HILLS HUT

Hills Hut on Parsons Track, Great Western Tiers

Hills Hut was built in the 1960s by Bruce Hill and was used for a short time as a base for loggers in the area. After the loggers left it became pretty dilapidated with bits missing here and there, and the Deloraine Walking Club did some work on it in the late 70s. Weather and […]

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#backinthe80s

Sun shining in the Tasmanian bush shot on Hasselblad 500cm by Jade Austen

Ever since I can remember I’ve loved being out in the bush. It was our backyard in Reedy Marsh when I was younger. I remember finding fallen trees full of dried bush honeycomb and my brother and I pretending we were explorers, discovering our surroundings for the first time. I have a memory of getting […]

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WAY HOME

Forest and mist detail, Meander Falls Track

We depend on nature not only for our physical survival. We also need nature to show us the way home, the way out of the prison of our own minds. We got lost in doing, thinking, remembering, anticipating – lost in a maze of complexity and a world of problems. We have forgotten what rocks, […]

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THE DOCTOR’S ROOM

Doctors Room in The Barracks Willow Court New Norfolk. Jade Austen Portra 160 film.

Willow Court has been known by many names; Invalid Barracks, Colonial Hospital, Madhouse New Norfolk, Her Majesty’s Lunatic Asylum, Mental Diseases Hospital, Lachlan Park and Royal Derwent Hospital. Thankfully attitudes towards mental health have changed a bit over the years! The complex opened in 1827, 3 years before Port Arthur, making it the oldest asylum […]

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IRONSTONE

Mount Ironstone viewed from the top of Syds Track on Ilford Delta 100 film

I can’t remember a lot about this day a month ago, except that it was very windy and the clouds were rolling across the mountain bringing occasional showers and rainbows. I followed one of the few sets of cairns to this spot and wondered where they all go. One of them leads to Ironstone and […]

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SOME DAYS ARE LIKE THAT

Hasselblad looking up to a blurred forest canopy on Kodak tri-x black & white film.

Journal Entry… 11.40am Cold. Sitting beside an unnamed creek on the Grail Falls Track, Walls of Jerusalem NP. Moss on everything. Sun shines weakly through the myrtle and sassafras tops. Can hear a single bird above the flow of water. A single sporadic whistle. I’ve fallen in mud and walked through a creek, hiked past […]

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LAKE PARANGANA

Morning sunlight on Lake Parangana, Mersey Forest Tasmania. Captured on Tri-x film by Jade Austen.

Located north of the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, Lake Parangana on the Mersey River is a man-made lake that is quite lovely on still mornings, especially if there’s mist hanging around. On this particular Friday morning I went for a drive and ended up in the Mersey Forest, exposing the last four photos on […]

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HUT AT LADY LAKE

Interior of Lady Lake Hut at the top of Higgs Track, Great Western Tiers.

It was a Friday. It was the first snow of the season, so I went where I usually go when it snows. The first part of the track to Lady Lake Hut was fairly ordinary, Dale Brook was flowing fast beneath the bridge and scatterings of unremarkable brown fungi were visible along the rooty rocky […]

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APRIL 23

Dwarf myrtle forest in the Great Western Tiers on Ilford Delta 100 by Jade Austen

Journal Entry …Syds Track. Searching for my final image before heading back down. Here amongst the dwarf myrtles the moss is verdant and bright green. The sky is overcast, light showers come and go. I would focus on the plethora of greens were I shooting a colour film such as Portra 160 (that would do […]

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CHASM FALLS

Lower Chasm Falls on Kodak Tri-X film

Spiderwebs on my arms and in my face. Black cockatoos flying together shriek their delight. Water moves below. Yellow, brown and purple fungi whisper their first hello. There are three waterfalls on the Smoko Creek track in Meander. The first (shown above) is reached within about 45 minutes walking and is pretty speccy. Many brightly […]

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KUNANYI

Sunrise on Kunanyi with hasselblad 500cm and tri-x

Omali and I headed south for a weekend away. This was definitely one of the highlights; watching the early morning light over kunanyi / Mt Wellington from our hotel room. It was a good experience but we are creatures of nature and quiet and think that next time we will lean more toward renting a […]

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MONDAY MORNING

Father and son at Princes Park Launceston on Ilford HP5

Originally a brickfield and site of raucous political rallies and even the hanging of two bushrangers in 1834, Princes Square is now an historic park with mature elm and oak trees, a fountain and a statue of Dr William Russ Pugh, the first to use general anaesthetic for surgical operation in the Southern Hemisphere. The […]

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AFTER RAIN

Morning sunlight on myrtles after rain | Portra 160

Snow was forecast on this late winter day so we decided to keep the kids home from school and spend a night in Hills Hut up on Parsons Track. Overnight the snow fell as rain where we were and it was loud on the thin tin roof. I woke every hour or so to put […]

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