1957 Overland Track, Tasmania

[awildland]

I contributed to Moondog's recent conversation about old fashioned walking gear by adding some photos of my father's 1957 walk of the Overland Track with his cousin. Moondog said he was keen to see some more of the pics so for everyone's benefit I thought I'd start a separate thread with some of the pics. The original shots from 1957 were taken on slide film by my dad and I have scanned them in. Hope you all enjoy them! Would love to see any other old Overland Tracks if anyone has them!!!

The ascent to Marion's Lookout in 1957

Then Kitchen Hut in 1957 (have to add the next one's as another instalment)

[awildland]

Windemere Hut (above) and Pelion Hut (below)

The above shot is on the trail to the summit of Pelion East.

[awildland]

The one above is of Ducane Hut which is where my father and his cousin Athol stayed for a night.

This one above is my favourite, apparently a couple of local farmers walking the track from south to north on the 'new' track to have a bit of a look.

And above… the end of the trip, the old jetty where the ferry service came to!

These are the only ones I've got scanned in although plenty more slides in the cupboard waiting to be added. If I find time to scan some more in I'll post them to this thread. Thanks for viewing…my dad would be chuffed to know other people are looking at his pics!

[taswegian]

Thanks for taking effort to scan and post.
Those poor pines had seen better times. Wonder what that same shot looks like now?

Keep them coming, but I know scanning slides does take time.
Great stuff.

[icefest]

Is that 2nd to last one the Acropolis? I don't remember seeing anywhere near that amount of Native Pine there...

[GPSGuided]

Wow! That's all I can say.

[awildland]

Is that 2nd to last one the Acropolis? I don't remember seeing anywhere near that amount of Native Pine there...

My dad did keep a little notebook of all his photos and yes that second last one is listed as The Acropolis.

[DaveNoble]

Is that 2nd to last one the Acropolis? I don't remember seeing anywhere near that amount of Native Pine there...

Yes, in those days, if you went to Pine Valley, you had the option of two tracks - the Forest Track and the Valley Track. If it was wet weather - it was best to go via the Forest Track. If it was fine and had been dry - then the Valley Track gave great views of the peaks. When major track work was done to upgrade the Forest Track (1980's), the Valley Track was closed (and also quite a few other tracks such as the shortcut track to near Windy Ridge and the Pine Valley via Nicholls Junction Track.

So - in 1957, a lot of people would have waled up the Valley Track and got photos that you don't often see now.

You can see some of the views if you go to the Pine Valley helipad - and then walk across the often boggy ground south to a thicket of trees and then look up for a fantastic view of the Geryon and Acropolis. Another vantage point - is to take the old track for 100m or so from the south end of Pine Valley - do not cross the suspension bridge, instead walk through some scrub, past a nice campsite onto open moors for another good view. Not many bushwalkers seem to realise that these views are there to be had.

Dave

[north-north-west]

Is that 2nd to last one the Acropolis? I don't remember seeing anywhere near that amount of Native Pine there...

...When major track work was done to upgrade the Forest Track (1980's), the Valley Track was closed (and also quite a few other tracks such as the shortcut track to near Windy Ridge ...
So - in 1957, a lot of people would have waled up the Valley Track and got photos that you don't often see now.

You can see some of the views if you go to the Pine Valley helipad - and then walk across the often boggy ground south to a thicket of trees and then look up for a fantastic view of the Geryon and Acropolis. Another vantage point - is to take the old track for 100m or so from the south end of Pine Valley - do not cross the suspension bridge, instead walk through some scrub, past a nice campsite onto open moors for another good view. Not many bushwalkers seem to realise that these views are there to be had.

That old shortcut track to Windy Fridge was still usable about 20 years ago when I first did the OLT - if you knew where to find it. Couldn't find a trace of it last time I was there.

[Nuts]

Yes, lovely set of old piccies awl. Some of those features Were still around 20/30 yrs ago, iv'e seen lots of earlier photos (not mine) but that is a proud collection.

[walkon]

I find it humbling when viewing old photos or reading dairies of my ancestors, proud too. After looking at how tough that they did it and then thinking of how bad I wanted to complain about the same trip.
Top stuff looking forward to more

[Penguin]

This one above is my favourite, apparently a couple of local farmers walking the track from south to north on the 'new' track to have a bit of a look.

I love this. It so reminds me of some of the older farmers I have met on the NW Coast.

[nq111]

What a terrific post.

Great to see the guys back then just getting into it.

[wildwalks]

(moved thread to tassy - overland track forum) -- nice thread BTW

[icefest]

You can see some of the views if you go to the Pine Valley helipad - and then walk across the often boggy ground south to a thicket of trees and then look up for a fantastic view of the Geryon and Acropolis. Another vantage point - is to take the old track for 100m or so from the south end of Pine Valley - do not cross the suspension bridge, instead walk through some scrub, past a nice campsite onto open moors for another good view. Not many bushwalkers seem to realise that these views are there to be had.

Dave

I've been up north past Pine Valley hut (the view from the rockslide on the west side of the valley near Geryon Camp is incredible), but haven't thought of walking into the open moors near the suspension bridge.

I'll have to do it next time.

[cixelsyd]

AWESOME PICS!!!! 1957 looks pretty cool. The quality of the pics is awesome. I'd love more. have you thought about publishing them in a book??
Just a thought

[cooee]

Great......... Gee we have it easy now. The huts look new.

They do remind me of gippos that have just stepped off the boat.

[awildland]

AWESOME PICS!!!! 1957 looks pretty cool. The quality of the pics is awesome. I'd love more. have you thought about publishing them in a book??
Just a thought

I'm so glad people liked the pics....but, a book! i did actually write to a few outdoor mags about doing a story on the differences between the track in 1957 and when i walked it with my sisters in 2007 but no-one was interested.

Great......... Gee we have it easy now. The huts look new.

and yes cooee I think we do it pretty easy. when I spoke to my dad about this trip he said:

“Our packs weighed 35 pounds (about 16 kgs), that was all you could take on the plane. We flew from Melbourne to Launceston in an old DC3; the packs were canvas with an external frame. We carried a two man tent and 100 feet of nylon rope, first aid bits and our food for seven days. It was BBSTJ. Bread, butter, sugar, tea, and jam for breakfast and lunch each day. Canned bully beef for dinner, dried stewed fruit for dessert. Any dinner left overs we had for breakfast. We saw four other people on the whole walk and they were walking in the other direction.”

He also said they had sleeping bags but no mats. He said: “I remember the old huts. We slept straight on the boards. I can still feel every join and bent piece of board.”

I'll drag out some more pics soon.

Thanks again for all the great comments!

[north-north-west]

1957 looks pretty cool.

Of course. It's the year I arrived on the planet.

[awildland]

So after a bit more scanning work over the last week here are the remainder of the shots of my dad's 1957 overland track walk.

windy ridge hut

between windy ridge and pine valley

Narcissus Hut

Pelion West

[awildland]

By the way the captions I have on them are what my father wrote on the back of the slides...

Cathedral Mtn from track North of Ducane Hut

looking down track on pelion east

cathedral & falling mtn from pelion east

mt oakleigh

innes track

[tibboh]

Very nice and thanks for the effort. You got the Cathedral - Falling Mtn one from Pelion East backwards....the beauty of a slideshow is the odd reversed shot putting a different view on things. Love those huts (sighs)

[awildland]

last ones....Sorry all the pics are a bit out of order.
I like the one below - it was the first time my Uncle Athol had seen snow, he must have been about 26 at the time, and he still talks about it (now about 80).

barn bluff & cradle

dove lake from side of cradle mtn

barn bluff fr Cradle Mtn

sundial at waldheim

[north-north-west]

Wonderul. They seem to have had some pretty good weather, too.

[awildland]

Very nice and thanks for the effort. You got the Cathedral - Falling Mtn one from Pelion East backwards....the beauty of a slideshow is the odd reversed shot putting a different view on things. Love those huts (sighs)

I'm surprised I only got one back to front, it was a bit of a guessing game for me as I'm not that familiar with the OT.

[awildland]

Also, does anyone have any advice on who might be interested in keeping the original slides I have scanned in?? i.e. Tasmanian Parks Service or Cradle Mt Visitor Info,..or no-one!!?????

Our family is happy with the scanned images as a keepsake but before I throw out the originals it would be nice to see if anyone else might want them???

Any ideas welcome, thanks.

[dazintaz]

Fantastic photos!!!!!! abso brilliant thanks for posting!!!

[Nuts]

Also, does anyone have any advice on who might be interested in keeping the original slides I have scanned in?? i.e. Tasmanian Parks Service or Cradle Mt Visitor Info,..or no-one!!?????

Our family is happy with the scanned images as a keepsake but before I throw out the originals it would be nice to see if anyone else might want them???

Any ideas welcome, thanks.

I know some of the staff at Cradle Mt in the past have been very keen on the local history and supporting their local displays with old photo's. They may appreciate a copy or find someone interested in them for their or general archives. I can give you a contact name if you want to ask. Nice effort though and some are surprisingly good quality. (I'll point someone in this direction anyhow, when I next catch up).

[tastrax]

Also, does anyone have any advice on who might be interested in keeping the original slides I have scanned in?? i.e. Tasmanian Parks Service or Cradle Mt Visitor Info,..or no-one!!?????

Our family is happy with the scanned images as a keepsake but before I throw out the originals it would be nice to see if anyone else might want them???

Any ideas welcome, thanks.

I would offer them to the Tasmanian archives, especially if they have associated information such as year and individuals in the photographs

[awildland]

I know some of the staff at Cradle Mt in the past have been very keen on the local history and supporting their local displays with old photo's. They may appreciate a copy or find someone interested in them for their or general archives. I can give you a contact name if you want to ask.

I would offer them to the Tasmanian archives, especially if they have associated information such as year and individuals in the photographs

Thanks for the ideas. Nuts if you have a contact name/email address for someone that would be great, can you PM it to me? Many thanks.