Bill Belcher

Below is an article in The Tasmanian Tramp No 27 1989 written by Roy Davies on Bill Belcher. Pages 43-49

MT FIELD NATIONAL PARK DEVELOPMENT

The Contributions of William Arthur Belcher by Roy Davies

The reader should note that except in the title the park is called 'National Park' throughout, because during the period covered up to 1937 that was the proclaimed official title. It was in 1947 that the official title was altered to 'Mt Field National Park'. The present area in 1988 is 16 257 hectares.

The Russell Falls area has been a reserve for over a century, but development of the 27 000 acres (10 935 hectares) which constituted the National Park at the time of its proclamation in January 1917 was virtually restricted to rough foot-tracks and to the Lake Webster shelter which E.T. Emmett named 'the iron contraption'. The rough foot-track which led to the Lake Fenton area was well below the standard required for a pack-horse route.

Bill Belcher's appointment as Ranger was recorded in the National Park Board's first annual report, dated I June 1918. The initial employment was on a part-time basis, but the second annual report noted that Ranger Belcher would take up full-time duties as an officer of the Board when the (Lake Fenton) pack-track was completed. In the meantime, he was working under contract with the government in connection with the pack-track, until he completed his contractual obligations about May 1919. His full-time appointment was recorded in the National Park Board report of 1919-20.

Before the Park was established in 1917, the Derwent Valley railway from Hobart via Glenora had been extended from Russell (now Westerway) as far as National Park. Walch's Tasmanian Almanac for 1917 lists weekday morning trains to National Park, with an afternoon service terminating at Russell. Later, some Sunday excursion trains were run during the summer months, and there were even some special schedules provided for weekend visitors to National Park.

Bill Belcher was personally involved in the introduction of skiing to the snow-clad higher slopes of National Park in the early 1920s, and furthered the development of this and other winter sports with great enthusiasm. Although some skating was performed on frozen lakes and tarns, skiing soon became the principal winter sport of the park, and its popularity spurred on much of the development which was implemented by Belcher and his successors. In the 1920s and 1930s the snow cover was excellent from June to November.

The sketch plan of National Park (circa 1922) is based on a map included in a booklet Tasmania's National Park which was issued by the Tasmanian Government Tourist Bureau (kindly lent by Mr F.N. Lakin). Features of present-day interest include the existence then of a track from Mt Field East to Lake Webster, used by visitors who approached the plateau from Ellendale, and, in part, by those who arrived via the Broad River Valley.

It was stated in the 1917—1918 report of the National Park Board that a considerable amount of the Rangers' time had been devoted to the cutting of new tracks. When the list of tracks cut during this period is found to include the following, this will not cause surprise:

Alternative (creekside) route to Lady Barron Falls.

Track from Lake Fenton to Mt Field East, with a branch track to Seagers Lookout.

Track from Lake Fenton out to Lakes Belton and Belcher.

Belcher's building activities were no less intense, whether performed with his own hands or under his supervision. Soon after the inauguration of the National Park, his major involvements included constructions such as the two-roomed hut on the shore of Lake Fenton, a small rest-hut below Lady Barron Falls and a picturesque rest-house at the Park entrance. Later building developments involving Belcher included a shelter on the pack-track at the turn-off to Beatties Tarn, additional huts at Lake Fenton and dismantling the old Lake Webster hut for portage and re-erection at Lake Dobson and elsewhere.

Access to the Lake Fenton huts was via the pack-track which had taken up so much of Belcher's time and energy during earlier years. Prior to completion of the pack-track, visitors were obliged to carry a share of their gear from the limit of pack-horse travel up to the lake. No doubt this helped them to appreciate the onerous nature of the duties of a packhorse such as Belcher's "Runic".

Perhaps less developmental than Belcher's construction activities, but nevertheless welcome to many, was his part in stocking the larger lakes of the Park with rainbow trout.

The illuminated address presented to Mr and Mrs W.A. Belcher to commemorate in 1929 the silver anniversary of his wedding to Emily Teresa Holmes on 28 December 1904 is a tangible memento which reflects the widespread respect which was felt for them in their local community and in Hobart. The signatures include those of Sir James O'Grady (Governor of Tasmania from 1924 to 1930) and of many prominent citizens. The illustrations include Bill Belcher (following a pack-horse up the track), a picture of the first hut at Lake Fenton, a skier and a thylacine. Permission to publish the photograph of the illuminated address was given by Mrs DI. Marriott and with the agreement of Mrs J. Burns, a grand-daughter of Mr and Mrs Bill Belcher.

Bill Belcher's death on 21 May 1934 at the age of 62 occurred at a time when the Tasmanian Government was making provision for the construction of the long-awaited road to Lake Fenton. This was a move which was destined to provide work for the unemployed, to improve access to ski fields and scenic features and to make feasible the use of Lake Fenton as a storage for an additional water supply for the Hobart area. By mid-1937 the road had in fact been completed nearly to the Lake Fenton huts, and the future for pack-horse operations in the Park must have looked very gloomy. In the course of the road construction, Belcher's pack-track was crossed in various locations and became an item of history which is surprisingly elusive in places. The water supply development necessitated the removal of all but one of the Lake Fenton huts from their original sites. They were re-erected near Lake Dobson as the 'Government Huts' which provide basic accommodation to this day.

It is pleasing to note that Lake Belcher, lying west of Mt Mawson, was named after the first ranger of National Park by resolution of the National Park Board in its early days.

Various issues of The Tasmanian Tramp cover many aspects of Bill Belcher's work. These include in No. l, 1933, Roma Reid's "We Like Skiing", which pays homage to . . . Mr Belcher, the Ranger, who knows almost every stick and stone of our National Park, and is one of the kindliest, best-tempered and wittiest men walking the earth. An article by Sheila Brough in No. 3, 1934, describes the ascent of the 10-kilometre Lake Fenton pack-track after a three-hour evening rail trip to National Park. Also in No. 3 is E.T. Emmett's tribute "The Passing of a Friend. " Jessie Luckman's historical notes on the Park in No. I l, 1953, include many references to Bill Belcher's work. In No. 22, 1976, Balfour Johnston recalls details of a package tour providing overnight accommodation in 'Hakea' hut at Lake Fenton, with 'superb' meals prepared by Ranger Belcher and Charles Marriott (of 'Park House', National Park).

As visitors return from Russell Falls towards the Mt Field National Park entrance picnic grounds, they may notice a plaque erected on the Crooke monument. The caption, the official recognition of Belcher's work, reads:

This Tablet is Dedicated by the Members of the National Park Board to the Memory of William A. Belcher Ranger from the Inception of the Park in 1916 until April 1934. His love for and interest in this park were largely responsible for its development.

Ranger W. Belcher and "Runic' by courtesy of Mrs. D. I. Marriott

Thanks are due to the Royal Society of Tasmania Library, to the State Library of Tasmania, and to others who have assisted the author, including Messrs G. Middleton, M. Clennett, and G. Lennox (all of the Department of Lands, Parks and Wildlife), A. Hewer and D. Widdicombe.