Whiteley's Hut
Intro Photo courtesy of Jim Moon © 2001. Photograph to the left, courtesy of M Howe and J Robertson.
Known as Whiteleys Hut, Bernes Hut or “the Palace”.
Location - Central Plateau at the foot of Mt Ironstone. Access is from the Western Creek Track car park off Westrope Road south of Caveside. This carpark is just south of the one to Lady Lake. The track heads south to the hut.
History
Reg Berne grazed cattle across this area from the early 1950’s to the 1970s and bemoaned the lack of a good shelter given that the Lady Lake Hut had burnt in 1961. He and Norm Whiteley (the correct spelling of his name) determined to build a hut in 1967 and used materials from the old Lady Lake Hut plus some cement and other items.
In the 1980s Geoff and Peter Lee, keen fishermen who frequented the Chudleigh Lakes, were dismayed at the lack of shelter in the area (both Ironstone Hut and Lady Lake Hut were in total disrepair at that time) and the brothers began to seek the shelter of the hut built by Reg Bernes and Norm Whiteley almost two decades earlier. They built a new track to the area and used the hut regularly for fishing. The hut was almost completely rebuilt.
In 1997 MHPS became involved following the completion of the Lake Nameless Hut, and restored this one again.
Construction
Iron over local wood poles.
Caretakers - MHPS