1. Preparations

2. Sunday

3. Monday-Tuesday

4. Wednesday

5. Thursday: Waterfall Valley to Lake Rodway

6. Thursday: Lake Rodway to Dove Lake

7. Building the Hut

8. References

During blizzard-like conditions at Cradle Mountain on May 20, 1965, while on a Riverside High School walking trip, teacher Ewen Scott and student David Kilvert lost their lives. After the tragedy, the Riverside High School and the Launceston Walking Club decided jointly to submit plans to the Scenery Preservation Board for a memorial hut at Lake Rodway. Assisted by members of the North West Walking Club, work began in September 1965. The hut was officially opened by John Walker, Headmaster, on 3 April 1966.

Preparations

The Riverside High Outdoor Society ^[1] was a club for students who were interested in bushwalking, giving them the opportunity to go on day walks and overnight walks.^[2]

A five-day walk through the northern half of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair Reserve (as it was then known), from the Pelion area to Waldheim, was planned for May 1965. Three teachers were to be co-leaders:^[2][3]

• John Chick, a Science teacher with bushwalking and leadership experience;
• Rosemary Bayes, a Physical Education teacher; and
• Ewen Scott, a teacher-in-training, and a member of the Launceston Walking Club.

The party of 19 that left Launceston on Sunday 16 May 1965, included the three teachers and 16 students (15 from Riverside High School and a friend of the Principal's from Sydney).^[1]

Sunday

The walk began at the Arm River Track on the Upper Mersey River. The party split in two during the walk to Pelion Hut because of the different walking paces of the students:

Monday-Tuesday

On Monday night, the party again stayed in Pelion Hut, and on Tuesday they walked to Windemere Hut. John Chick arrived with the slower members of the party just on dark:

Wednesday

The first members of the party arrived at Waterfall Valley hut in mid-afternoon. The others arrived about 5pm while it was still light. Snow had fallen the night before, but during the day “conditions were perfect. Some snow and rain fell when the party was nearly at Waterfall Valley hut.”

Thursday: Waterfall Valley to Lake Rodway

At 1 pm the party were on the Cirque between Barn Bluff and Cradle Mountain. The wind was blowing “in excess of 60 m.p.h. There was no actual snow falling, but the wind was driving a lot of ground snow along.”

The party was together in one group on the Cirque, and had decided the night before that if conditions were poor they would take the Lake Rodway track to Waldheim, instead of the more exposed Kitchen Hut route. Chick told the inquest:

Scott took the lead again at Lake Rodway, while Chick dropped behind with three girls.

Thursday: Lake Rodway to Dove Lake

After Lake Rodway, the party realised they were in trouble. Rodney Howell, one of the students, was the first to show exhaustion. The party stopped for about 10 minutes on the southern slopes of Hansons Peak to distribute the contents of his pack and to have something to eat. When the walk resumed, Chick was in the rear with three girls, and Scott was in front with the others “by a slowly increasing distance”.

On the climb to Hansons Peak, David Kilvert collapsed for the first time. At about 4:30 pm, Scott began assisting Kilvert who “was now in poor shape”, and sent three students ahead to obtain help from the Ranger at Waldheim. The party was now split into four groups:^[3]

• Three students, Diane Batten, Peter Williams, and Bernard Hay had gone ahead to get help
• The teacher, Rosemary Bayes, and eight students were in the main group
• Just behind the main group was Scott, who was assisting David Kilvert.
• In the rear were Chick, three girls and a boy.

The four groups walked over the top of Hansons Peak as darkness was descending.

The three students in the front group reached Dove Lake, but not being aware that a road had recently been constructed from Waldheim to the lake, they instead stayed on the walking track. The track led to Waldheim via Lake Lilla. Dianne Batten told the inquest:

The main group, under the leadership of Rosemary Bayes, spent the night in the Dove Lake boat shed.}}

The rear group, out of contact with the others, lost the track on the slopes of Hansons Peak, and decided to spend the night when they chanced upon a sheltered location.}}

The last person to see Scott and Kilvert alive was 15-year-old student, Mark Whittle, just after he’d been sent ahead to join the main group while on the ascent to Hansons Peak. Whittle and another student had been helping Kilvert until Scott said something to the effect of “You go on and leave David with me”.

Whittle did not offer assistance to Scott and Kilvert because “I won't say he [Scott] ordered us to go on, but he told us very firmly”.^[7] Kilvert’s body was found the next day about 400 metres from where Whittle had last seen him, but off the track. He was 14.^[8]

Scott died of exhaustion and exposure.^[9] His body was found a short distance from Dove Lake, close to the end of the new road that was constructed the previous year. Whittle makes the observation:^[2] {{quote|It seems that, after carrying David Kilvert for some distance, Ewen Scott realised that David was fading, or perhaps had passed away. No-one knows exactly what happened, but it seems that Ewen left David and set off to get help.}}

Pat Wessing who had been staying at Blandfordia Alpine Hut in Cradle Valley, made the discovery:^[10]

We decided two hefty policemen of more use helping get remaining six down [the Rear Group of 5], so they put the body in the back of the assistant ranger’s car and I drove it back to Waldheim. Girl there identified body as Ewen Scott.}}}}

A plaque at Dove Lake near the place of his death has the inscription, paraphrased from Matthew 26:13, “That which he hath done shall be spoken for a memorial of him”. He was 26 when he died.}}

Building the Hut

The Scott-Kilvert Memorial Hut was financed by public appeal, raising $3000.^[12] It was built by Riverside High School, Launceston Walking Club, and help from other organisations such as the North West Walking Club. Plans were drawn up by Arnold Rowlands, architect, a member of the North West Walking Club at the time, whose wife, Mavis, was a cousin of Scott. The plan was approved by the Scenic Preservation Board and work commenced at the Lake Rodway site in September 1965, under the cliffs of the southern face of Cradle Mountain. The Board had wanted a hut on Lake Rodway for some time but had not been able to finance it.^[13]

In the immediate vicinity of the hut was a good supply of building material: King Billy pines for the timber required came from nearby, gravel for foundations came from the lake, and stone for the hut walls came from a small hill 100 metres away.^[12]

Due to the size of the hut and the distance from the nearest road at Dove Lake (6 kilometres and 500 metres climbing), a helicopter was used to move material that could not be sourced locally. In one weekend, an Ansett-ANA helicopter made 53 round trips, moving 14 tons of material to the site at a cost of approximately $1000. Due to several alterations to the plans, and with the constant support of the North West Walking Club, a further 6 tonnes of timber was carried in by pack.^[14][13]

Every two weeks during the construction period, working parties were on site at weekends, supervised by a professional builder and keen bushwalker, Stan Brodziak.^[15] In total, 15 weekends were required. During January, ten people stayed for an entire week and transformed the hut from a bare frame to an almost liveable hut with a porch, asbestos roofing tiles supplied at reduced cost by a local cement company,^[16] and a fireplace. The fireplace was an inglenook design, with seating around a central hearth.^[17]

The hut is of a distinctive A-frame shape able to withstand severe weather conditions. For the main A-frame supports, eight King Billy pine tress were felled and floated 300 metres across Lake Rodway. Each support weighed about 750 kg and were moved into place by hand.^[12] The hut accommodates about 30 people in the upstairs sleeping area.

The hut took 10,000 man hours and 38 working days to complete, and was officially opened on 3 April 1966. The weather was poor. Walkers arrived in steady rain from 10a.m. onwards. At noon, almost 300 people had assembled to see the hut and hear the speeches. The plaque was unveiled by John Walker, headmaster of Riverside High School.^[18]

References

• Official opening speech, Inquest (The Examiner 4 Aug 1965)

• Scott-Kilvert 50 Years On

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