After some challenging mountain weather NSW Parks staff and 5 volunteers have nearly completed the Rest House at Sawyers Hill. With heavy snowfalls recently, the builders hope to get back to complete chimney and roof when the weather improves.

Until then, the team has moved into its winter shed at Tumut and is currently collecting and sorting timber and corrugated iron for the next huts on the program. KHA members Graham, Deidre, David & Lis are providing NSW Parks with hut history and old photographs to help them re-create original design features where possible.

Rebuilding the Rest House at Sawyers Hill has used:
• 8,000 ‘brad’ nails to fix lining boards
• 2,000 nails to fix frame
• 500 nails to fix rafters
• 500 screws to fix corrugated iron
• 88 vertical boards and 200 battens sanded and installed

Members will be interested to know that a number of measures are being taken in the rebuilds to reduce the risk of the huts burning in the future. The timbers used in the huts are being thoroughly treated with fire retardant to make them more fire resistant. Physical design features like window sills, the bottom of boards and any horizontal surfaces have been angled and covered in flattened corrugated iron to shed embers. With 85% of structures being lost due to ember attack in a fire, all gaps wider than 3mm are being sealed where possible.

Please see separate item in News for current rebuild timetable.

Those who would like to assist with future rebuilds in Kosciuszko NP can register their interest with NPWS at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.