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Guide
Hut - Some Background
| Guide
Hut is one of the ‘second-generation’ huts of the district. The
first generation were the original shepherds’ huts of the 1850s and
1860s. Most of these are now in a state of complete ruin – a bit of a
chimney and perhaps a bit of slate floor is usually all that remains. |
| Shepherds
became pretty much a thing of the past in the early 1870s when
post-and-wire fences were put in around most of the pastoral leases. The
wild dog problem had been reduced, so station owners could replace their
many shepherds with a few boundary riders – people who could check the
fences and the waters, and just keep a general eye out on the sheep. The
original huts probably did the job of housing them for a while, but most
were eventually replaced by boundary riders’ huts in the 1880s and
1890s. |
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Guide
Hut – and Mogg’s Hut on Gum Creek
Station – were from this later era. Guide
Hut was still in good condition in the 1970s, although probably not
still in use. Most of its pine walls were still standing only ten years
ago. Valuation plans from the early 1890s indicate that Guide Hut was
built somewhere about 1890, using much of the material salvaged from the
hut at Youngoona – the hut often referred to as Richardson’s Hut, but
believed to have been built originally by one of the Kirwan family as the
Youngoona Eating House, and later (1880s) used by the Smith family as a
roadside store. The remaining pine logs at Youngoona, so the valuation
reports tell us, were used as firewood by Russian Bill and his mate. |
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name ‘Guide’ appears in the area in the 1860s – a prominent hill
or feature that served as a directional guide for stockmen and boundary
riders. It’s not clear which particular feature it referred to, but
the very prominent Patawarta Hill beyond Blinman is clearly visible from
there. |
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| Guide
Hut is on the track being taken by the newly-designed adventure cycling
trail from Rawnsley Park to Gum Creek. We hope to install a rainwater
tank to collect water from the new roof, providing backup water supplies
for those using the trail. |
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