O’Dells Hut
Photo courtesy of Gary Duncan 2003.
Known as O’Dells Hut or O’Dells Track Hut or Tom Carroll’s Hut.
Located at Mt Delusion. It’s on O’Dells Track, Brookville (East Gippsland Shire). ExplorOz lists a hut ruin about 3 km from the summit Mt Delusion. It is marked on the Rooftop map near Mt Delusion at 05498 58704.
History
The builders are unknown and it is likely that it was moved from another place to this one. The heritage assessment (H2411) suggests it may be an adapted former shepherd hut or road crew hut, based on how often requests for portable huts show up in period records. It was probably built in 1939.
It was likely used in goldmining and logging activities in the area. There was a gold battery site using a portable steam engine at nearby Odells Gully. The hut may have been relocated to its current position and used in logging between the 1940s and 1970s. heritageheritage
The hut is partly destroyed and has not been used recently; it is now more of a curiosity.
Construction
It’s a single-room portable hut with timber stud, weatherboard-clad walls and an arched corrugated iron roof.
It’s significant as a rare example of an early portable hut. Most other portable huts in Victoria appear to be of later construction.
References
VHD - Victorian Heritage Register (H2411), included on 6 April 2022, under Criterion B. heritagecouncil.
GPS Locations by exploroz.
-37.325617 147.536633
DMS: 37º 19' 32.23" S 147º 32' 11.89" E
UTM: 55 H 5868870mN 547543mE
Altitude: 1282.65m