The Solitary Man

[RiverFly]

I just heard the story of the Solitary Man as told by Simon Cubit. Does anyone know if SMan is still around in Tas?

[flyfisher]

Interesting story ,that one. The hut position is shown in J. Chapmans day walk book but I can't help you with the info you seek.
Anyone know how to contact Simon C. It would be interesting to know the outcome.
FF

[Robbo]

I slept in the hut about 18 months ago when I was doing a solo for a day or two. I'd be interested in knowing as well.

Cheers

Tony Robinson

[the_camera_poser]

This sounds interesting! Who's "The Solitary Man?"

[scrub boy]

I was taken to his hut about 10 years ago. It had an iron roof and a weight bench made from boulders, and maybe even a set of weights I fairly sure. Inside the hut was some basic gear including old 50's style exercise books. I seem to recall a message welcoming people to use it. The story I was told was that the solitary man was a Vietnam vet who lugged up all the materials and built the hut for some (obviously) solitude. It is in a great location, I haven't heard anything since, not sure if it is still used by its maker.

[RiverFly]

Thanks guys.
I talked to Simon Cubit the other day about him, but was moreso interested if anyone locally was still in contact with him-I would love to send him an Email not so much about why etc, but how, and any stories from his time out their. Anyone wanting to know more about the story should get the CD of Simon Cubit's interviews with Chris Wisbey from the ABC, which also include tales of Hartnett, Basil Steers, Reg Dixon etc. Very interesting.

[Son of a Beach]

Kosiusko Huts page about 'Solitary Hut'

[Chris]

Just saw short piece on the Solitary Man on p7 of today's Examiner. The full interview will be in tomorrow's Sunday Examiner.

[shanehugh]

I worked with him over a period of six or seven years and he is indeed quite a character. Was a bit surprised to see the article slated for Sundays examiner as he is a fairly reserved man, disliking the limelight and preferring to dodge along through life with little fuss. He did an article for the examiner back when the hut was first discovered and wanted to remained anonymous. Quite a feat carrying all the building materials into the site and I remember him telling me about a young guy he had help him carry the roofing iron in, nearly ruined him!!!

[tas-man]

For those of you outside the Examiner readership area, I have uploaded photos of the article which should be readable if you download the linked photos. An Interesting read.

[Robbo]

Thanks for putting this up, Ian. I appreciate having the opportunity to read it and get to know a little more about the hut's history.

Best regards

Tony Robinson

[tas-man]

It looks like Page 4 did not load so here it is again with a detail of the hut diary entry by "Solitary Man". I just noticed that with these 1mb files, if you click on the photos, in the new window that loads with the original file only, you can click on the photo again and it zooms in to full size for ease of reading.

[RiverFly]

The article was a good read.

[gorby]

great read,but I fear that gung ho adventurers will seek it out and plunder the contents of the hut.
Its location has been kept between trustworthy souls mostly.

Just come back from a weekend at LeesPaddocks hut and we found yet more articles missing,broken or mucked with.

[corvus]

So true Gorby, I have known about this hut for many years (on the T ) never mentioned it as its not Heritage or really interesting ,with respect it was only some poor souls release from reality and as such we all have our own demons to live with so in my opinion lets just ignore all this Newspaper poo... and let sleeping dogs lie ,what say you.

[Penguin]

I think the position of the hut is in Chapman's book. I will have to check.

We saw the hut in the middle of last year and it was in good condition then.

[Robbo]

Yes it is mentioned in Chapman's book. It was from his description that I looked it up about 18 months ago. Was in good condition then. I slept in in overnight and got a crook back! But will survive as long as it is used on a reasonably regular basis and there are enough people to keep an eye on it. I think the whole story is good enough to add to the mythology of the area. Don't you think?

Tony Robinson

[wildsidemtb]

Yes he is still in Launceston, I work with his sister, she has told me of times when she stayed there with him

[whiskeylover]

Hopefully most of the type of people who are likely to vandalise it won't be able to find it. It's just difficult enough to find that they might be too dumb. I too was shown it under a veil of secrecy and thought it was supposed to be left alone for only the trustworthy to be told about, not published for all to find - there are some special places that shouldn't be talked about too much for fear of ruining them.

[tasadam]

<snip> there are some special places that shouldn't be talked about too much for fear of ruining them.

Indeed!
Precisely what Rule 16 is about...

Avoid posting detailed information on accessing sensitive areas without recognised tracks to public topics, but rather use private messages, email, or other non-public means to communicate such information instead. Feel free to ask questions about such areas publicly, so long as the post includes a reminder of this rule to get answers privately only.

[PeterJ]

Just catching up on what has been posted over the last month or so; amazes me how easily time slips by.

Precisely what Rule 16 is about...
Avoid posting detailed information ..... but rather use private messages, email

I can appreciate the reasons for the rule, but wonder about the value. It would be hard to be sure that information sent to a private message didn't fall into the wrong hands. I guess the odds are better than when posted in the forum. It does however mean that you have to attempt to make a judgment if some comment or information is sensitive before posting, and people have different perceptions of what does and doesn't.

[Son of a Beach]

Just catching up on what has been posted over the last month or so; amazes me how easily time slips by.

Precisely what Rule 16 is about...
Avoid posting detailed information ..... but rather use private messages, email

I can appreciate the reasons for the rule, but wonder about the value. It would be hard to be sure that information sent to a private message didn't fall into the wrong hands. I guess the odds are better than when posted in the forum. It does however mean that you have to attempt to make a judgment if some comment or information is sensitive before posting, and people have different perceptions of what does and doesn't.

True... it is difficult to judge the value of this, but I think it is worth doing what we can, without preventing such information from passing hands at all. In the end, all Tasmanians have a right to this information, as we are talking about public access to public land, however, if too many people start accessing these places, they are likely to become degraded, and destroyed by their own popularity. So I guess we're just trying to find a reasonable balance between people being able to appreciate some of Tasmania's 'special' places, and having those special places overrun.

I know that the Tasmanian Parks department greatly discourages access (and even knowledge of!) some sensitive areas. I partially agree with some of their motivation, but agree less with other motivations and with their execution.