Mt Terrible Hut ready for Christmas

Travellers passing the eerie Victorian high plains near Mansfield will have a new stop to rest their bones when the Mt Terrible hut is rebuilt in time for Christmas.

Built in the 1960s, the Mt Terrible Hut was home to the local fire watchman who abandoned the premises 30 years later.

The cabin has since become a tourist attraction and emergency shelter for hikers, horse riders, trail bike riders and four-wheel drivers.

A brick chimney standing among the rubble was all indoor campers left of the hut in 2012 after a log rolled out of the fire place, engulfing the whole cabin in flames.

Department of Environment manager Ben Giovanetti said the hut will be rebuilt with a concrete floor, steel walls and a non-flammable fireplace to make it as fire-proof as possible.

"There will also be an outside fire pit, a verandah, water tank and picnic tables," Giovanetti said in a statement.

Local cattlemen once sheltered in the rustic high country huts made famous in Banjo Patterson's The Man from Snowy River.