As I said in my last post, this is a story that deserves telling in more detail since for me it brought to life the landscape and how we should cherish and conserve rather than log and scavenge such areas of natural beauty. It's a true story of a couple's passion for the environment and their determination to establish a National Park and, tragically after four years of marriage losing his beloved wife, one man's persistence over two decades to see their dream was attained.
Briefly, In the 1910s Gustav Weindorfer and Kate Cowle climbed Cradle Mountain. They found the land beautiful and Gustav proclaimed "This must be a national park for the people for all time. It is magnificent, and people must know about it and enjoy it".
They began campaigning for the area from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair to be a national park, and set up a popular chalet the next year. It was declared a scenic reserve in 1922, a wildlife reserve in 1927 and its current designation of national park from 1947.
If you would like to read the story in full then please visit the following websites: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Weindorfer : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kate_Cowle
So here in a little more detail is their story that I have edited from the above links.
Gustav Weindorfer was born in Spittal an der Drau, Carinthia, an alpine province of Austria-Hungary in February 1874. Gustav was well educated and had some formal botany training in Austria. Weindorfer tried several and varied occupations before deciding to emigrate to Australia.
He arrived in Melbourne on 13th June 1900 and obtained a clerical position with the Austrian Lloyd Steamship Company. During 1901 and 1902, Weindorfer would stroll, almost every weekend, through the Royal Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, or go walking in the nearby bushland with friends.
In 1902 he met with Kate Cowle. Kate had recently moved from Tasmania, where her family had a farm at Kindred, near Devonport. Their shared enthusiasm for botany led to their marriage. The wedding occurred in Stowport on 1st February 1906. A large part of their honeymoon was spent camped on Mount Roland (See a screenshot photo from the internet and a photo taken by me of Mt Roland, when we visited Sheffield the next day) with the aim of making an extensive botany collection. This would have been the first time Gustav had a clear view of Cradle Mountain. Kate and Gustav purchased a farm at Kindred and Gustav proved to be a capable farmer.
Weindorfer's first trip to Cradle Mountain was in January 1909. He returned the following summer with his wife Kate and Mr (later Major) R E Smith. On 4th January 1910, the party were graced with fine weather for their climb of the mountain. It was here that Smith later quoted Weindorfer as saying:
"This must be a National Park for the people for all time. It is magnificent, and people must know about it and enjoy it."
Whilst in the valley below Mt Cradle, Kate and Gustav selected a site for them to build a chalet that would allow tourists to stay with them. Some hundreds of acres were purchased, and in March 1912, Gustav commenced work on the building he was to call Waldheim, or "home in the forest". It was built of King Billy pine, harvested from the adjacent forest. By Christmas 1912, stage one was ready for the first visitors, with a living and dining room and two bedrooms.
We visited the chalet which has been rebuilt, see the photos.
1916 was a year of disaster for Weindorfer. His mother died in January; Kate who had been ill for some time died in April. One of his brothers died in June and then his father in October. He sold the farm at Kindred and became a full-time resident at Waldheim. His unhappiness and isolation were enhanced due to World War I and his Austrian heritage. Gustav had become an Australian citizen before his marriage, but despite this, some local groups ostracised him and people spread a rumour that he was a spy.
In 1921, Weindorfer set out on a tour of Tasmania to promote both Waldheim and the concept of a national park for Cradle Mountain. The following year, a scenic reserve and wildlife sanctuary was declared, stretching from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair. His reputation as a great host spread, but visitors came mainly in summer. Dorfer, as he became known, enjoyed company so in the many quiet times, he felt great loneliness. As the years went by, the national economic situation deteriorated, resulting in a drop in visitor numbers. Gustav had to sell timber and furs of local animals to make ends meet.
Gustav mostly cared for visitors single-handedly. This, along with the extra jobs and the cold winters, strained his health and his heart began to show signs of weakness in the early 1920s. In April 1931 he bought a motor cycle to make travel out of the valley easier. On 5th May 1932, while trying to start the cycle, his heart gave out. He was found dead the next day, near the present Ronny Creek car park. Weindorfer had died within sight of his beloved mountain. Following his wishes, he was buried in the valley, the ceremony being conducted on 10th May 1932.
Now the story from Kate Cowle's viewpoint which adds some interesting depth to the account above.
Kate was born 19th July 1863 in Fingal, Tasmania, one of 9 children and became an accomplished musician, performing publicly in Devonport, Tasmania as a pianist. After gaining financial independence with an inheritance from her father's estate, she moved to Melbourne where she joined the Field Naturalists Club of Victoria in 1902. One evening, as the first female to give a paper to the Naturalists, she spoke about botany and the geology of Mount Roland, at the foothills of Cradle Mountain. Talking about the vegetation experienced on her climb she notably conveyed the "Tug on her heart as the silent outreach of the soul toward eternal beauty".
In the audience for her presentation at the club, was her future husband Gustav Weindorfer. Botany, flowers and a love of the bush lead to their union and subsequent marriage in 1906. Their honeymoon consisted of exploring and camping on Mount Roland in a tent for six weeks enjoying Kangaroo tail soup, foraging in the flora and enduring the elements, including blizzard conditions.
In 1911, her love for the area lead Cowle to purchase 200 acres of Crown Land at Cradle Mountain on which later Gustav later built their chalet, "Waldheim". It was built in a protected part of the Cradle Mountain area with already fallen trees from around the location, primarily King Billy Pine (Hence my posting about the King Billy Pines) . It was a work in progress over time which saw the addition of a bath house with a caldron that eventually provided warm water for the inhabitants. The Weisdorfer's built and decorated it to attract friends, other passionate naturalists and advocates for conservation.
As a naturalist, Cowle's favourite species were the small lichens, decaying logs with mosses and small plant life. (I've attached a couple of photos taken whilst enjoying an 'Enchanted Walk" locally before driving to Sheffield for Lunch). She spent a lot of her time on the farm they had bought together while Gustav worked on the chalet, Waldheim. During these long separations, they kept in touch via letters even though the trek down the mountain was 47 miles to where the mail was delivered for Gustav. The love story of the couples, botanic and conservation work for the Cradle Mountain area and the hardships endured as pioneers was researched by Kate Legge, resulting in her 2019 book, Kindred: A Cradle Mountain Love Story published by Barnes & Noble.
In 1915, Kate began having chest pains, first diagnosed as indigestion but later a lump was found in her chest that triggered a downward spiral in her health. She died on 29th April 1916 in Devonport, Tasmania. She was 52 at the time of her death, leaving Gustav to complete the work over the next two decades, that they had commenced together.
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