‘Nationally significant’ Kosciuszko huts to rise from the ashes

When the 2019-2020 bushfires swept through the New South Wales and ACT alpine region, they took a slice of Snowy Mountains history with them.

Twelve of the iconic tin and timber huts across the high country were destroyed during the fires, despite the efforts of firefighters to save them.

The huts — constructed by cattlemen, prospectors, and Snowy Mountains Scheme workers in the 1800s and 1900s — help paint a picture of survival in the Snowy Mountains region during that time.

They also continue to be a welcome refuge for bushwalkers and cross country skiers.

Over the decades, some huts have succumbed to the ravages of fire and the harsh alpine environment, and many have been lovingly restored by volunteers from the Kosciuszko Hut Association, but the 2019-2020 bushfires brought unprecedented devastation.

“Everybody was distraught,” the Kosciuszko Huts Association’s president Simon Buckpitt said.

“In some cases, they had worked hard to reconstruct some of them after the last fires [in 2003] and then they got lost again.”

Now, the NSW National Park and Wildlife Services has announced plans to rebuild ten of the historic structures, destroyed during the 2019-2020 bushfires.

Meanwhile, there are currently no plans to rebuild the other two huts that burnt down in the ACT.

The history of these huts spans over a century, from the 1870s to the 1990s.

“As a collective, they represent a changing use of the landscape but they also represent the evolution of Australia culturally,” he said.

“Some of these were station homesteads that people lived in — in what would be unbearable conditions today.”

‘Nationally significant’ history

Area manager for National Parks and Wildlife Services Steve Cathcart said their heritage value was important.

“They’re deemed of national significance,” he said.

“They provide a real demonstration of the different constructions methods, the different past uses of the park and they were used for very important processes like the Snowy construction.”

There were dozens of huts that were not impacted by the 2019-2020 bushfires situated across the park.

The huts were often used as free emergency accommodation for hikers or travellers in the area and some could even be booked as private accommodation through National Parks.

Multi-year project

The restoration of these buildings was expected to take years, but there were plans to get some rebuilt this summer.

“It will be a multi-year project simply because of the weather in Kosciuszko, some of these huts are really remote,” Mr Cathcart said.

A special team will be set up by National Parks to lead the reconstruction project, with the aim of rebuilding the huts similar to their original form.

National Parks was also encouraging anyone with information about the buildings prior to their destruction to get involved.

“We’re certainly looking for any information on the huts that will be rebuilt,” he said.

Simon Buckpitt hoped the preservation of the huts would keep their history alive.

“We’re living in a much more technologically advanced society and we’re now a lot more divorced from that landscape,” he said.

“We feel that it’s important to preserve those connections and our lineage in that regard.”

Source