Cooks Hut was built about 1920 and used by Athol and Marjory Cook and their son Rex who leased Schouten Island between 1934-1943. Lined with Baltic pine, the hut contains 4 rooms and two fireplaces with corrugated iron chimneys.

The Hut belongs to a farming era when families leased the Island to run sheep and cattle and to grow vegetables. 

Today Schouten Island is under the jurisdiction of Tasmania Parks & Wildlife Service and falls within the Freycinet National Park.   The front two rooms in Cooks Hut are used as a visitor information centre and museum while the two rooms at the rear are used by the campground hosts as a kitchen and storeroom/pantry.

Cooks Hut is maintained by the Wildcare Group – Friends of Freycinet – and is not to be confused with the Cooks Hut located at Cooks Beach, Freycinet N.P.