Deny King’s Boathouse

Known as Deny King Boathouse, Denison King Boatshed or Deny King’s Boat Shed.

Photographs courtesy of John Bower, Mountain Huts Preservation Society (MHPS).

Location

On Moth Creek at Melaleuca, south-west Tasmania, a short walk from the King family residence, beneath the New Harbour Range.

History

Denison ‘Deny’ King was a well-known Tasmanian tin miner who held a mining lease at Melaleuca for decades. Following his return from the Second World War in 1945, he built a house, established a garden, married and raised a family in this particularly remote part of Tasmania.

Before the airstrip was established, he reached Melaleuca by sailing around Tasmania’s rugged southern coast and into the sheltered waters of Bathurst Harbour.

The boathouse was started in 1949 and completed in 1950. A wooden ramp provided access for his dinghy to the tea-coloured waters of Moth Creek.

Deny was renowned for his hospitality, welcoming visitors and bushwalkers to his home. He is also remembered for his conservation work, particularly his efforts to protect the orange-bellied parrot.

He died in 1991, aged 81, and is remembered as a welcoming friend, a hard worker and a true character.

A personal recollection

‘In Hobart, Deny had a home in Norfolk Crescent, Sandy Bay, which my parents rented from him for a few years after their return from Europe in 1955.’ — Olaf Moon

Construction

A timber-pole structure with galvanised flat-iron walls and a corrugated-iron roof. A wooden slipway leads into the creek.

References

Olaf Moon, Deny King Boathouse profile and personal recollection.
Mountain Huts Preservation Society, ‘Deny King’s Boat Shed’.
Photographs: John Bower, MHPS.