Last updated 18Feb24
Rowleys Rendezvous Creek Hut site
Rowleys Rendezvous Creek Hut site is located in the lower Rendezvous Creek valley at the intersection of the valley old vehicle track and the fence line running across the bottom of the Mavis Ridge in the Namadgi National Park.
Location: GR 55H FA 77592-45896 (MGA94), Rendezvous Creek 8626-1S 1:25000
Rowleys Rendezvous Creek Hut site, September 2010
Visits: 18 Feb 24, 19 Feb 22, 20 Jul 19, 31 May 19, 23 Apr 11, 8 Sep 10, 8 Sep 09, 14 Aug 07, 12 Oct 05
Documentation:
• KHA web site: Rendezvous Creek hut [site] is accessible by a walking track of about five kilometres, commencing 500m before the narrow concrete bridge (to the old Bobeyan Rd) on the Adaminaby road. The path across open fields and is hot in summer but shaded at the hut. The grid reference is 775 458 on the Rendezvous Ck map. This hut was burnt down in 2003, by persons unknown. Circumstances indicate that it may have been done deliberately by pig shooters, however police investigations were inconclusive. The hut is [was] built of timber with rare horizontal weather boards. It has a low pitched corrugated iron roof line. The extension has walls of corrugated iron. There is one fireplace, with the chimney built from iron. The hut was built in 1950 by Stan Cregan for Rowley Gregory for grazing, after Rowley had aquired the 2000 acre Gudgenby property. His family had a long association with the region. Being an isolated holding away from the main homestead, this hut provided a small overnight shelter, essential for them to maintain their operation. The hut was extended in 1973 by Gregory and Len Blundell, who used iron rather than palings for the new walls on two sides.
• KHA Namadgi database (private source). Site 241. Constructed in about 1950, extended in 1973. A sheep dip and yards are located a few hundred metres away. Miss Rustin’s Hut was located close by, was last used by rabbitters in the 1940s, and was gone by 1950. There is no sign remaining of Miss Rustin’s ….
• Namadgi Historical Summaries 1991 KHA: Rowleys Hut – There are two huts with the same name, one in Orroral Valley and the other in Rendezvous Creek. Orroral Valley (UTM 55H 675478-6057375): This hut at the northern end of Orroral was built by Stan Cregan in less than two days. Like Rowleys Rendezvous Creek Hut the fire place is located on the long wall, rather than the end wall. It was built for Hugh Gregory in 1948 after he acquired the land the previous year. Rendezvous Creek (UTM 55H 677589-6045900): In 1948 Noel (Rowley) and Alan Gregory bought land in Rendezvous and Middle Creeks. It was here that Stan Cregan, assisted by Rowley, built the hut around 1948-50, but after Cregan had built Rowleys Orroral Hut. In the 1960’s plywood from the Orroral Tracking Station was used to line the hut. In 1973 Rowley extended the hut with the assistance of Fred Blundell.
• Gudgenby: A register of archaeological sites in the proposed Gudgenby National Park, J H Winston-Gregson MA thesis, ANU, 1978. Site G7. [was] Weatherboard on timber foundations with corrugated metal roof and one external chimney of corrugated metal. … notable for not having chimney on long axis of building. See extracts of the relevant pages in the photos above.
• Sites of Significance in the ACT. A 9 volume set, pre-cursor to the ACT Heritage Register. Published in 1988 (Vols 1-7), 1989 (Vol 8) and 1990 (Vol 9); pp38-43. Site G9. This is [was] a small timber-framed hut clad with weatherboard and corrugated iron and with a low pitched roof. There is a single external chimney along the southern wall. As with Rollys (Orroral) Hut, this is unusually placed along the long wall rather than at the shorter ends of the hut. THe hut was built for Rowley Gregory after 1948 when the family acquired 2000 acres of former Gudgenby Station land. It is significant as an example of the need for small overnight shelters on the isolated holdings which were a feature of rural operations of the Namadgi area. See extracts of the relevant pages in the photos above.
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