Due for release September-December 2011 Order your advance copy now! |
"The Romance of Mount Wellington" The authors have spent several decades doing field research on the history of our Mountain. During this time they have rediscovered many of its hidden secrets. Some of them are shared in this book. The romance of “The Mountain” is gradually revealed to the reader through many beautiful images and simple explanatory notes. Pictures in this book come from the authors’ extensive personal postcard collection, as well as from their own photos, which have bern taken during their many years of exploration on our wonderful Mountain. Cost: RRP $29.95. Free postage within Australia. Pay securely using your credit card via PayPal. (No PayPal account necessary).
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The Huts of Mt Wellington |
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If you venture through the untracked wilderness of Mt Wellington, you might walk right over a group of mossy stones, a few pieces of aged, broken crockery or a flat area, without realising that you have just visited a forgotten historic place, a place which people beautified and loved a hundred years ago.
Picture at left: Falls Hut |
It was around a century ago that the craze for recreational huts on Mt Wellington first started. The mountain had always been a dominating backdrop to the city and it greatly influenced people's thoughts and imaginations. Hobart had a strong sense of identity and independence in the days before necessity compelled Tasmania to join the Federation. As the city had become very well established by this time, including many impressive buildings, people's thoughts naturally turned to leisure, and what better area to use for recreation than the mountain which was on their back doorstep?
Accordingly small groups of friends, employees or small syndicates walked up the mountain in the weekends carrying all kinds of equipment and vied with each other to find the most attractive, secluded sites and to build the most elaborate structures in which to spend their leisure hours. Typically, a mountain hut would consist of a levelled site by a small stream, a chimney built of local stone and a wooden structure embellished by extremely elaborate intertwined branchwork. Many of the hut groups prided themselves on their fine cuisine and their love of culture and gentle company. One of the huts reputedly contained a piano! Ladies would arrive in their fine clothes and groups would walk from one hut to another to sample the hospitality of the hut builders.
Very little is left of some hutsites today; an experienced eye and the instincts of a sleuth are needed to notice the remains - a rock platform here, a pile of mossy rocks there - which mark some of the sites of this most interesting and romantic time in history. Since the structures were almost exclusively built out of timber, they were nearly all destroyed by the fires which ravaged the area in 1912. The sites are very fragile and susceptible to damage by over-visiting, and many artifacts have either been badly burnt or souvenired by previous visitors to the site. Not all of the hutsites have been re-discovered, and there are several sites which have been found, but which are in dispute as to their correct identities. This website contains information on only a selected few of these fascinating and romantic structures, which form an important part of Tasmania's early white history.
More information:
Cave Hut Clematis Hut Falls Hut Fern Lea Hut Fern Retreat Hut Fern Tree Hut Forest Hut Grasstree Hut Old Mill Cabin Fern Tree Hut
YouTube video of postcards from the Huts era
A few little excerpts from the Visitors Book of Fern Lea Hut
Some interesting information, not necessarily on the huts, but containing Mt Wellington History:
Exploration and Adventure Diary of walks on Mt Wellington and Bruny Island
by H.L. and R.V. Johnston
dated 1927 - 1929
With hand-drawn maps
Pdf download 2.7 MB
An 1884 trip to the summit of Mt Wellington
(These chimney remains are part of Webber and Teague's hut.)
In 2006 a DVD was produced by Thunderbolt Productions which features Mt Wellington
and also contains some photos of these beautiful huts. Copies are available from: http://www.thunderboltproductions.com.au/
We also have available on this site for download, a printable copy of "A Climber's Guide to the Organ Pipes Mt Wellington Hobart" produced in January 1969 by the Climbers' Club of Tasmania.
