of Yaouk "we spent a mountains, new people came from Europe with new lives, most enjoyable evening, talking over old times and singing. but their instruments had much in common with those of There were some very good singers among the company ... the bush, and the folk theme continued. Of course we had no musical instruments and had to sing without accompaniment and entirely by ear." Dances at Out of the Snowy grew the successful band The Settlers, led homesteads and huts would draw local musicians and by Irishman Ulick O'Boyle. I wrote a feature on them dancers, and sometimes romance blossomed. for The Canberra Times in 2014 should you like to have a read. Change has continued in the mountains and now the At Cotter Hut in the late 1890s, George Read came all the high country is, for good reason, mostly conservation way from Naas, almost a day's ride away. There he met estate. Florence Fisher who had ridden over from Old Currango. They married soon after. One of their sons, Hughie Read of The old bush musicianship might not be part of national Naas, recalled for me over 30 years ago how local stockmen parks now, but the musical echoes can still be heard. enjoyed music, even at the remotest huts. At Paddy Smith's slab hut in the Gudgenby valley, Cecil Cotter used to play his fiddle, the lilting tunes drifting off among grazing Matthew Higgins Herefords. https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7121745/hills- During a summer trip to the snow leases with Charlie alive-with-the-sound-of-music/ WINTER will soon be here and one of the vital huts Kosciuszko obscures the view to the northwest from above the tree line on the Main Range is the newly the Cootapatamba Valley. Hayes’ body had been restored Cootapatamba Hut nearby the ‘place found not far from the current hut toward the lake. where eagles drink’. So the decision was taken to install an emergency shelter in the Cootapatamba Valley to safeguard Cootapatamba Hut - Historical Background SMA staff operating in that area. David Scott 2018 KHuts.org SMA worker Dick van der Vliet and hydrologist Arne Very little has been recorded about the history of Kirkemo are both credited with working on the hut’s Cootapatamba Hut. Aside from the involvement of construction. Dick recalls “specialised construction Dick van der Vliet and Arne Kirkemo, much of the features that were used in the construction of the history is based on analysis of contextual SMA hut”, presumably structural methods used to resist operations and developments. the expected snow and wind loadings. Materials were likely brought in on horseback or via 4WD truck. SMA maps show that a wide number of monitoring Snow poles were erected around the periphery to stations were established across the summit area assist finding it during deep snow. prior to 1953 including stream gauging stations on Club Lake Creek, the exit from Lake Albina, Arne was a keen skier and undertook hydrological Wilkinson’s Creek and Cootapatamba Creek. Other survey work in the summit area and Valentine/Geehi monitoring stations were installed on Lake Albina and area, overseeing the construction of the current Lake Cootapatamba, A major weather station was Valentine Hut in 1955. installed at Spencers Creek (still the highest site in There are no records of the hut being used by the the mountains from which weather data is captured), SMA, and few related to its subsequent recreational with possibly smaller stations elsewhere including use - due to it being away from the main travel routes Rawsons Hut and a structure just below the summit in the summit area of Mt Townsend. The Kosciusko Reservoir proposal including the Rawsons Hut was constructed around 1951-52 as a Cootapatamba/Wilkinsons aqueduct and tunnel was base for survey and hydrological work associated abandoned c1965. SMA maps indicate all of the with the proposed aqueduct and tunnel to collect and gauging stations within the summit area had been divert the waters of Cootapatamba and Wilkinsons removed of decommissioned by 1969. The hut Creeks. An aqueduct was to run from Cootapatamba appears to have been left in place as an emergency Creek ~3km downstream of the Lake around the shelter, being the only shelter on the range west of west side of Mt Kosciuszko to Wilkinsons Creek, Mt Kosciuszko and considering chairlifts had just where there would be a tunnel intake that took the been built to provide access up onto the range from water under the ridge between Mt Kosciuszko and the Thredbo Valley. Muellers Peak ~4km to discharge east of Seamans Hut, where it was to go via another aqueduct over Charlottes Pass into the Kosciusko Reservoir. The hydrologists were expected to capture measurements from the various monitoring stations, weather data and snow samples throughout the winter months. At this stage of the project, oversnow vehicles were uncommon and it is likely the hydrologists based themselves at Rawsons Hut for a few days at a time and then skied to the various sites across the summit Documentary Sources area. Ashley, G: ‘NPWS Huts Study’ unpublished report by NPWS 1992 The Cootapatamba Creek gauging station was about (reference to Dick vander Vliet – probably from interview on file) 2.5km below the Lake, 4.5-5km from the nearest Hueneke, K: Huts of the High Country, ANU Press 1982, p13-15. shelter at Rawsons or Seamans. The loss of Hueneke, K: People of the High Country, Tabletop Press 1994, p353. Seaman and Hayes in 1928 was a reminder as to KHA file records & Cootapatamba Hut Information Sheet #10. how quickly a storm can come in from the northwest SMA 1” to Mile series maps, Geehi sheets 1962, 1964, 1969 and trap the unwary, particularly where the bulk of Mt REMEMBER DELANEYS HUT?

We visited this beautifully crafted replacement of Delaneys Hut built by the forebears of Paul Delaney (who is the caretaker) and which was destroyed by the fire of 2003 and again in 2020. Paul has vowed to replace it. Now that is commitment. ~~~

Peter Charker HMO Photo glued to chipboard in our shed from the early 80s' Delaneys on an abandoned trip to Four Mile - snowy weekend