High Country huts are some of the most evocative structures in the Australian landscape. They record grazing, mining, forestry, hydro-electric work, skiing, bushwalking and survival in country where weather can become dangerous very quickly. Photographically, the strongest huts are rarely just buildings: snow gums, grassland, granite, frost, snow, mist, river flats and distant ranges are often what turn a record photograph into a High Country image.

Many huts have also been lost to bushfire and later reconstructed. Where this is important to understanding the subject, the notes below identify a hut as a reconstruction or memorial rather than implying that every standing building contains its original nineteenth- or twentieth-century fabric.

Browse by region

Photographing High Country huts

For most huts, begin with an environmental composition before moving closer. Show the reason the hut exists: the exposed plain, the snow-gum woodland, the river flat or the mountain saddle. Early and late light gives timber and corrugated iron texture, while bright overcast conditions are excellent for slab walls and dark verandahs. In snow, watch the histogram carefully so that the camera does not turn white ground grey. In forest, a polariser can control foliage glare, but use it cautiously on very wide views containing blue sky.

Respect these structures as heritage places. Do not move tools, furniture, stones or historic material for a composition; do not carve or write on buildings; and avoid trampling fragile alpine vegetation to obtain a slightly different viewpoint.