b'Dec 2021 Trackwatch.qxp_Trackwatch Layout 128/11/20215:31 pmPage 19Over the last 35 years the stoneand mortar has begun to crumble andthe chimney is cracking and collaps-ing, so the Victorian High CountryHuts Association with Parks Victoriaand the help of the Mansfield 4WDclub have taken on the task ofrebuilding the chimney in iron, as itwas built over 70 years ago (completedstage 1 in December 2016) and thenraise the hut to remove the old rottenbase logs and replace with new logs,constructing a new/old door andcompleting the wood frame around Bluff Hutthe iron chimney (completed stage 2in February 2018). This hut is very cattlemengrazing the Bluff (Jack Cattle grazing ended in thesimple, without any windows or Ware, Ray Kelly and Archie Cameron) National Park in 2005 but the Stoneyfurniture and is very picturesque in helped Eadley build the original Bluff Family are still the custodians of Bluffthis beautiful area beside the Howqua Hut. Jack Ware was responsible for hut and work with Parks VictoriaRiver, the most important job of shaping the towards its future care so that itsPikes Flat Hut; Pikes Flat Hut, frame timbers from local snow gum history can be shared with everyone.(also Known as Murphy\'s Hu)t was and ash. built as a grazing hut in the 1970\'s by Jack used the classic constructionTerry Murphy. What we see today methods (using adze and axe) that hemay look like an old garage garden learned as a boy working for Jimshed, but that is only because the rest Barclay and Jack Bullock who wereof the structure was reported to be in the first men to run cattle on the Highpoor condition and was demolished Country beyond the Howqua Riverby Parks Victoria about 20 years ago. from 1909.The hut once consisted of 4 rooms, The original site was chosen for itsveranda and two fireplaces. The well- shelter from the prevailing winds. Inknown High Country icon, Ian the early 80\'s the hut was extendedStapleton once had the idea of build- by the Stoneys and partners toing a genuine slab hut here, but accommodate their cross-country skirealised that the high amount of traffic tours andsummer horse riding toursthat passes through here would have in conjunction with their grazingput the log hut at high risk. This large licence. Sadly, Bluff hut was lost inopen flat beside the Howqua River is the 2006-7 Great Divide fires that wasa very popular destination and camp- started by a lightning strike and theing area for 4WDs, fly fishing and rebuild started in November 2007. Inside Lovicks Huthorseback trips.The original Bluff hut had many Lovicks Hut; Over the last 150Howfield Refuge Shelter Hut; On extensions and add-ons over the years, the Lovick family have beenthe opposite side of the Howqua River years but the replacement hut has one of the pioneering families ofto Pikes hut is a nice little flat camping been built more in the style and to the Merrijig, Buller, Howqua area,area and a small refuge shelter with a plan of the original hut with thanks to pioneering cattle into the Victoriancouple of bunks. It was built about Eadley\'s grandson David Stoney High Country from the early 1900s.2002 by the Geelong Grammar drawing up the plans. Silcar, ARB and William Lovick was the licensee of theTimbertop Campus. Unfortunately the David Muir made significant financial Merrijig Hunt Club from 1873 and thelack of access by anyone due to a contributions to the rebuilding of Bluff family held that licence till 1956.very boggy area on one side and a Hut, as did the Stoneys and others The Lovicks have links with othersteep closed off track on the other who wished to remain anonymous. huts in the High Country including thehas lead to the hut becoming Graeme Stoney managed the original hut at Lake Cobbler beingneglected and overgrown by black- donations and finances, which paid built in the early 1900s as part of theberries and in desperate need of for materials and transport. He super- Lovick grazing licence. The first hutsome care or it will be lost. vised the sourcing, stockpiling and built by Jack Lovick Snr in 1925 wasBluff Hut; In 1943 Eadley Stoney delivery of the materials for the about one mile from the summit of Mtjoined the cattle grazing licence on rebuild. Graeme and Wendy spent Buller, but was later burnt down andthe Bluff and went on to organise the many hours on the job. The rebuilding called "The Burnt Hut". Jack Jnr (sonbuilding of the original Bluff Hut in had strong support from the local of George, grandson of Jack Snr) took1955. With the help of his son Graeme businesses, the Victorian High over the Buller lease in 1939 butStoney (age 15) who used a string of Country Huts Association and Parks some of his lease was taken by thepack horses to carry the iron and Victoria. Over 2000 hours of volunteer resort in 1959, and he was givenbuilding materials up the steep bridle work went into completing the hut in some other leases at King Billy andtrack in the summer of 1956 to the hut time to serve as a refuge for skiers in Mt Clear. In 1960 Jack Lovick Jnr builtsite on the lowest saddle on the Bluff the winter of 2008. The majority of the this hut here on Barclays Flat nestledRange beneath the later named Mt work done, however, was by the in a little saddle between Mt LovickEadley Stoney. In February 1956, the Stoney\'s friends and family. and the King Billy because the well TRACKWATCHDECEMBER 2021 17'