Australian Huts & Homesteads Wall Art
Someone carried the iron in on a packhorse and put a roof over it. Twenty nine prints of buildings that people built, used and eventually walked away from, drawn from six states and territories and grouped here because the subject matters more than the postcode.
Why a building changes a landscape photograph
Empty country is difficult to read. There is no reference for how far away the ridge is or how big the tree is, so the eye has nothing to hold. A hut fixes that instantly. It gives the frame a scale, and it adds something a pure landscape cannot: evidence that somebody decided this was a place worth staying.
The alpine huts
The Victorian high country holds the densest group. Craig's Hut, Alpine National Park, VIC, Wallace Hut, Falls Creek, VIC, Fry's Hut, VIC, Kennedys Hut, VIC, Moroka Hut, VIC and Dogmans Hut Alpine NP were built as shelter for cattlemen on long rides. Across the border, Geehi Hut Murray River Kosciuszko National Park and Coolamine Homestead, NSW cover the New South Wales side of the same tradition, and Dixons Kingdom Hut, TAS and Kitchen Hut, Cradle Mountain, TAS the Tasmanian one.
The pastoral buildings
Further out, the buildings get bigger and the country gets harder. Arkaba Woolshed, Flinders Ranges, SA, Nulla Shearing Shed, Wentworth, NSW and Sixteen Mile Shed, Wentworth, NSW are working sheds. Burra Homestead, SA, Reggie's Hut, Burra, SA and Midnight Oil Cottage, Burra, SA come from a South Australian copper town that emptied out, and Blythe Homestead Wangi, NT and Old Laura Homestead, QLD extend the same story north.
The outliers
Brighton Beach Huts, VIC and Brighton Beach Huts, Melbourne, Australia are the only decorative buildings in the collection, bathing boxes rather than shelter. Mawson's Huts, Antarctica is the furthest from the rest in every sense, an expedition base rather than a dwelling.
Who these are for
This collection sells on association rather than on decoration. People buy a hut because of where they grew up, what their family did, or a ride they once made. It is worth browsing by the state you have a connection to rather than by how the image looks.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these prints from one part of Australia?
No, and that is the point of grouping them. The collection spans Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory, plus one image from Antarctica. What connects them is the subject rather than the location.
What kind of buildings are in this collection?
Working buildings, not grand ones. Craig's Hut, Alpine National Park, VIC, Dogmans Hut, Alpine NP and Geehi Hut, Murray River, Kosciuszko National Park are alpine cattlemen's huts. Kitchen Hut, Cradle Mountain, TAS is its Tasmanian equivalent. Burra Homestead, SA and Blythe Homestead, Wangi, NT are pastoral houses, and Nulla Shearing Shed, Wentworth, NSW is the shed that paid for them. High country huts are exposed to fire and weather, so each image is a record of the building as it stood when it was photographed.
Which is the best known hut?
Craig's Hut in the Victorian alps. Craig's Hut, Alpine National Park, VIC is the direct treatment and Broad Horizons Craig's Hut, VIC shows it in wider country.
Do these work as a set of two or three?
Yes, better than most subjects in the catalogue. The palette is consistent across the group, weathered timber, corrugated iron and dry grass, so two or three hung together read as a series rather than as unrelated pictures.