Almost a Walkers Paradise: A history of the Cradle Mt – Lake St Clair Scenic Reserve to

518 Pages·2013·11.43 MB·English

Almost a Walker's Paradise: A history of the Cradle Mt-Lake StClair Scenic
Reserve to May 1922
Timothy Jetson
PhD Thesis
School of History and Classics,
University of Tasmania
October 2005
This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other
degree or diploma in any other university, and, to the best of my knowledge and
belief, it contains no copy or paraphrase of material previously published or written
by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text.
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This thesis is not to be made available for loan or copying for one year following the date
this statement was signed. Following that time the thesis may be made available for loan
and limited copying in accordance with the Copyright Act, 1968
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Almost a Walker's Paradise: A history of the Cradle Mt-Lake StClair Scenic
Reserve to May 1922
Timothy Jetson
PhD Thesis, School of History and Classics,
University of Tasmania
Abstract
This thesis traces the transformation of the Cradle Mt-Lake StClair National Park
from waste land to a mecca for bushwalkcrs. It is based on the premise that walking
in wild places does not occur until walking is a valued pastime, such places are
identified, appreciated and made accessible, and there is a group with the affluence,
time, and inclination to walk there. Romantic, and later environmental, ideology
underpinning this development provided a framework within which colonists viewed
the landscape. Aborigines and later European pastoralists, hunters, piners and
miners modified the landscape, and explorers, government and private, discovered
and made known the area. The continuing search for grazing lands and gold made
the area more accessible to the general public. From the mid 19th century the
number of walkers, including women, increased from a few to a steady trickle.
Most were educated middle and upper class professionals and nearly all relied on
locals, often hunters and prospectors, as guides. Although attitudes to the land
remained predominantly utilitarian throughout the 19th century, there always existed
a minority whose appreciation was aesthetic. Expressing approval in Australian
tenns was a slow process and even by May 1922 when the area became a scenic
reserve some comparisons were unmistakably British. Many forces contributed to
this evolution. Some were Australian adaptations of international concerns such as
the influence of natural history, a perceived need to protect and preserve naive flora
and fauna and reserve lands from exploitative land uses. An ever increasing
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proportion of native born in the population grew up knowing no other landscape.
The works of artists and photographers played a central role in awakening this new
appreciation. International examples provided models for land protection and
indicated potential economic benefits from tourism to national parks. Tourism
bodies and scientific associations coalesced to lobby successfully for national parks
and scenic reserves. Passage of the Scenery Preservation Act 1915 and creation of
the National Park, 1916, signified government approval for these new ideas. Gustav
Weindorfer, Clive Lord, ET Emmett and Fred Smithies spearheaded a campaign for
a national park for the Cradle Mt-Lake St Clair area. Pressure from mining and
hunting groups ensured that a compromise, a scenic reserve, was reached. The
decision recognised bushwalking as one component of tourism-recreation
dominance as exploitative land uses continued within or surrounding The Reserve.
Ill
Acknowledgements
Thanks to my supervisors Dr Stefan Petrow and Professor Emeritus Michael Roe
for their advice and proof reading of drafts of the thesis. In particular the staff at the
Manis Miller and Law Libraries, University of Tasmania, and Tasmanian Archives
for their kind assistance. Dr Nic Haygarth has been generous in discussing ideas,
sharing his knowledge of The Reserve and commenting on the draft of the thesis.
There is a special thanks to my bushwalking colleagues for the numerous trips to
The Reserve over the last quarter of a century. In parts the work is a posthumous
recognition to all those hunter-snarers, in particular Basil Steers, who freely gave
their time to describe their Reserve experiences. Lastly thanks to my parents and
for their support and to Catherine, Thomas and Eleanor for helping me keep this
thesis in perspective.
IV
List of Illustrations and Maps
Page
1. Map of Tasmania 2
2. Cradle Mountain 3
3. Cephissus Falls, Pine Valley 3
4. Mt Ossa 4
5 Across Lake Windemere to Mt Pelion West 4
6 Tribal tenitories according to Rhys Jones 55
7 Tribal territories according to Lyndall Ryan 55
8 Territory of Big River Tribe according to Lyndall Ryan 56
9 Map of the North-West Quarter of Van Diemen's Land 106
10 Surveyor General Frankland's Map, 1839 117
11 Button Grass plains, Cuvier Valley 123
12 James Wyld's Map, 1849 124
13 Government Geologist Gould's 1860 journey 148
14 Morton Allport's photos, Lake StClair, 1863 166
(a) No 4 "'Boviak" Beach'
(b) No 6 'Camp Lake StClair'
15 Map showing Counsel's Track, 1878 178
16 Applications for Gold Mining Leases 190
17 Ellis's Accommodation House, Dee River 190
18 Surveyor Innes's Track, 1897 208
19 Exploration Tracks in 1900 214
20 Piner' Camp, Cradle Valley 267
21 Gustav Weindorfer 267
vi
22 Weindorfer-Smith trip, 1910-11 268
(a) Looseleaf Creek Camp
(b) Miss Carruthers, Kate and Gustav Weindorfer,
Lake Carruthers
23 Transport to Cradle Valley 275
(a) Horse and cart at Middlesex Station
(b) By Car, 1924
24 Pelion Huts 281
25 Pelion West (Beattie photo) 283
26 Hartnett Falls, Mersey River (Spurling photo) 284
27 Map of Scenic Reserve 286
28 Remains of the Pelion Stockyards 316
29 Snarer's Huts 345
(a) Paddy Hartnett's East Pelion Camp
(b) Lake Ayr Hut
30 Snaring 347
(a) Neck Snare
(b) Foot Snare
30A Hunting-snaring 349
(a) Necker for kangaroos
(b) Possum Snare
(c) Possum Trap
31 Carbide Lamps 350
32 Dogging on the Snow 351
33 Fur Sales 359
34 Environmental Impacts 369
(a)Paddy Hartnett burning-off near Lake Will
(b) Dead trees from clearing and burning-off around Du Cane Hut
vii
35 A Mcintosh Reid's Sketch Map of the Pelion District, 1919 377
36 Mining Huts 383
(a) An Old Pelion Hut
(b) Lake Windemere Hut, 1940
37 Scrip for Lake Windemere Gold, Copper, & Silver Mining Co 402
38 Shareholders of the Lake Windemere Company 403
39 Wolfram Mine, 1920 405
40 Mcintosh Reid, (Norm?) Parsons & Paddy Hartnett 405
41 Dead Trees from burning-off on slopes of Paddy's Nut, 1901 408
42 Operations in King Billy Forest near Cradle Valley 424
43 Surveyor General Frankland, 'View from Mt Olympus' 432
44 Use of Pack-horses 440
(a) Ascent of Razorback Track
(b) Descent of Zigzag Track from Mt Oakleigh
45 Motor Cars 441
(a) on the Round Hill Mine Road
(b) Near Lorinna
46 Paddy Hartnett and Ted Clarke 447
47 Beaches Lake StClair 447
48 HD Reed crossing Kia Ora Creek, 1919 452
49 'Bully' Hendricks at camp, (a firefly) near Du Cane 452
50 Ascent of Marion's Lookout 455
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51 McClintons, Perrins, Hartnett and Smithies on Mt Ossa 455
52 Walking Party at Pelion Huts 460
53 Waldheim 460
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Abbreviations
AAAS Australian Association for the Advancement of Science
ADB Australian Dictionary of Biography
AOT Archives Office of Tasmania
cso
Colonial Secretary's Office
DNB Dictionary of National Biography
lffi.A Historical Records of Australia
HG Hobart Gazette
HTC Hobart Town Courier
HTG Hobart Town Gazette
LSD Lands and Survey Department
NS Non-State Records, Archives Office of Tasmania
NWTA North West Tourism Association
PD Premier's Department
PPTHRA Papers and Proceedings of the Tasmanian Historical
Research Association
PPRST Papers and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Tasmania
PWD Public Works Department
TGG Tasmanian Government Gazette
TPP [H of A] Tasmanian Parliamentary Papers, House of Assembly
TPP [LC] Tasmanian Parliamentary Papers, Legislative Council
VDLCompany Van Diemen's Land Company
ZDH Zeehan and Dundas Herald
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