Doc Wanaka area manager Paul Hellebrekers yesterday said use of the Deep Creek Hut was an outcome of Mount Pisa Station's tenure review. The hut is on the Cardrona-Cromwell Pack Track and available for overnight stays by trampers, mountain bikers, horse-trekkers and back-country or cross-country skiers.
Mr Hellebrekers said the hut was built in 1891 and was an excellent example of a basic, high-country musterers' hut.
It had been extensively altered in the early 1970s by the runholder, but Mr Hellebrekers said Doc staff had worked with the Historic Places Trust to return the hut to close to its original form.
The hut has been mostly lined with plywood but a Perspex cover protects part of a wall to display original graffiti from the early 1900s.
The graffiti suggests shepherds were more interested in boxing than rugby - writing and sketching their opinions on the hut's walls inside and out.
Mr Hellebrekers said a wall panel bearing the names of various mustering parties was retained.
''It's important we recognise why the hut was built up there and who used it. Although the land use has changed, huts like this played an important role throughout the Upper Clutha district.''
Mr Hellebrekers said another distinctive feature was a group of dog kennels.
''As well as the more usual 40-gallon drums dug into tussocked banks, there are examples of a much rarer structure with schist walls and an iron roof.
''The original horse and sheep-holding paddock has also been retained,'' he said.
The hut sleeps six, in three double bunks with mattresses. It has a steel bench, a table with benched seating, a coal range for heating and an outdoor toilet. The water source is the nearby creek. The hut is 10km from the Lowburn car park in Swann Rd and 8km from the Meg hut.
