All that remains of Demandering Hut after the 2020 Orroral Valley bushfire. Photo: ACT Government.
More than five years after being razed to the ground during the Black Summer bushfires, two heritage huts in the ACT’s Namadgi National Park remain in ruins.
Demandering Hut and Max and Bert Oldfield’s Hut were two of only 15 surviving huts and homesteads key to one of the region’s first industries – sheep farming.
Demandering Hut was constructed by Bill Cotter and Jack Simpson in 1860 on land owned by Jack’s great grandfather, Garrett Cotter, after whom the Cotter region is named. It was used by graziers for decades when moving sheep through to Tantangara in today’s Kosciuszko National Park.
Meanwhile, Oldfield’s Hut was built by Max Oldfield and his cousin Bert Oldfield in 1925 for a similar purpose – life-saving shelter from the often freezing conditions.
Oldfield’s Hut. Photo: Kosciuszko Huts Association.
Other huts scattered across the national parks have continued to play that role too. Lost bushwalker Hadi Nazari credited the Opera House Hut as the reason he survived 13 days lost near Kosciuszko.
Both the Demandering and Oldfield’s huts are also included on the ACT’s Heritage Register for their “significant cultural resource to the community”.
So when both were destroyed during the 2019-20 bushfires, the ACT Government lost little time in asking the community if they should be rebuilt. Of the 800 responses received, more than 90 per cent were in favour.
It agreed to appoint a heritage architect and work with the community to “finalise the designs and construction plans for both huts”.
While the new huts wouldn’t be exact replicas, nor located on the original footprints, the government’s former Minister for Planning and Land Management Mick Gentleman assured they would “respect the originals” but “subtly improve their location, design and construction to reduce fire risk and provide a basic level of emergency shelter for bushwalkers during inclement weather”.
But in the time it’s taken the NSW Government and the National Parks and Wildlife Service to rebuild 10 huts destroyed during the same fire in Kosciuszko National Park, there’s still seemingly no movement at the ACT’s sites.
An artist’s impression of the new-look Demandering Hut. Photo: ACT Government.
“It’s disappointing. In the five years since the fire, all of the huts in Kosciuszko have been rebuilt … and yet nothing’s happened to Demandering Hut or Max and Bert’s hut,” Greg Buckman from the Canberra Bushwalking Club said.
“It would be good if they got their skates on.”
In a statement, the ACT Government said “archaeological and heritage assessments” were still underway – important work to “ensure the appropriate protection and remembrance of the huts is in place”.
In further responses to questions from Region, the government said given the announcement was made in October 2023, it “does not consider the project is delayed”.
“The archaeological and heritage assessments will document remaining significant values, archaeological features and deposits present to inform site conservation, protection and interpretation,” a spokesperson said.
“The … assessments are expected to be completed in 2025.”
The Kosciuszko Huts Association (KHA), however, argues the ACT Government could start building at the same time as conducing the heritage assessments.
“By all means start the archaeological work, but [push through] the documentation of the new huts,” member Geoff Ashley told the ABC.
“You’ve got Victoria and NSW rebuilding these huts, and the ACT not getting there yet. If rebuilding doesn’t happen, they’ll eventually disappear. It’s the community that loses out.”
Other historic huts and homesteads in the Namadgi National Park include Brandy Flat Hut (a 1980s rebuild of a 1900s original), the Brayshaws and Westermans homesteads along the Settlers Track, the Gudgenby Homestead, Horse Gully Hut, and – oldest original homestead in the park – the 1860s Orroral Homestead.
