Miller's Hut, Alpine Huts 1994-5 sheet 27 1
Victorian Alpine Huts survey, for Parks Victoria 1994-5.
Henry Miller, a cattleman from near Maffra, selected land on the Macalister River flats. He then purchased Riggall's grazing lease, taking his cattle (along what became known as Millers Track) up to Mt. Wellington during the summer{ van der Knijff: 49}. There he used Riggall's Hut (now ruinous) until he built the first stage of this hut in 1916. Miller's Hut is pictured, perhaps in the 1920s, with a bark roof, weighed down by a sapling frame, and drop-slab wall construction{ Stephenson: 181-3}. The gabled end and deep attached chimney were paling clad (horizontal) above the wall plate and the chimney faced with vertical slabs below. A rough bench seat was set next to the chimney and the door was ledge and braced, with vertical board/paling cladding{ ibid.}. The roof had been clad with corrugated iron by the 1930s{ ibid.; Cleary 1936}. A photograph from 1934 shows the hut with a corrugated iron roof but otherwise similar construction to that of the earlier view{ Budge: 80, photo pages after} WJ Cleary described the environs of the hut in 1936 as a `..beautiful forest of snow gums, unlike in colouring any we have seen … Miller’s Hut is in a small clearing with a cattle stockyard hard by'{ ibid.}. It is believed that an earlier incantation of this hut received vice-regal patronage when Lord Somers slept there on a hike with rover scouts to Lake Tarli Karng, c1930{ `Wild Life' 3.1950: 125}. The hut is also thought by one historian, Linda Barraclough, to be among the oldest huts to have its door located next to the chimney on the short side of the plan{ see Barraclough in MPHG: 88}. She notes that the other two early huts with this plan-type, Riggall's and the first Higgins hut, have both gone{ ibid. }. However, Wallaces Hut (q.v.) which is thought to have commenced in the late 1880s, also has this plan type. By 1996 Miller's Hut had been substantially renewed, with possibly only some of the wall slabs remaining of the 1916 construction. The Range Rover Club of Australia (Vic) rebuilt the hut in 1987, replacing 14 posts and reinstating the surviving wall slabs in the original order. The timber used was from the locality, snow gum for the fireplace wall slabs and stringy bark for the posts{ B Wagg, letter to NPS, DCE, 8.4.1992}. The stone chimney was rebuilt and the corrugated iron cladding replaced{ Wagg }.
Miller's Hut, Alpine Huts 1994-5 sheet 27 1
Victorian Alpine Huts survey, for Parks Victoria 1994-5.
Henry Miller, a cattleman from near Maffra, selected land on the Macalister River flats. He then purchased Riggall's grazing lease, taking his cattle (along what became known as Millers Track) up to Mt. Wellington during the summer{ van der Knijff: 49}. There he used Riggall's Hut (now ruinous) until he built the first stage of this hut in 1916. Miller's Hut is pictured, perhaps in the 1920s, with a bark roof, weighed down by a sapling frame, and drop-slab wall construction{ Stephenson: 181-3}. The gabled end and deep attached chimney were paling clad (horizontal) above the wall plate and the chimney faced with vertical slabs below. A rough bench seat was set next to the chimney and the door was ledge and braced, with vertical board/paling cladding{ ibid.}. The roof had been clad with corrugated iron by the 1930s{ ibid.; Cleary 1936}. A photograph from 1934 shows the hut with a corrugated iron roof but otherwise similar construction to that of the earlier view{ Budge: 80, photo pages after} WJ Cleary described the environs of the hut in 1936 as a `..beautiful forest of snow gums, unlike in colouring any we have seen … Miller’s Hut is in a small clearing with a cattle stockyard hard by'{ ibid.}. It is believed that an earlier incantation of this hut received vice-regal patronage when Lord Somers slept there on a hike with rover scouts to Lake Tarli Karng, c1930{ `Wild Life' 3.1950: 125}. The hut is also thought by one historian, Linda Barraclough, to be among the oldest huts to have its door located next to the chimney on the short side of the plan{ see Barraclough in MPHG: 88}. She notes that the other two early huts with this plan-type, Riggall's and the first Higgins hut, have both gone{ ibid. }. However, Wallaces Hut (q.v.) which is thought to have commenced in the late 1880s, also has this plan type. By 1996 Miller's Hut had been substantially renewed, with possibly only some of the wall slabs remaining of the 1916 construction. The Range Rover Club of Australia (Vic) rebuilt the hut in 1987, replacing 14 posts and reinstating the surviving wall slabs in the original order. The timber used was from the locality, snow gum for the fireplace wall slabs and stringy bark for the posts{ B Wagg, letter to NPS, DCE, 8.4.1992}. The stone chimney was rebuilt and the corrugated iron cladding replaced{ Wagg }.