'Man's shed' an ongoing project

Like the historic estate on which it is sited, Dogs Den Hut, in the heart of rural North Otago, is steeped in history, dating back more than 120 years. It was built to last, as Sally Rae reports.

When it came to rebuilding Dogs Den hut at Kuriheka estate in 1891, following an arson attack, Colonel Joseph Cowie Nichols was not taking any chances.

The hut, in the hills above Herbert in rural North Otago, was built from stone, with an iron-plate door and window and cement floor, in the hope it would be fireproof. However, writing in his extensive memoirs, Col Nichols, who bought Kuriheka in 1885, did express a fear that the bunks and roof would ''blaze nicely''.

The identity of the arsonist was believed to have been known but there was not sufficient evidence to convict him.

Col Nichols, a key figure in North Otago's heritage, wrote about a troublesome character who was believed to have burnt down the hut in a fit of revenge.

Before the fire, the manager of a neighbouring property was riding around when he found some sacks of wool in a straw stack.

Hampden policeman Michael Joyce then slept in the stack, with a string round a sack and tied to his wrist, in a bid to apprehend the offender, but the trap was unsuccessful.

Some days later, a bale of wool was spotted in the van of the ''slow train'' and the guard recalled how a man in the second smoker had shipped it at Waimotu, near Maheno.

The man was arrested and the wool was opened out on the tennis court at the Oamaru Police Station.

The fleeces were branded and included the Kuriheka brand. The perpetrator was sentenced to three months' hard labour.

Some months later, Kuriheka's head shepherd Sinclair Andrews, on his way to see some rabbiters, saw a coat lying on a bunk in Dogs Den Hut which he recognised as one that had been worn in court by the wool thief. He stayed with the rabbiters that night and, on his return, he saw the hut burning. Six huts in the area, including two on Kuriheka, were all burnt at that time, but there was not enough evidence to convict the thief. There was no doubt he did it in revenge, Col Nichols wrote.

Coincidentally, the same man went to a farm at Ashburton, loaded 25 sacks of grass seed into the farmer's dray, shipped the seed to Christchurch, abandoned the dray and horse, and was arrested and convicted.

When it came to rebuilding Dogs Den, Col Nichols engaged a Mr Diehl, from nearby Herbert, to build it.

He had impressed with his workmanship when he built a concrete dip for the stud ewes at the Kuriheka. Before that, a temporary dip had been made out of the zinc-lined packing case the Nichols' sofa had arrived in.

While the hut would have been well used in those early years, as the first stop on the annual week-long muster, in later times it was used only occasionally, by hunters.

Without regular use, it became a haven for birds, filled with their nests and manure - until Hugh Nichols, great-grandson of Col Nichols, decided to do something about it.

''I could have left it the way it was; it seemed a shame. It's pretty cool,'' he said.

So armed with a water-blaster, he ''went to town'' - cleaned up the hut, installed a ceiling and a solar panel, patched up the stonework and rebuilt new bunks, and generally bird-proofed the building.

He rebuilt the nearby sheep yards and used old railings from the yards to create a table and chairs for the hut.

''You can tell they've been well-weathered,'' he said.

Joking that the hut's inhabitants had put up with a smoky fire for 100 years, he also installed a log-burner.

A veranda served as a buffer - ''you're not opening straight to the elements'' - and the log-burner ensured the small space was kept ''roasty warm''.

In the old days, there would have been 10 bunks. Now it slept six comfortably - ''after that you start losing a bit of floor space''.

Fairy lights in the covered-in veranda provided light to play cards and photographs of successful hunting missions were on the wall of the hut. There was the obligatory stubbie bottle candle-holder - ''you've got to have a beer bottle candle-holder'', he said.

The hut might have undergone a transformation but it still retained its historical charm, including the initials of hut-dwellers carved on everything from the bunks to the chimney.

It was still used occasionally by some of Mr Nichols' friends as a base for hunting, but in reality, it was more like a working bee.

''It's a project more than anything. It's a man's shed, you know. A few of you get together, come up here, have a few beers, install something new,'' he said.

Hugh Nichols, who has worked on the family property since he left school, nearly 25 years ago, reckoned he had probably taken the hut as far as he could.

''To take it any further, you'd just lose the bit of character that it's got,'' he said.

He hoped it would still be there for at least another 100 years. The hut was in good repair, there was no borer in the wood and it was really now just a matter of keeping the odd leak out.

''There's always a new rusty nail to replace, but that's about all,'' he said.

As to the origins of the unusual name Dogs Den?

Hugh's father Robin Nichols said everyone wondered about it but there was ''no real answer'' that he had come across. It had always been known as Dogs Den, even back to the day of Col Nichols.

''There was talk of a wild dog up there at one stage,'' Mr Nichols said, although he did not know whether that was significant.

Robin Nichols was proud of the efforts of his son, in preserving a part of the history in which the property is so steeped.

Kuriheka Estate
• Fairfax Fenwick and his brother established Kuriheka within the old Otepopo Run.
• Colonel J. C. Nichols bought the 12,545ha property in 1885.
• Numerous walls, gates and buildings were built of Oamaru stone, including the impressive 19th and 20th-century 32-room, Oamaru stone homestead.
• Many of the structures remain and some have Historic Places Trust listing.
• Dogs Den Hut was built in 1891.
• Been renovated and sleeps six.
• Hut is not open to the public.
• Kuriheka is 8km west of Maheno, off State Highway 1, about 21km southwest of Oamaru and an hour's drive north of Dunedin.