Kate Cowle

• Comment: Findagrave and Goodreads reviews are not reliable sources, and the non-encyclopedic tone remains. "This endeared her to the male audience for her audaciousness and sense of adventure," "share the experience of this pristine environment," are further examples. This person is almost certainly notable, so a bit of cleanup should have the article published to main space. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 16:47, 29 June 2022 (UTC)

• Comment: There are a number of formatting problems here, see WP:YFA for help, for instance we never use external links in the body of an article. Terms like "magnificent photographs" and "further testament to their bonding around a mutual passion" are not appropriate or neutral tone. Why does the draft start with a link to somebody else? Theroadislong (talk) 09:53, 28 June 2022 (UTC)

---

Kate Julia Cowle (born 19 July 1863) was the first recorded female to trek to the top of Cradle Mountain, Tasmania in 1910. A passionate botanist and conservationist, along with her fellow climbers Gustav Weindorfer, Ron Smith and Walter Malcolm Black. "This must be a national park for the people for all time. It is magnificent, and people must know about it and enjoy it" Gustav said.

Background

Kate was born on 19th July, 1863 in Fingal, Tasmania as one of 9 children and became an accomplished musician, performing publicly in Devonport as a pianist. After gaining financial independence with an inheritance from her father's estate, she moved to Melbourne where she joined the 'Field Naturalists Club of Victoria in 1902' . One evening, as the first female to give a paper to the Naturalists, she spoke about botany and the geology of Mount Roland, at the foothills of Cradle Mountain. Talking about the vegetation experienced on her climb she notably conveyed the "Tug on her heart as the silent outreach of the soul toward eternal beauty". Her climbing and exploration of this remote area would all have been carried out in less suitable mountaineering attire as was common in the day of an ankle length skirt, bodice long sleeve shirt and stout boots.

In the audience for her presentation at the club, was her future husband, Austrian emigrant, Gustav Weindorfer. Gustav was passionate about forestry and Australian exploration history. Botany, flowers and love of the bush lead to their union and subsequent marriage in 1906. The day before their wedding, there was a fire and the men, including Gustav spent the evening protecting Kate's brother's Stowport property. Although the fire damage required a relocation of their wedding, undeterred it went ahead. Their honeymoon consisted of exploring and camping on Mount Roland in a tent for six weeks enjoying Kangaroo tail soup, foraging in the flora and enduring the elements including blizzard conditions. Thus began their future together of trekking to explore and subsequently promote the mountain area as 'a veritable El Dorado for Botanists'.

In 1911, her love for the area lead Kate to purchase 200 acres of Crown Land at Cradle Mountain on which later Gustav would build their chalet, "Waldheim". Inspired by treks the couple did throughout the area and including Mt Buffalo in Victoria they wanted to build a chalet to live in and host naturalists, botanists and tourists to share the experience of this pristine environment. It was built in a protected part of the Cradle Mountain area with already fallen trees from around the location, primarily King Billy Pine. It was a work in progress over time which saw the addition of a bath house with a caldron that eventually provided warm water for the inhabitants. The Weindorfers built and decorated it to attract friends, other passionate botanists and advocates for conservation. Whilst friends and mountaineers were more easily attracted to travel to this remote location, with no roads and amenities, it took some time to lure other tourists to embrace the hardships of mountain life.

As a botanist, Kate's favourite species was the small lichen, decaying logs with mosses and small plant life. But she spent alot of her time on the farm they had bought together while Gustav worked on the chalet, Waldheim. During these long separations, they kept in touch via letters even though the trek down the mountain was 47 miles to where the mail was delivered for Gustav. The love story of the couple, passion for the Cradle Mountain area and the hardships endured as pioneers was researched by Kate Legge, resulting in her 2019 book, Kindred: A Cradle Mountain Love Story.

Death

In 1915, she started having chest pains. First diagnosed as indigestion, they found a lump in her chest which triggered a downward spiral in her health. Unfortunately, this was April, 1916 before Waldheim's popularity serge. She was 52 at the time of her death, leaving Gustav to forge the rest of their vision by himself.

Declared sanctuary

Main article: Declared sanctuary of Kate Cowle

A group of photographers in 1920 took photographs that helped promote the Cradle Mountain area by being paraded in Launceston, via a new branch of the Royal Historical Society. The power of the black and white images and Gustav's ongoing lobbying in Hobart, finally resulted in the area being declared a reserve in 1922, which is now known as the Cradle Mountain-Lake St. Clair National Park.

References

External links

Ron Smith

ABC's Conversations, Kate Legge