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The wild tale of Mt Kosciuszko's short-lived weather observatory

In 1897, a band of hardy men decided to build a fully staffed weather observation hut atop Australia’s highest point, Mt Kosciuszko (2228m). It was doomed from day one.

The weather station became known as Wragge’s Observatory. It was the brainchild of British meteorologist Clement Wragge. They called him "Inclement" Wragge – a humorous nickname which reflected his love of wild weather.

Ultimately, the weather up on Mt Kosciuszko would prove too inclement even for old “Inclement” Wragge himself.

The working party to build the observatory arrived at the summit in December 1897 with horses and supplies, including timber for construction of the hut. Local paper The Monaro Mercury described the party as arriving in "most unfavourable weather conditions" and they spent a rough night exposed to winds that made it too hard to pitch tents.

The men immediately set about building the first of the two rooms in the hut. The next day, six inches (approx. 20cm) of snow coated the ground. The following night they recorded a temperature of 24.3°F (–4.3°C). The cold weather meant that it was impossible for the first couple of days to make the mortar for the stone chimney. Remember, this was summer.

If establishing the hut was a nightmare, living in it and monitoring conditions over the coming winter was no less a challenge. The hut had a door for summer entry and a roof portal for winter access when snow reached all the way up to the flat roof – which it usually did by late June.

Image: Rime on a rock outcrop up near Mt Kosciuszko. Source: @trashyhonky on Instagram.

A lightning rod erected on the side of the hut would collect huge icicles which would often come crashing down onto the roof at night, waking the men. The icicles were made of a type of ice called rime – caused when supercooled water droplets in fog or clouds come into contact with a surface and freeze on impact.

READ MORE: Rime time in the icy Snowy Mountains

When the men went to check the thermometer which was erected just metres outside the hut, they usually had to be roped so they wouldn't be blown off the mountain.

Sadly, few of the weather observations taken at Wragge’s Observatory remain. Ultimately, the observatory proved to be more of a testament to human resilience than to meaningful scientific data gathering. Eventually, even that resilience wore thin. Spring floods and co-habitation by rodents were two other persistent problems.

The observatory was abandoned in 1904. It was just too tough up there. Then in 1914, it burned to the ground after a lightning strike.

Image: A lovely summer day on Mt Kosciuszko's summit (where Wragge's Observatory once stood) looking south to Australia's second-highest peak Mt Townsend (2209m). Source: iStock.

Today, up to 100 thousand people climb Mt Kosciuszko each year. It's a super popular hike in summer, accessed from the top of the Kosciuszko Chairlift at Thredbo (6km) or from the road above the ski village of Charlotte Pass (8km). No trace of the weather observatory or any other human structure remains, except for the summit plinth and one information sign.

If you're lucky enough to visit on a clear summer day, the weather can be warm, sunny and benign. But conditions like that rarely last more than a few days. The next wintry gale and bout of rain and/or snow is never far away, even in summer.

READ MORE: Aussie summer snow two days before Christmas

Australia's highest weather station now stands within the boundary of Thredbo's upper ski slopes at an elevation of 1957m. It's what the BoM calls an "AWS", or automated weather station, which means no one has to venture outdoors in violent blizzards to take manual measurements.

Clement Wragge would no doubt marvel at the technology and wish it had been around in his day.