Halfway Hut

Halfway Hut has been carefully reconstructed in the area below you. Halfway between Clyde and Cromwell, it holds a story of depression-era hardships. 

Mollie Pilkington, her husband Joe, 2 year old Josie and baby Jean lived in the original Halfway Hut during the great depression of the 1920s and 1930s.

There was no work. The dole was not paid every week and tensions ran high. Mollie struggled to feed her family. When the government announced an incentive scheme for men willing to go goldmining, Mollie and Joe decided things could only get better. The offer was dole paid every week, one pick, one shovel, one gold pan and free train travel to Clyde.

"It all sounded like a bit of an adventure really," Mollie recalled. "We felt a bit like pioneers."

Joe created a home for Mollie and the children on the flat area between O'Reilly and Annan orchards. He used the ruins of an old miner's hut, with canvas for a roof.

There was no such thing as a balanced diet. Mollie often cooked watercress to ensure they had greens. There was, however, a never-ending supply of rabbit meat, so Mollie became an expert in the many ways of cooking rabbit.

Mollie's home was nicknamed 'The cabaret', as men gathered there weekly to play cards. In winter, they placed shovefuls of hot embers on the floor under the table to keep warm. Boots off, steaming socks, Mollie's date loaf and a good poker hand was the highlight of each week. 

Joe found no gold on the flat, but heard of gold to be found further up river. He found Halfway House hut, originally built by Greek miners in the 1860s.

The only drawback was access. They had to swing across the raging river in a chair.

When Mollie needed to go to Clyde, Joe and Bill who lived in a nearby cave, handled the ropes. Joe would swing across to the road side of the gorge, Bill would haul the chair back, and clutching her children, Mollie would climb on. The chair sped down the cable to the sag in the centre, and Joe would haul the family to safety.

"I was often very frightened, especially in high winds," recalled Mollie.

Like most depression-era miners, Joe did not find gold. They did, however, find a way through the depression.