Mt Useful FT Hut
Known as the Mt Useful Hut or Mount Useful Fire Tower Hut.
Located on the summit of Mt Useful.
History:
The original cabin was only about 2 m x 2 m.
The current one was installed in 2002, and photos show new living quarters from about 2004. I believe it is the third cabin.
Earlier cabins were basic. Snow once flattened the long-drop toilet, which locals called the “Loo with a View” because the door opened east, towards Bairnsdale and Lake King about 100 km away.
Noel Cheney manned it in the mid-1960s with his wife Pat. They lived through the severe 1964/65 fire season, when Useful became a hub for relaying messages to firefighters. Pat once crashed her car off the mountain road and walked about 15 km down to the Licola road. Noel died of a heart attack in May 1967, after three years on the mountains.
Ray Lucas and Dick Noble supplied later photos and information.
In September 2012, vandals forced the tower doors and locks, sprayed graffiti around the cabin, broke shutters, cut fencing and damaged the ladder.
Construction
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