Extract from ABC News
Early skiers near Lake Fenton had to haul their gear up to the slopes. (Supplied: Mt Field Ski Club)
In short:
Within Mount Field National Park, north-west of Hobart, a rustic hut on the water's edge has become a scenic stop on the popular 15-kilometre Tarn Shelf Circuit hike.
Twilight Tarn Hut once housed what's believed to be Tasmania's oldest-known ski club, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
What's next?
To mark the centenary, the Parks and Wildlife Service has worked with volunteers to clean and catalogue the hut's memorabilia, including a visitor book signed by pioneering Everest mountaineer Tenzing Norgay.
When Penny and Michael Wadsley reflect on what the Ski Club of Tasmania means to them, happy memories come to mind.
Ms Wadsley, a member of the club's committee, recalls childhood trips to the snow.
"The thrill of a downhill run after the effort of clambering to the top of a slope," she said.
"Carrying gear on skis … while Dad pulled a sled with all our food supplies when the snow was too deep to travel by car."
Marking a century this year, the club is believed to be Tasmania's oldest, and one of Australia's first, ski clubs.
Charlotte Sainsbury (centre), with Penny and Michael Wadsley, look over photographs that document the beginnings of the Hobart Ski Club. (ABC News: Rani Fletcher)
The club's Twilight Tarn Hut, located in Mount Field National Park, will also celebrate its 100th anniversary in the coming year.
To mark the milestone, the Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service along with volunteers have been restoring the hut and cleaning and cataloguing its memorabilia.
Skiiers, pictured in 1927, in front of the Twilight Tarn Hut. (Supplied: Mt Field Ski Club)
Early skis, such as these pictured in 1927, were rudimentary and made from local Tasmanian timbers. (Supplied: Mt Field Ski Club)
Skating on Twilight Tarn to a gramophone
For Ms Wadsley, the club's centenary is particularly special. Her grandfather was the club's first president and helped build the hut. Her parents also met there.
Penny Wadsley with a photo of her mother, who was an early member of the Hobart Ski Club. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
Skiing looked very different back when the club was first founded.
"You had to be very fit and enthusiastic because there weren't roads," Ms Wadsley said.
"You got to the national park, you had to walk 16 kilometres uphill, carrying whatever it was you wanted for your skiing holiday."
A century ago, it was an arduous trek to the hut and skiers had to transport all their gear and provisions. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
The skis were different, too.
"They made skis from all the different Tasmanian timbers," Mr Wadsley said.
"They were very heavy and the soles were just the simple wood."
Like the Wadsleys, Charlotte Sainsbury also has fond memories of the club.
Charlotte Sainsbury grew up sking with her family at Twilight Tarn Hut. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
Her father was one of its founding members, and went on to become its president.
Ms Sainsbury remembers being taught how to ski, and spending time with the other children in the club.
"For the club members, I think it's really nice to know what our beginnings were," she said.
This wind-up gramophone once supplied the soundtrack to ice skating on Twilight Tarn. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
Ms Sainsbury kept the original wind-up gramophone that was used at the hut.
"My understanding is they'd take it out on Twilight Tarn, which would freeze pretty solidly, and waltz to The Skaters Waltz,"she said.
Mittens, skis among memorabilia
From knitted mittens to original ski poles, about 100 pieces of memorabilia have been removed from the Twilight Tarn Hut for cataloguing and cleaning.
These old skates were part of the historic items removed from Twilight Tarn hut for cleaning and cataloguing while the hut is restored. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
Among those was the original visitor's logbook.
In 1963 it was signed by famous mountaineer Tenzing Norgay — the first person, along with Sir Edmund Hillary, to summit Mount Everest — while he was visiting Mount Field.
Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service historic heritage officer Katy Ross is part of the team relocating the memorabilia.
Katy Ross was part of the team that relocated the items. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
She said the Twilight Tarn Hut was a rare example of a heritage place with an intact collection that tells the story of how it was used.
"We've packed up all the items, we've taken them out of the hut, and we're doing an audit and a condition check of everything as it stands," Ms Ross said.
She said by preserving the items inside the hut, the stories and heritage of the club could live on.
A club badge forms part of the collection. (ABC News: Rani Fletcher)
These two old coins are some of the items to be catalogued. (ABC News: Kate Nickels)
"You walk into this place and you can start to understand how people would have used that space,"Ms Ross said.
"It helps [volunteers] to engage with [memorabilia] as tangible objects, but then connect their memories and their own storytelling."
Most of the memorabilia will be returned to the Twilight Tarn Hut at a later date.
For the Wadsleys and Ms Sainsbury, preservation of the club's history is vital.
"I think it's an important part of Tasmania's history. It would be a shame for it to be lost," Ms Wadsley said.
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