Last updated 1Jul19
Hospital Creek Hut
Hospital Creek Hut is located 350m east of the Old Boboyan Rd on Hospital Creek in the Namadgi National Park.
Location: GR 55H FA 77761-37549 (MGA94), Yaouk 8626-2N 1:25000
New tank at Hospital Creek Hut, November 2012
Visits: 19-20 Apr 19, 24 Sep 16, 14 Jun 14, 20 Nov 12, 27 Mar 12, 3 Sep 11, 9 Mar 10, 16 Jun 09, 1 Jul 08, 21 Jun 06
Documentation:
• KHA web site: Locating Hospital Creek is quite hard to find, but is near that creek! Follow the same road from the Yankee Hat car park, past the turn off to Franks Hut, and continue up the hill. An indistinct path leads off to the left, right from a sharp right hand corner. The track to the hut used to allow vehicles, but is now quite overgrown. The hut is about one kilometre into the valley. The grid reference is 776 374 on the Yaouk 1:25000 map. Also known as Franks or Franks Wartime. Hospital Ck is built from bush poles and second hand sawn timber, and covered with corrugated iron. The floor is dirt that has been stabilised with a little cement. The external chimney is also of corrugated iron. The hut was built by Frank, Jack and Les Oldfield in 1966 to support grazing. It replaced Franks hut, which was resumed for the establishment of the pine plantation. It is basic and spartan but in a very serene spot. Originally part of the Oldfields Dry Creek Lease, it was resumed in 1979, when the land became part of the Gudgenby Nature Reserve. Some special features, such as the original kero fridge, remain.
• KHA Namadgi database (private source). Site 249. This hut was built after 1966 and consists of a bush timber frame, used corrugated metal cladding, a dirt floor, skillon roof and a partly closed verandah. Gazetted to ACT Heritage Places Register September 1999.
• Gudgenby: A register of archaeological sites in the proposed Gudgenby National Park, J H Winston-Gregson MA thesis, ANU, 1978. Site GR1. Corrugated metal on machine cut timber frame; round timber uprights; one external metal-clad chimney. 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 G21. This is a timber-framed hut clad with corrugated iron and with an earth floor. The external chimney is of corrugated iron on a pole frame. It is the only intact hut of this type in Namadgi National Park. The hut was built by Frank Oldfield in 1955 after the resumption of his former property (Frank Oldfield’s Pines Hut) for the establishment of the Boboyan Pines Plantation. See extracts of the relevant pages in the photos above.
• ACT Heritage Listing: Stockmen’s Huts in Namadgi National Park H58d.
• Signage in Hut: Hospital Creek Hut was built in about 1966 by brothers Frank and Jack Oldfield along with Jack’s son Les. The Oldfield family has played an important role in the development of the Namadgi region. The hut was on the Oldfield’s Dry Creek lease and was used for overnight shelter whenever the Oldfields were working on the lease. In 1979 the lease was resumed as part of the Gudgenby Nature Reserve and incorporated into Namadgi National Park when it was declared in 1984.
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