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Biography of Klaus Hueneke and Published Work

BOOKS, ARTICLES and PHOTO ESSAYS (1975-2014)

by

Klaus Hueneke

1975 A pair of skis and a pack. Australia Now, V 5 No 2.

Cover photo and article, Hemisphere V19 No8

1976 The high country gold rush. Canberra Times, 28/8/76

1977 1927-77 Fifty years of ski touring. Canberra Times, 30/7/77

The wombat on the flat (poem) Canberra Times, 24/9/77

EXPLORATION CREATIVITY, CCE (Book) with Caroline Josephs

1978 The grandeur of old Coolamine crumbles. Canberra Times, 22/7/78

Kiandra 1861 - where skiing began. Canberra Historical Journal No 2

The Kiandra - Kosciusko crossing 50 years later. Ski Year Book

Impressions on Snowden. Canberra Times 15/4/78

1979 Robbie Kilpinen : the flying Finn. Ski Year Book

Old huts of the Snowy Mountains. Canberra Historical Jn No 3

Empathy in photography. Communicating Arts Magazine.

BEYOND THE COTTER, ANU Press (Book) with Alan Mortlock

1980 Cover photo, Fall Line, V12 No4

          Skiing 70 kms to the Snowy River. Canberra Times.

1981 The coming of the snows. Canberra Times, 19/7/81.

Cover photo. UNESCO Review, March.

1982 High Country Huts - Kosciusko's hidden heritage. Heritage Aust V 1 No 2.

HUTS OF THE HIGH COUNTRY, ANU Press (Book)

Portfolio. Wild, Oct.

Portfolio. Hoofs and Horns.

Cover photo. NPA Jn, V26 No2.

Kiandra to Kosciusko. Wild, October.

1983 Wheelers - crown jewel of Kosciusko huts. Canberra Times 27/11/83.

Ted Winter-the man and his mountains. Fall Line, No 3.

Photo Essay. Overlander

NSW Wilderness Calendar

1984 Twenty five years in the high country. Ski Year Book.

Snowy Mountain Days. Part 1 & 2 of the history of bushwalking and ski touring. Wild, Jan & Oct.

Cover photo, Wild, No 14.

1985 Four Mile Hut - Bob Hughes Shangri-la in the Kiandra Hills. Snowy River Country, V 1.

Wheelers Hut. Heritage Australia, Spring.

A man and a woman from Snowy River. Snowy River Country, V 2.

Quinkin Country Cape York. Simply Living.

Arltunga Central Australia. Geo V 7 No 4.

Poster of alpine ash, NP&WS

Alpine images, Fall Line V17, No2.

High Country Shelters, Snowy River Country, V2.

1986 Mount Feathertop. Wild, April.

A Bush Christmas. Wild, April.

The snow never stopped - a week at Kelly's and Mackey's Hut. Snowy River Country, V 3.

Tiger Walker, Australian Geographic, V1 No3.

Cover photo. Snowy River Country V3

Portfolio. Snowy River Country V3 and 4

Ted Winter. Ski Extra, July.

1987 Coolamine - restored mountain outpost with a colourful history. Snowy River Country, V 5.

Tiger Bushwalker Peter Treseder. Wild, April.

KIANDRA TO KOSCIUSKO Tabletop Press (Book)

Portfolio. Snowy River Country, V5

Photo ACF Wilderness Calendar

1988 Portfolio, Snowy River Country, V8 and 10

Photo ACF Wilderness Calendar

1989 The mountain huts of Tasmania. Heritage Australia, Spring.

If you go down to the woods. Bogong V 10 No 4.

Photo, ACF Wilderness Calendar

Photo, Wilderness Soc Calendar

Photos, Aust Alps Tourist Map

Photos in Banjo Patersons High Country (A&R)

1990 Of shacks, tracks and blackened trees. Wild, No 35.

Rest came in the garb of White Death (Seaman and Hayes), Canberra Times, 27/6/90

Dark Clouds lift from Huts of High Country. Canberra Times 15/7/90

KOSCIUSKO - WHERE THE ICE-TREES BURN Tabletop Press (Book of photos)

Photo essay, Heritage Aust, Winter.


1991 Charlie Carter, hermit of the High Country. Canberra Historical Jn. No 28.

Cover photos, Snowy Times

Photo, Wilderness Calendar

Photos, Wild Magazine

Cover photo 'Kosciusko - Mountain in History'.

Cover photo, Cooee.


1992 Cover photo, Snowy Times.

Photos in Cultural Heritage of Aust Alps (a book)


1993 Photo, Wilderness Calendar ACF

Photos in Skiing the Western Faces


1994 Winter tragedy on Mt Kosciusko, Wild, No 52

PEOPLE OF THE AUSTRALIAN HIGH COUNTRY Tabletop Press (Book)

Photo Wilderness Diary

Photos in Skis on the Brindabellas and Searching for the Snowy.


1995 Our cattle liked the Scenery. National Library News, June.

Photos in KHA Newsletter


1996 The elusive Peaks of Namadgi. Canberra Times, 7/4/96

TILTING AT SNOWGUMS with Mark O'Connor (Book, Tabletop Press)

The thrill of the chill. Canberra Times, 21/7/96

A trip down a string of Pearls, Canberra Times, 26/10/96

Photos in The Bulletin

1997 Rolling on a River. Canberra Times 4/5/97.

The call of the wild, weird and wonderful. Canberra Times 9/11/97

From Cold War to a new life in the sun. Canberra Times 30/11/97

Above the Snowgums. Photo exhibition Botanical Gardens.

1998 Summer in the cool, alluring mountains. Canberra Times 18/1/98

Climbing Mt Bogong, Almost. Canberra Times 17/5/98

Good old Kombi goes exploring. Canberra Times 22/8/98

New Australian kid in leather shorts. Canberra Times 28/11/98

I Lift my eyes to the High Country. Canberra Times, 12/12/98

Photos in If I wake in the middle of the night.

Back to Nature, Canberra Times.

Cover photo on the book Earliest Monaro

1999 Life and Death in the High Country. Canberra Times, 20/6/99

The wild enjoyed in many ways. Canberra Times, 17/7/99

'ONE STEP AT A TIME.' Tabletop Press (Book)

Life in the High Country. Geo, Vol 21, No 4.

2000 Downy, decorative snow can also be deadly. Canberra Times, 24/6/2000

2001 Writers profile in ACT Write, March.

2001 Huts-a certain fascination. KHA Newsletter.

2002 Celebrating the Australian Alps, Canberra Times 14/9/02 and News from 

the Alps, No 28.

2003 Photos in five Topmill Calendars including ‘Huts’.

Journey through the Ashes, Canberra Times.

HUTS IN THE VICTORIAN ALPS. Tabletop Press (Book)

2004 Photos in Topmill Calendar ‘Huts’.

2005 Photos in two calendars ‘Huts’ and ‘High Country’

2006 Photos in calendars

Celebrating the Australian Alps, Wild Magazine.

MOUNTAIN LANDSCAPES AND HISTORIC HUTS. Tabletop Press (Book).

2007 Photos in two calendars

Saving Huts of the High Country, Canberra Times, Feb.

2008 Photos in calendar

Life through the lens. Photo essay - Great Walks magazine.

2009 High Country Havens. Article Australian Geographic (January-March)

Photos purchased by NP&WS for Kiandra History displays

Photos in calendars

2010 Photos in huts calendar

Photos used for interpretive walk, Namadgi National Park

Photos and oral history tapes purchased by Mitchell Library in Sydney.

2011 STRING OF PEARLS – the South Coast of NSW. Book of photos. Tabletop Press.

Photos in huts calendar and various newspapers.

2012 Over 100 colour photos placed on the WWW by Parks Australia.

Where the Ice-trees Burn. NPA Bulletin, ACT

Queen’ Birthday Honours to KH, Canb. Times and NPA Bulletin, ACT

2013 Stillwater Unzipping on the South Coast, NPA Bulletin, ACT

Nuts over a Dingo. NPA Bulletin ACT

Classic Books for an Amateur Naturalist. NPA Bulletin, ACT

Searching for Simple Huts in the European Alps, KHA Newsletter

2014 Exploring a Wild Australian Coast – the South Coast of NSW (Book of journeys)

About a man called Klaus Hueneke

 I was born at the end of a long and trying labour, in Rolfshagen, a tiny village near Rinteln, Germany. It was just before the Nazis finally capitulated. With the rest of my family I cruised across to Australia on a very big ship in 1955 and lived in a simple fibro cottage on a hillside called Glenroi Heights in Orange for seven years. Most of the time at Orange High I was confused, out of my depth and terribly self conscious but still clever enough to get to Teachers College.

I've been a jack of many trades and, until about twenty years ago, master of none. I've tried my hand and brain at teaching manual arts, photo-journalism, environmental planning, being a meticulous academic, ski instructing, mountain guiding, running adult education courses and, not to forget, being a father and partner. I have lived in Newcastle, Yanco, Dapto, Wellington, Sydney and Canberra, and in an ashram near Bombay for a month.

One of my passions is the Australian Alps. I have photographed them, interviewed numerous old timers who were born around them, skied and walked them from one end to the other, and by degrees managed to turn them into something I could make a living from.

The BIG breakthrough came in 1982 when ANU Press published 'Huts of the HighCountry'. Now in its seventh printing it has sold 14,000 copies, a great start for a writer. Having seen what publishing was all about I set up Tabletop Press in 1984. Initially I published my own books, eg, 'Kosciusko - where the Ice-Trees Burn' and 'People of the Australian High Country', but having developed expertise in this field I was soon called upon to help others. They included Alan Andrews with 'Kosciusko - The Mountain in History', Matthew Higgins with 'Skis on the Brindabellas' and Gwen Wilson with 'Murray of Yarralumla'. I've collaborated with Mark O'Connor, the Olympic poet, on a volume of poetry and photos called 'Tilting at Snowgums' and I've reprinted some old classics.

Having printed these books they needed to be sold, so with loaded campervan I took to the road and covered numerous bookshops in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and sundry watering places in between. I discovered that I could be a specialist wholesaler of books about the Australian Alps and proceeded to buy in books from other publishers.

In 1996 I decided that I would suspend writing about the life and adventures of others and write about my own. This turned out to be much more demanding than I had thought especially if I was to be honest and sincere about it. The result was 'One Step at a Time'. Since then I have produced the award winning book ‘Huts in the Victorian Alps’ and two photographic books ‘Mountain Landscapes and Historic Huts’ and ‘A String of Pearls – the South Coast of NSW’ . In between books I've produced over 100 feature articles and photo essays for magazines and newspapers.

I’m an honorary life member of various clubs and in younger days obtained many Life Saving Awards including the Award of Merit and the Distinction. The interest in life saving followed my clumsy rescue of two people from the Georges River when I was 14 years old. At university I completed an arts degree with honours and a Master of Science in plant ecology. I belong to an exclusive, but quite large club who did not complete a Ph D. University taught me many things but not how to make a living. Life taught me that. It also taught me that if you enhance your community with a substantial body of work you may get an Order of Australia. This happened in 2012.

I’ve had a number of dramatic dalliances and three meaningful, long term relationships with women (in tandem and not like some Mormons, all at once!) and am now married to Patricia, a herbal medicine practitioner. I have, over the years, helped to bring up six children, two of whom are my own. I now have five grandchildren, Jarrah, Angus, Zoe, Ben and Hailey.

I love Australia and being an Australian, and, having sung the stirring words in several choirs, think that our national anthem should be 'I am Australian'. I tend towards Republicanism but have a soft spot for the current queen. I would like our parliament to be more inclusive and less adversarial. I follow an ancient spiritual tradition called Siddha Yoga and like to meditate and chant.

More than anything else I'm a human being trying to make sense of life, death and all things in between. I've had fleeting glimpses of the Holy Grail but not yet grasped its full splendour.

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