In part two of our two-part history of Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair NP and the Overland Track (read part one here) we begin with visitors returning to the area after the end of the First World War.
After WWI visitors began to return to Waldheim, including the climber and photographer Frederick Smithies who visited in 1920. Frederick came to share Gustav Weindorfer's vision for a national park and took many striking photos of the highlands. The two men travelled around Tasmania presenting lantern slides of Frederick’s pictures and expounding on the park concept. Largely due to their efforts, 64,000 hectares from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair were declared a ‘scenic reserve and wildlife sanctuary’ in 1922.
Dorfer continued to host and guide visitors, regaling them in the evenings with fireside tales about the grand balls and buildings of Vienna. In addition to Gustav, local trapper Patrick ‘Paddy’ Hartnett began to lead bushwalkers into the mountains. Paddy had built a string of huts in the Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair area as bases to hunt wallabies and possums in the winter when their coats were at the best, drying and selling the skins for export to Europe.
His network of bush huts included Du Cane Hut which he built in 1910 from King Billy pine, a structure which still shelters hikers today. Paddy was a genial guide, with fine bush skills, striking blue eyes and bright red hair. This hair was mostly hidden beneath his signature black bowler hat or ‘hard hitter’, which he wore at all times, and in all weathers, only taking it off for use as a drinking vessel.
In 1930 the board overseeing the reserve employed a former fur-trapper Bert Nichols to blaze a track from Cradle Mountain to Cynthia Bay on the southern shore of Lake St Clair. Nichols was snub-nosed, stockily built and swore like a pirate from beneath his squashed felt hat. He seemed to be immune to the area’s harsh weather, never bothering with a raincoat even in the worst storms.
After blazing the track, Bert wrote to the director of the Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau, Evelyn Temple Emmett, cheekily inviting him to try out the new trail. Evelyn took Bert up on his offer and, guided by the former trapper, Evelyn and a group of seven friends from the Hobart Bushwalking Club completed the track in the summer of 1931 – the first hikers to walk the Overland Track.
Another track pioneer was Albert ‘Fergy’ Fergusson who opened a tourist camp at Cynthia Bay around 1930 and operated the first Lake St Clair Ferry, Miss Velocity. Fergy was described as having ‘boundless cheer, innocent watery-blue eyes and a seamed face’.
He was also reputed to have a tin plate reinforcing his skull, courtesy of an injury while serving in the Light Horse in WWI. He became the first ranger in the southern part of the reserve, earning the accolade as the ‘bushman’s friend’ for his good nature, bush skills and endless store of tall tales.
Dorfer died in 1932 aged 58, his heart failing as he struggled to kick-start his recalcitrant Indian motorcycle. He was found beside the bike, within sight of his beloved Cradle Mountain, near where the start of the Overland Track begins. He was buried in front of Waldheim, his grave marked with a simple King Billy pine cross bearing the name ‘Dorfer’.
After Dorfer’s death his sister sent everlasting flowers and candles from Austria, requesting that they be placed on his grave on New Year’s Day, as was the custom in his homeland. This tradition still continues today, with the Weindorfer Memorial Committee holding a simple commemoration service each New Year’s Day to celebrate Gustav Weindorfer’s vision, a vision which has not only left a legacy for all Australians, but for people around the world.
Words_Warwick Sprawson
For info on Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair NP and the Overland Track click here.