Sydney’s best kept secret: Hidden track near a popular lookout leads to eight mystery huts overlooking the harbour – but the government doesn’t want you to know where they are
- Nestled into deep bushland in Sydney Harbour are eight secluded empty huts
- The huts were built around 100 years ago and were once home to squatters
- The NSW government is desperate to keep the site a secret in fear of vandals
- But those who spent time there are desperate to keep the heritage site alive
For almost a hundred years a collection of secluded and dilapidated huts have sat overlooking Sydney Harbour, but few know they even exist.
Nestled in between bushland on a cliff’s edge near a popular lookout, eight small huts that were built in the early 1920s for fishermen now sit relatively untouched.
They were once home to squatters and hippies who lived rent-free while home-owners around them were stuck paying millions for the same views.
But the squatters were eventually kicked out by the NSW government in the 1980s and the land was labelled a national park.
The huts that were once full of life are now locked up and those who spent years visiting the heritage-listed homes are fighting to keep the site alive.
Nestled in between bushland along a cliff in Sydney Harbour lies eight secluded huts
Many are unaware the huts are even there because there are no signs or directions to them
Hidden gem: The huts sit along the edge of a cliff in Sydney Harbour, but authorities want the exact location to remain a secret
Alida Hazelgrove spent nearly every weekend visiting the huts in the 1980s and was heartbroken to see rubbish and human faeces sprawled across the ground when she visited them this week.
‘What a mess, that’s really sad to see,’ she told the ABC.
The government has chosen to keep the site a secret and there is no signage on a nearby track to mark where the huts are – making it impossible to find them without inside knowledge.
Thousands of people walk along the picturesque bush track every week, completely unaware that below them lays one of Sydney’s hidden gems.
Ms Hazelgrove is now hoping the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) will introduce tours to the heritage site to keep the ‘magic’ of the huts alive.
‘It was as though you were travelling away from the normal world into a magical place … total privacy,’ she said.
The NSW government has kept the existence of the huts a secret and the doors and windows have been locked shut
A nearby walking track surrounds the huts but many are unaware one of Sydney’s hidden gems are right below them
She said she didn’t want the huts to be a ‘toilet’ over fears they would be vandalised, but also didn’t want them to be kept in the dark.
‘It can’t just be this giant question mark, because that’s what it is at the moment,’ Ms Hazelgrove said.
The huts were built between 1923 and 1963 and were made from stone, driftwood and had iron sheets for the roof.
Most of the buildings sit alongside each other like terrace houses and were first built to house fishermen.
Photos reveal the life squatters once lived in the now heritage listed site
People are able to visit the huts if they can find them but won’t have any access inside
A group of volunteers now look over the huts that sit overlooking Sydney Harbour
It’s also believed people used them as homes during The Great Depression and one man, Simon Flynn, spent 18 years living in one.
Occupants were eventually forced out in 1984 and a team of volunteers now watch over the huts.
The NPWS are desperate to give the huts a low profile with fears they may be overrun with vandals.
There are contradicting signs outside the huts with one saying ‘Do not enter’ while another says ‘Welcome’.
The huts are available to be visited but only to those who are lucky enough to find them.
A spokesperson for the NPWS told Daily mail Australia the huts were an ‘important part of the heritage of Sydney’.
‘Local volunteers assist the NPWS maintain the huts. Vandalism, misuse and damage is comparatively rare,’ the spokesperson said.