Pelion Plains, Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park

Old Pelion Hut is the only extant building of the former mining camp, a detailed description is presented in the 1994 CMP (Nolbe and Travalia 1994).  The hut is a single-roomed, gable-roofed structure, 5.2 metres x 4.3 metres. It sits on an excavated platform on timber stumps with stone footing used on the southern side. These stumps support edge plates to which the floor joists are fixed. The floorboards are King Billy pine. The hut has a corrugated iron roof, a door and a tin chimney on the northern wall and a narrow window in the southern wall partially filling a space that was once a second door. Externally, the building is clad with horizontal split boards that are a mix of King Billy pine and hardwood. The southern wall, for example, is principally King Billy, while the northern and western walls are predominantly hardwood. Internally, the walls and ceiling are lined with split King Billy pine boards that have been fixed horizontally. An internal partition, which does not extend to the ceiling, divides the building into two spaces. The western 'room' contains large bunks that have been built with split and round hardwood frames and hardwood bed bases. The eastern 'room' is arranged around a large fireplace. The internal lining around the fireplace shows significant evidence of change, apparently to accommodate progressively smaller chimneys that appear to have been added to the building over time. Within the sitting/cooking area are two small benches for sitting, one against the southern wall and the other against the northern wall of the cooking area. Two tables were installed in this room in 2010 and are not considered of historic significance. 

Graffiti is written on the walls and other internal structures. The earliest identifiable, 'A Hartnett', is written in pencil and dates to 1920; this is located on the mantle which is currently stored in the Peilion Rangers Quarters. Other early examples include the Northern Tasmanian Alpine Club in 1932 and mountain cattlemen who drove cattle to Pelion in the early 1930s. Modern graffiti produced by felt pen and pocket knife, mostly names and dates, overwrites much of the older material.

A legacy of the care with which it was built, the hut is in good condition. Some collapsed footings have given the building a lean, but there are plans to fix this and to remove the occasional rotten board.

Old Pelion Hut is managed by Parks and Wildlife according to the guidelines established in the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Management Plan, 2002. This and Brett Noble and David Travalia's Old Pelion Conservation Plan (1994) should be regarded as the guides to appropriate management and maintenance. The hut was originally one of three structures built for the Mount Pelion copper mine, the main workings of which are about 200 metres west of the hut.  The blacksmith's shop stood near the main workings. One of the shafts of the mine is within a few metres of Old Pelion Hut, while the site of the former mine workers' hut is about 20 metres north-west of Old Pelion. All these sites are included in the registered area.

The mine workings are located to the west of Old Pelion Hut (Burns 1958).  A mullock heap is located near the Douglas Creek, approximately 250m north-west of the hut, which marks the location of an adit (mine entrance) which leads to a N-S orientated drive extending approximately 70m.  An open cut and associated smaller drive is located 60m east of the mullock heap. The former black smith's shop and mine worker's hut are both within the registered area.

Comparative analysis
There are a few Tasmanian mine manager's residences remaining from the mining boom of the late 19th century, including those of the Mount Bischoff Tin Mining Company (1881, THR 5628) at Waratah, Penghana (1897, THR 5642) at Queenstown, Ballarat House, the former Ringarooma Tin Mine Company's manager's residence at Derby (c1900) and the second manager's residence for the Tasmania mine at Beaconsfield (c1900). As a mine manager's residence, Old Pelion Hut is much more modest than any of these, representing a much smaller mining company operating in a remote location. Such buildings are rare in Tasmania, as are King Billy pine huts, Du Cane Hut, built as a tourist lodge, being one of the few other examples.