80'“ ANNIVERSARY ISSUE October 2007, Issue 875
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Presidents Report 3 Tracks & Access Report………..sssscessceves 4&5 80 Years of Conservation 5&6 Editorial…………..ccceccsececseee 6 Photos from 1928 to 1980s……….cccccseesseceseee7 The Mid-Week Walkers Photos from 1919 to 1986. From the Committee Room………….c.ceeceee 10 Stories from Pioneering Members…………. 11-29 Poem, Our Club by Blue Gum …………00. 30 Walks Secretarys Report…………ccssseseesee 30 Bush History List of Place Names………. 31&32 Bush History Myles Dunphys 1932 trip……33 Coolana Report………….csccccescccccccccveccces 33 Poem by Dexter Dunphy 34 Social Notes………..ccessscssccecssceccncccesccees 35 List of SBW Editors 1931 to 2007……….0000 36
THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER
is the monthly bulletin of matters of interest to members of The Sydney Bush Walkers Inc PO Box 431 Milsons Point NSW 1565.
Editor: Pam Campbell Production Manager: Frances Holland Printers: Kenn Clacher, Barrie Murdoch,
Tom Wenman Don Brooks Fran Holland Opinions expressed in this magazine are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the policies or views of The Sydney Bush Walkers Inc. All material in this magazine is copyright. . Requests for reproduction should be directed to The Editor. editor@sbw.org.au
About Our Club
The Sydney Bush Walkers was formed in 1927 for the purpose of bringing bushwalkers together; enabling them to appreciate the great outdoors; establishing a regard for conservation and promoting social activities. The Clubs main activity is bushwalking but includes other activities such as cycling, canoeing and social events
Our Walks: Program (published quarterly) features day walks on most Saturdays and Sundays, some mid week walks and overnight weekend walks. Extended walks are organised in areas such as The Snowy Mountains, the
Warrumbungles as well as interstate i.e. Victorian alps
Our meetings start at 8pm and are held on Wednesday evenings (see Social Program) at Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre, 16 Fitzroy Street, Kirribilli (near Milsons Point Railway Station).
Visitors and prospective members are welcome
www. sbw.org.au
Members are welcome to contact the following officers on club matters:
David Trinder dt28@tpe.com.au
Wilf Hilder gretel34@bigpond.net.au Greta James gjam6037@bigpond.net.au
Tony Holgate tholgate@optusnet.com.au
Kathy Gero social@sbw.org.au Treasurer: Margaret Carey
9957 2137 (h) margaret_carey@bigpond.com Members Secretary: Fran Holland
9484 6636 (h) fernband@bigpond.com
New Members Secretary: Jodie Dixon 9943 3388 (h) newmembers@sbw.org.au
Conservation Secretary: Bill Holland 9484 6636 (h) billholland@bigpond.com
Magazine Editor: Pam Campbell 9570 2885 (h) pamela.campbell@bigpond.com
Committee Members: Ron Watters
9419 2507 (h) wattersr@bigpond.net.au Patrick James
9567 9998 (h) pjames28@bigpond.net.au Delegates'to Confederation: Jim Callaway
9520 7081 (h)
(no email address)
Wilf Hilder
9587 8912 (h) gretel34@bigpond.net.au
President: 9542 1465 (h)
Vice President: 9587 8912 (h) Secretary:
9953 8384 |(h) Walks Secretary: 9943 3388 |
Social Secretary: 9130 7263 (h)
mountain adventur i Ourmain adventures beyond the Silk Road
Wihl Asin alter unique and inneyatiws webking holidays in Central 4sia. Trek in the following moumtain ranges 4 sev peaks fern base camps of farmer icviet States & Ching. Experience farrious Samarkored. Osh aud kashgar
Peak Lenin * Tien Shan Range Kongur Peak
* Khan Tengri Peak Fan Mountains
Pamir Mountains # K2 (Chinese side} Peak Communism e Kun Lun Range
* Muztagh Ata
Eererjence legendar, sik Rusd Passes, such as the Tarugart 5 Irrashtam: and the ancient cultures of Uzbekistan, Kyeqyzstan, Tajikstan & Western Ching.
frineraries allow sou to bok? a number of the ceks, te cleate your et adveriture threagh centiai Agia,
Terps include full ter service, local guides and expenenied Western Leaders
est vay, | Far brochures and further pe. mtormation call (03) 9672 5372 ~ spat Ay AEN ED asnta 3S Buprene aa)
THE BUSHWALKER MAGAZINE } The Official Publication of the Confederation of Bushwalking Clubs NSW is packed with information and interesting articles. You can download or read it on the internet at:
The Confederation runs training courses for members, provides a free wilderness search and rescue organisation, and helps run bush navigation competitions
PRESIDENTS REPORT - David Trinder
We are lucky people, being members of a great and surviving Club. We have four blessings that other people dont have. These are symbolised by the four carved bones that have been in the possession of Club Presidents since 1937.
e Before we came here there was the real world, the one with mountains, trees, rocks, valleys and rivers. To make our lives comfortable we built flat floors so it would be easier to walk, we built walls and roofs to keep the wind, rain and sunshine out, we built roads and cars so we could travel further and carry things and we forgot about the real world that we came from. Bushwalkers have rediscovered the real world, realise its beauty, spend time in it and are better for it.
e We have friends, an abundance of beautiful people who also call us friends. The Club is a large social group of people with, in common with us, a love of the real world and healthy living and we are all healthy mentally because of this.
www. pushwalkinaholidays.cadtau
e Walking long distances keeps our bodies healthy, for example a heart rate of 90 for 8 hours. The CSIRO has recently said that a lack of exercise and being over-weight are causes of death and illness. We dont have these risks.
e We also learn how to manage ourselves in the bush, we can navigate without tracks through wilderness and use the shape of hills and valleys like a city bound person uses street names.
The Club reties on its leaders and Tony Holgate, the Walks Secretary, is now ready to receive leaders walks and is looking for a full and interesting Summer Program.
The Club also relies on new members coming in to see the New Members Secretary, Jodie Dixon. The contact for most of these new members is the Clubs web site. This, at present, is not as current as it should be. We are now in the process of renovation it with two aims in mind. We want it to give members the information they want and we want to inform potential members of the advantages of becoming a member of this Club.
of a lifetime
Is our labour of love!
Willis Walkabouts would like to congratulate the Sydney Bushwalkers on 80 years of bushwalking.
We dont go back that far, but we were walking in places like Kakadu, the Macdonnells, Gregory, the Bungles and the Mitchell Plateau long before they became parks.
We know the best of the back country, far from where any vehicle will ever gothe loveliest pools, the most spectacular waterfalls, the best Aboriginal art sites, the most scenic gorges and more.
80th Anniversary Special. Any member
of the Sydney Bushwalkers who books a 3S WAL, 2008 trip before Christmas will receive a special discount. Ask for details.
Williss Walkabouts 12 Carrington St Millner NT 0810 Email: walkabout@ais.net.au TRACKS AND ACCESS REPORT - AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 2007 (REVISED)
BLUE MOUNTAINS NP - NARROWNECK PLATEAU
It seems it is never out of contention. See my T. & A. reports for March/April and May/June 2007. To understand the significance of the miners passes from Katoomba to the second Narrowneck it is necessary to check out the mining villages and their access tracks. The first mining settlement of Katoomba was at J.B. Norths Railway Siding (Shell Corner) better known as West Katoomba. It was in this era that the second village of South Katoomba sprang up| in the vicinity of Cascade Street with a hotel etc. Ignoring the roads around these villages, South Katoomba was on the intersection of the tracks from Devils Hole, Narrowneck and the mining village at the foot of the present Scenic Railway - the married mens camp. The access track to this village is connected to the present Furbers Steps which date from the late 1920s, while the| miners track passed Orphan Rock on its western side and crossed the original Scenic Railway about half way down to finish on its Western side at the village below.
This village was connected to the single mens miners camp on the north side of Ruined Castle Ridge by Garbutts Track which is still clearly visible in the steep valley of Causeway Creek which it} crosses on an outcrop of Devonian quartzite about 400 metres east of the fallen fixed ropes of ithe aerial tramway across the valley. From the single mens camp below Ruined Castle there were two tracks to the top of the Narrowneck Plateau - the first was the Golden Stairs which led to Katoomba and The Devils Hole, Blue Mountaineers Pass and Dicksons Ladders which led! to the main (Nellys) Glen Shale Mines village with its shops and 13 roomed two storey weatherboard hotel in the vicinity of the Pub site. The other connecting track from the Ruined Castle village to (Nellys) Glen Shale Mines Village was via wooden ladders on Castle Head and across to Blue Mountaineers Pass (Herbaceous Gully), or Redledge Pass which provided access to the village below the (Nellys) Glen Shale Mines, on the banks of Corral Creek and beside the cable hauled double
track tramway.
trestle bridge over Corral Creek for Redledge Pass or under a similar trestle bridge over Diamond (Spray) Creek for Blue Mountaineers Pass (Herbaceous Gully) to provide connections to all the mining villages for miners and others on foot. The villages served by cable hauled tramways had primitive telephone lines, but these used bells and a series of rings for basic messages to the haulage engine control room at the top of the Scenic Railway. Horse riders could access the (Nellys) Glen Village by using the Six Foot Track and presumably by a bridle track from Blackheath via
Blackheath Glen as well as tracks from Megalong and Kanimbla Valleys. |
which we have no name) was the married mens miners camp and stood on the junction of foot tracks to and from Blacks Ladder (Megalong Head), The Six Foot Track, The Devils Hole, Dicksons Ladders, Blue Mountaineers Pass (Herbaceous Gully), Red Ledge, Black Billys etc. Given the moral requirements of the Victorian era | am of the opinion that the single mens camp was at the foot of (Nellys) Glen Shale Mine on Corral Creek. The Gundungurra Aboriginal camp (as fringe dwellers) may have been near the main village, but they had the advantage of using the so called Black Dog Track, a Trade Route which ran through their vast tribal territory and we know that it was originally their Winter escape route from Katoomba via Narrowneck, Clear Head, Gundungurra Pass (Duncans) and Meglo (Medlow) Gap to the lower Coxs River and Burragorang Valley. From Megalong Valley the Winter escape route accessed the Black Dog Track via Green Gully Saddle and the foot of Black Billys and Carlons- Heads (now a fire road).
for maintenance workers on the cable hauled tramway which passed under Narrowneck in a tunnel named the Daylight Tunnel NOT the Mount Rennie Tunnel as | have been wrongly calling it for years - my sincere apologies for this error. The real Mount Rennie Tunnel was under The Landslide and through the coal mine entrance. It is believed that the miners did not normally walk along the cable hauled tramways because of the dangers involved but were able to access the horse tramway from Ruined Castle to the Golden Stairs. Unless you have a really good grasp of this country you will need the topographic maps of Jamison and Katoomba to lessen your angst in understanding the above complex scenario.
While on the subject of ladders | should point out the popular story of the bush pole ladder down the final cliff line of the Golden Stairs being burned in a bushfire is just another fable. When | went down the ladder in May 1958 - that is after the disastrous 1957 fires - they were officially closed but as a few rungs were missing, caution was required and clearly the timber of ladder had started to rot. | guess that Blue Mountains City Council staff destroyed the ladder as it was clearly being well used at that time and not very safe.
Michael Keats (Bush Club) doyen of the Wild Dog Ranges has forsaken his first love, the Wild Dogs for Narrowneck. He has now been honoured with yet another title - Knight of Narrowneck - my congratulations. Michael reports that Coachwood Pass, Mitchells Creek now has a new tree and a new set of coach bolts he believes fell off a Government Department truck. | find this hard to believe and would like to think that the public spirited citizen concerned, obtained them on a 99 year lease with the option to renew the lease when it expires.
PERRYS LOOKDOWN. Following the NPWS one day reopening of the Perrys track/pass to Blue Gum
80 YEARS OF CONSERVATION
For many years SBW has enjoyed a well deserved reputation for its conservation efforts. From the start, 80 years ago, until now we have had members _ giving much of their time and effort to protect our
parks and the
~ declaration of wilderness areas. Alex Colley, still a member after over 75 years in the club, was Conservation Secretary for a long, long time. Dot Butler, who joined even earlier than Alex, and others helped, to purchase and conserve our property Coolana in the Kangaroo Valley. Today, many of our members assist in maintaining and enhancing the conservation values of this property.
But lets go back to the beginning.
At the Foundation Meeting of this club on 21st October 1927 the objects of the new body, that was later to become The Sydney Bush Walkers, included the following,
To establish a definite regard for the welfare and preservation of the wild life and natural beauty of this country ….. ..- To help others appreciate these natural gifts.
So, even in those days the natural beauty of the environment was seen to be something worth preserving for future generations and our early members; well, at least most of them; were anxious not to leave too heavy a footprint in the pristine bush.
However, old habits remained.
A motion was carried at a Committee meeting in May 1928 that the Club Blaze be diamond shape. Did this mean that trees were to be marked (scarred) to show the way? The next Committee meeting had a better idea that ladies do not wear shoes with abnormally high heels, made on a pointed last but then, was it comfort or inflicting less damage that was on their mind!
However, their hearts were in the right place and often found expression in the reports of walks included in the Club magazine. Here, in the first issue of “The Bushwalker June 1931, Myles Dunphy
Ler ; beg bheisStad
Ug
I is
Forest on Sunday 2 September for the 75 Birthday of the Dedication of the Forest, wearing my battered O.H. & S. Convenors hat, | believe it could not pass an O.H. & S. inspection and | regret to say it is dangerous in places. It was used by some 150 walkers (carrying day packs) with only minor injuries.
Wilf Hilder
Bill Holland
writes of his sixteen days walk in The Wilderness
of the Southern Border Lands a 110 miles walk in
the Snowy Mountains; The outlook from the Pilot takes the breath away. Here one has the inestimable privilege of viewing an area of about 5,000 square miles of a country as primitively wild as it ever was. Nowhere can the handiwork of man _ be perceived except for some grey and distant smudges which proclaim how cattlemen destroy wide belts of upland forest growth when burning off the tall and clumpy snow grass
Max Gentle expressed other thoughts on his Colo traverse in late 1931 when he wrote we were very disappointed that the blackberry was not in fruit; on the other hand a shot-gun was sadly missed on the trip. There were wild duck in droves, and never being disturbed they would provide excellent shooting at close range.
But SBW continued to show its conservation credentials. In 1932 that our Club was instrumental in saving the Blue Gum Forest and Dorothy Lawrie reported in the February 1932 magazine on a meeting of the Committee with Mr Hungerford. They walked in on a track from the Bell Road 7km from Mt Wilson:
First we came down a small creek valley, both sides of which were thickly studded with glowing waratahs. Then we turned to the right under a shoulder of rock and crossed a spur, to find ourselves descending to another creek through fields of flannel flowers. Zigzagging down the hillside, we turned left round a large boulder, “The Valley Gate”, and found ourselves in a beautiful mountain gully filled with ferns and sassafras and coachwood, and the music of running water.
Next the track edged along the steep mountain side, past an oil-shale outcrop on which Mr. Hungerford has pegged a claim, and past a bright patch of giant Christmas Bells. Then on, down and along ever deeper into the Grose Gorge with magnificent sandstone cliffs towering ever higher on all sides. Truly lovely way by which to approach that temple of Beauty, the Blue Gum Forest! No wonder these city-dwellers lingered on the track! =,
as
The Mid-Week Walkers Bill Holland
if you think that our mid-week walking programme is a comparatively recent innovation in SBW go back in history a little. In December 1931 the SBW character Taro reported The SBW Mid-Week Walk.
I've not been on many official walks lately, but the midweekness and the nightness of this one made an appeal.
The party met at the intersection of two gorges, and right forked into the upper reaches of the Tank Stream. The first thing | noticed was the absence of the usual shorts and shirts and packs. Sister Ferrier, | noticed, wore a brown frock with a circular opening for the neck, and any other details the ladies of the party can supply. Sister Rankin had on a wide hat trimmed with a nice little lace. Brother Chardan wore a straight-trimmed felt hat and a pipe. The others were all dressed just as they left home - and some a bit before.
About 7.40 pm. Sister Rene passed round some coupons and off we went. The track turned into a short, narrow gully, then sharply up a steep pinch, reminding one awfully of the pass up to the end of Clear Hill. There is no doubt walking is popular, for we were shoulder to shoulder. Luckily for us the footholds were eminently satisfactory or in other words P.G.
Obviously, a little tongue-in-cheek and ! suspect they were still in the city. Nevertheless it was a mid-week watk and the first of many to come in later years.
Now lets move to the present.
Today, our Mid-Week Walkers are an informal group of SBW members who have time to spare for mid-week activities, some of which are shown on the Walks Programme and some organised at short notice and advised by monthly newsletter sent to all on my Mid Week Walkers list. The extended walks, usually one per month, attract a good following.
In October we are attending the 80” Anniversary celebrations at Coolana on the 27” and 28“. Fran and | may go there on Friday and stay an extra day or two at the end if the weather is kind. So please let me know if you can join us.
On 26” - 30“ November we have organised five days at Dunns Swamp near Rylstone -. This is very popular spot for camping and bushwalking. It boasts as one of the cleanest waterways in NSW, making it great for a swim or canoe paddle. Basic facilities for campfires and toilets are available in the camping reserve.
The plan will be to base camp during mid-week to avoid the weekend crowds. The weather at this time of the year should be warm and very suitable for water activities. Please let me know if you can join us for all or part of this week.
That's all for this month but here are some
forthcoming midweek walks that may be of interest to you. See the Spring Walks programme for more details.
Thurs 18th Oct: Ku-ring-gai NP . Gordon bus to St Ives - Cascades - Middle Harbour Creek - Roseville - Lindfield - walk to Lindfield Station. A relaxing creek-side walk Grade: Easy
Tues 23rd Oct: Blue Mountains
Katoomba Train Station - Tramway Ruins - Devils Hole - Nellies Glen - Six Foot Track - Bonnie Doon Track - Ethal Falls - Birdies Bower - Therabulat Lookout - The Gully - Katoomba Grade: Medium 16km
Thurs 8th Nov: _Berowra Bushland Park
We will have an interesting walk in varied bushland
in the Berowra Valley - starting from Hornsby station.
Route details will depend on the heat of the day. Grade: Easy 12 km
Tues 13th Nov: Bike Ride Tempe - Homebush Bay - Meadowbank
All on tracks away from roads; follow the Cooks River past parklands and playing fields.
Easy paced bicycle ride. Grade: Easy
Tues 20th Nov: Blue Mountains NP
Lawson Train Station - Walkers Glen - Bruces Walk - Claire Glen - Podgers Glen - Blue Mountains Creek - Lees View - Water Nymphs Dell - Wentworth Falls Hilly historical walk. Grade: Medium 15km
~~
Planning the venture: L Roy Davies and Myles Dunphy, 1919
Sie am th * & wt.% mv - aw tne ee Pane
Alan Rigby, 1924
Dot Butler, 1986 .
The Tigers at Carlons Head, 25 April, 1937. Left to Right: Jack Debert, Gordon Smith, Bill McCosker, Len Scotland, David Stead, Alex Colley, Hilma Galliot, Dot English, Norbert Carlon, Max Gentle. Photo: Alex Colley
From the Committee Room
A report of proceedings at the as Committee meeting on 3 October 2007
The minutes of the September meeting were
confirmed. Matters arising from these minutes
were dealt with as follows:
- The meeting on risk management had been postponed.
- The Coolana book had been referred back to the author with suggestions but no response to date. |
Correspondence included:
- Several Big Day-O acceptances;
- A letter from lan Debert apologizing for not being| able to attend 80th celebrations and pointing out his father was the inaugural President of SBW and he still held items of historical interest to the Club;
- advice of annual general meeting from the Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre
The Treasurers Report was received and the
following accounts passed for payment:
- Magazine postage $422; social expenses $40; Coolana toilet $120; 80th Anniversary $289; magazine expenses $148.
- The Auction night in September raised $302 for Coolana
The following were admitted to full membership: Janice Johnson; Isabelle Kmita; Tim Yewdell
A listing of members who had not their 2007 subscriptions was presented and it was resolved that these members be marked as un-financial pending termination
After some discussion on the advisability of prospective members joining direct from the Club website it was greed that this should continue at the discretion on the Membership Secretary
The Electronic
reported that:
- Arrangements were well in hand to have an electronic version of the magazine accessible on the website
- The website has an outdated appearance and it is proposed to use experienced student volunteers to redesign and improve the site
- Investigations are being made on a possible change of ISP with improved facilities at a lower cost |
- Some! problems had been experienced in the initial use of Google Groups.
Communications Committee
The Coolana Toilet is virtually complete with final inspection being made this week
Bookings for the Big Day-O activities are very satisfactory.
10
Treasurers Report at September 2007
Cash Receipts: Members Subscriptions
Prospective Fees Investment - Conservation
Investment - Coolana Investment - General Magazine Advertising Donations - Coolana Other
Grant - Coolana Total Receipts
Cash Payments Magazine Printing Magazine Postage Coolana Rates Coolana Maintenance Coolana Equipment Coolana Toilet - Coolana Rent- Club Rooms
Donations - Conservation Insurance - Public Liability
Insurance - Personal Accide
Affiliation - Confederation Postage. Phone & Internet
Administration 80” Anniversary Total Payments
Cash Surplus /(Deficit)
Current Month
680 0
0
113
0 $1,085
$7,952
Year to Date
18209 5086
452 1113 720
920
55
373 8,000 $34,928
3,621 3,568 1215 319 499 1,655 (3,575 250
2,477 3,281
2,255
1,030 1,838 200 $25,782
$9,146
Leunig, 1979 EARLY DAYS By Bob Younger
When | joined the SBW the Depression was dying because the Second World War had begun. Clothing and food became rationed.
The foundation members had decided that their group would be named the Sydney Bush Walkers and not include the word club. They associated clubs with where people sat around drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco.
The inclusion of grog on bushwalks was almost unknown although we were taught - Burn, bash and bury all your paper and your tins and hide all your bottles as you would your sins!. Besides we were lightweight walkers and it was too heavy and we could have a good time without it. We had to be a pretty puritanical lot to keep our names out of the Sunday papers.
The women wore skirts or slacks for public travel and the men frequently wore long trousers; generally ex Army shorts were worn in the bush.
At the end of a summer on a walk in the Jamieson Valley, the men, Tarzan like, had removed their shirts and by walking past a distant homestead, caused the male occupant to wave a broom from the veranda and shout Put your shirts on, there are women in this house! Honest.
Both men and women wore boots, sometimes with hobnails for better traction. These were treacherous on city pavements.
Light straw hats were common headgear. On one occasion a member of an exploration party in Colong Caves lost her candle and was left in the dark. She tried to ignite her hat by rubbing furiously but it did not work. Eventually a person from Yerranderie who was familiar with the caves was summoned to the rescue.
Some members tried to make their own packs and tents until Paddy Pallin came to our aid and made lightweight tents, groundsheets, sleeping bags and jackets for us to buy. A material called Japara was commonly used in their manufacture.
On Friday nights the weekend walkers met under the big clock on the steam platform at Central station. When we were all assembled, we boarded our train and gathered together in a suitable carriage. At our destination we would get out our heavy duty bike torches if
11
we were to walk to an overnight campsite. At other times we would hire a car and driver to transport us to somewhere out in the bush. If we had a large party the leader would organise a bus for transport.
To make things more sociable, the group would have split up into small groups of four or five for food parties. Each member of the food party had a specific item of food for later communal cooking on their own fire. One of the rules was you must always ask permission to use someone elses fire if you were too lazy to light your own. The men would collect the firewood and water, erect the tents and light the fire, while the ladies set about preparing the evening meal.
Next morning after the breakfast things were done, some of the ladies would say Bunnies check out and get an early start whilst the tents came down and fires put out. The rest of the party would then catch up with them later on.
In summer, when it was generally considered too hot for walking in the bush, we spent many weekends at North Era. The manual workers would arrive on the Friday evening after a bus trip from Waterfall. The office workers would arrive some time in the afternoon on Saturday by the same method.
We would have a congenial gathering on Saturday evening, enjoying some singing, particularly if Roy had brought his violin with him. He could play anything by ear.
During daylight hours we would stroll down to the beach to swim and sunbake.
Sometimes the local surf club would put on a dance which we could attend. Shoes were not required and it was great dancing in bare feet on the sandy floor.
Late Sunday afternoon was time for groups to climb the ridge up to the plateau in order to catch the train home from Lilyvale station.
Another great custom was to think of a nickname for special individuals - Allan Hardy became known as Dormy Long, after the Dorman Long Co., who built the Harbour Bridge by holding the two sections of the Bridge by holding the two sections of the anchored into the ground. Allan used a one pole tent, which required many guy ropes to hold it up. Graham Harrison was known as Mouldy, because grey ham was mouldy. Another: fellow was named Mandelburg because, he carried various items outside his pack such as cups, billies and water bucket. Mandelburg was a pawnbroker who displayed items for sale on a grid outside his shop. Taro the Duke of Clear Hill was named Taro because! his name was Tarr. I! dont think anyone knew his first name. Then there were two short but sturdy women known as the Diesel Pups.
We used to sing By the campfires cheerful glow, happy memories come and go. Brightly leaping flames remind us, of the happy days behind us. Bushwalking and friendships have lasted a lifetime.
It was merry in the glowing morn, among the gleaming grass, to wander as we_ had
wandered many a mile … and the hardest day
was never then too hard. Written Bob Younger in August 2007
Nsw WILDERNESS TRANST Bis 10 |
= EGO
YERRANDERIE GHOST TOWN STARLIGHTS TRACK. BENGONIA CAVES.
Woo Woe. NERRIGA Departs from Sydney's Campbelltown Railway Station fe Via Penriin, Katoomba & Blackheath for
Via Starlights. Mittagong & Marular: for Wog Wog-Nerriga Tues.& Thurs & Sun at 11am
Yerranderie Ghost Town first Saturday in each month, returns Sun at 7 pm (any Friday min 6) Group hooking discounts or charter service
Tel 0246 832344 Mob 0428 832 344 www.wildernesstransit.com.au
A MORSEL PRESENTED TO THE RECORDING ANGEL by Walter Tarr Official Trip - Leumeah to Sutherland - 18th, 19th April, 1931
Leader as per programme, Mr. P Duncan, who succeeded in passing it on to deputies.
The walk was very efficiently and very occasionally led by Messrs. Wif and Taro, and thus with youth and beauty at the wheel all went merry as a wedding peal.
Leaving Leumeah at 3-5? eastward sailed the noble nine. About a mile on came a crossroad at a very peculiar angle and some memories broke into words. The three roads in sight all appear possible for the river - some river - BUT - for posterity and the rapidly increasing swarm of Junior SBWs, the middle one is the O.K.
The road wound a bit right, and a bit left, passing a few cottages and a vineyard or two, and let posterity again note; when the, very last and solitary fence post is reached, strike off to the right. | Two wheel tracks will be found merging into a single track, which leads unerringly to the little bluff overlooking The Basin. The track down is well worn and good.
Tents and tucker kept-the firm busy until dark - camp fire for an hour or two - some yarns - many stars - and so to bed.
The morning broke dull, but ideal for walks, cool and still. Some mighty breakfasts, no names given. Off at 9.15 am the road we were to fall on easily eluded the nimble nine, so a halt was called - strangely enough by a half leader - scouts were sent cut, and the lost dirt was discovered. So on again, A pleasant break was meeting two SBW's, male and female of the species, Buster and his winning friend. They reported little water, and they were right.
At 12:30 we were still marching with an eye for a friendly gully. None came - that way, anyhow, with water. Shortly after we had plenty, but it was all in drops and we did not wait to catch it. The country was not ravishing thereabouts, just a read, with the bridge sometimes showing up. Then it began to rain really. Nearly everyone had equipment, so on we plugged. Came a spot where Engadine was sighted, and a bee line was to leave been taken
13
to it. We thought it no be good in such rain so stuck to the road, not knowing where it led.
Somewhere about 1:45 pm, everyone a bit cold, bit wet, and a bit (very big) hungry, we came onto a good road at right angles, the Liverpool-Sutherland road. So, with noble disdain for tucker, Sutherland, about 8 miles for us. Passing an allotment we espied a rough iron shed that seemed to promise a bit. Scouts into it, and their wave drew us in.
It was small - half filled by a cart; it was windowless dark; dirty; doggy; but it had a rough fireplace and meant a home, sweet home, for us, till either the owner or the smoke chucked us out. It was then well after 2 p.m. We roosted (actually) on posts, sticks, bricks, tins, nails, got a fire going, boiled all the billies, dried nearly all the clothes, sampled a variety of sock-drying odours, had a royal feed, a big rest, and then knocked off the remaining 7 miles with a toss the foot.
And to the last tearful parting at Central it rained - rained - RAINED.
The names of the Noble Nine are :
Brenda White, Marjorie Hill, Wif Knight, Taro, Jim Gunning, Frank Mort, Victor Thorsen
and two others.
As appeared in The Bushwalker
1 June 1931.
This was the first issue of the SBW magazine, later to become known as The Sydney Bushwalker
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Leunig, 1979 14 15
Pennant Hills on Saturday night for the campfire, and not even torrential rain could dampen our Spirits as we talked, sang, acted, ate - but mainly talked - into the early hours of Sunday. It was a wonderful weekend.
WALKING by Helen Gray and David Rostron The decade commenced with the Club having a nucleus of very enthusiastic, exploring walkers, organising trips to virtually all points of the compass. Many of the walks amounted to re- exploration by the youthful leaders seeking and enjoying the mystique and challenge of mountain areas which for them, represented new terrain.
WEEKEND WALKS
Despite the trend to specialisation and the subsequent emergence of specialist clubs, The Sydney Bush Walkers continued to be versatile, to try anything. Those with outdoor interests continued to share them with, and instruct, other members. On the programmes from this decade we find: regular downhill skiing instructionals with Bill Gillam, and cross-country instructionals from Wilf Hilder and Phil Butt; caving trips (though less popular than in the previous decade); bike trips; skin-diving; fishing; gourmet eating - and presumably its opposite; a Christmas party recovery walk; snow and ice climbing instructional on Watsons Crags; abseiling, li-loing and canyoning. There were other one-offs like a wine-and-cheese walk, a rock orchid walk, and further walks with intriguing titles like Trip into the Unknown. Map: NSW Tourist; Hunter Valley Exploratory Wine Tasting; The Last Great Bee Walk Ever and A Necropolis Exploratory.
Unusual trips led to some unexpected happenings:
On a Danae Brook trip there was a performance of the Indian Rope Trick in reverse. The man who went down the rope failed to appear at the bottom. The next man down did not pass him on the way, so where was he? Various calls, etc. elicited that he was about 20 feet up the cliff on a ledge which he had mistakenly thought was the end of the abseil. On being reunited with the party, he commented he did find it a wee bit lonely for a clip-off point.
- The Sydney Bushwalker, December 1970.
THE QUESTING SPIRIT LIVES ON
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
wonderful feeling of combative freedom in a rather wild and desperate trek one Easter, up Mt Snowdon in Britains North Wales. Subsequently climbing and fell walking became an important part of my life. Arriving in Australia in 1966, | discovered the bush and through joining Sydney Bush Walkers in 1972 | fell in love with bushwatking. Bushwalking is a unique experience demanding self-reliance and a sympathetic appreciation of the natural environment where we live. Weare particularly fortunate - how many modern cities have the sort of environment which we have within two or three hours drive and with such a lrelatively temperate climate? | feel privileged to be a member of the Club and privileged to write about it. Through its walks | have been introduced to many wonderful places and delightful people. Gradually | hope to return in some measure the pleasure | have received.
A GOLDEN REUNION
In previous pages you will have read of the formation of the Club, its progress, and growth in size and sophistication, although part of the quality of the people who belong to the SBW is their ability to take a critical view of what constitutes sophistication.
In 1977, the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Club, was officially marked by a Fiftieth Anniversary dinner and an Anniversary Reunion Camp. The camp was held at the Boy Scout Camp at Pennant Hills. Some 350 walkers and sometime walkers gathered there. The initial congregation took place in the hall where old photographs were displayed and were nostalgically | examined. The sound of reminiscences filled the air, and the photographs provided some sharp but entertaining evidence of the passage of time over forty or fifty years.
About 120 were camped in tents in the grounds and thus the scene was set for the lighting of the camp- fire. The elements, however, seldom respectful of the bushwalkers wishes, did not look with compassion on the proceedings. Initially there was some light rain which did not, however, daunt the strong spirits present. Paddy Pallin led off the usual Reunion singing, but the rain fell harder and harder, until a strategic withdrawal to the Assembly Hall was decided upon by President Helen Gray. Here the whole company was eventually seated and the entertainment continued.
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Dot Butler in The Sydney Bushwalker reports:- | The highlight was a Chronic Opera by the notorious Crown Street Composer, Malcolm McGregor, Jim Brown, Geof Wagg and Don Matthews. They sang of a walk where everything, as commonly happens, went wrong. The audience laughed uproariously. The finale involved the undraping of a huge birthday cake manufactured by construction engineer George Gray. At a given signal the lid of the cake opened and up popped ten years old Susan Gray dressed in a bikini and a chaplet of flannel flowers. The audience was still applauding when up popped Dot Butler similarly clad, bearing a placard 50 YEARS ON, the implication being that bushwalkers now ten year's old can still expect to be walking at 60.
THE GOLDEN DINNER | The Fiftieth Anniversary Dinner was held at the then Menzies Hotel where …without the benefit of map or compass… some 292 Sydney Bushies assembled. Again the reminiscences, the nostalgia, the recalling of past trips, Do you remember that time down Christies Creek…?, …chat mighty trip down the Kowmung, Easter of 38…?, remember the Christmas Kosciusko trip when…?
Distinguished people present included foundation members Win Chardon, Frank and Anice Duncan, Maurice Berry (the Clubs then Hon. Solicitor) and the newest Honorary Member, George Davidson, together with 24 Past Presidents. The Fiftieth Anniversary Reunions were, as they should have been, wonderfully nostalgic meetings of friends young and old, and the celebrations of friendships new and sustained.
But what was the significance of this assemblage o} people? What had been achieved? What was reall
the key to this celebration? Some obvious answers would be the coining of the word Bushwalker. The very worthy preservation of Blue Gum Forest. The preservation of Era and its inclusion in the Royal National Park.
WHY CELEBRATE?
Perhaps above all was the establishment and encouragement of bushwalking as an activity. The trepidation with which some of the early walkers ventured into the then little known environment, is recorded in an article by Marie Byles in The Sydney Bushwalker where she recalls early female walkers taking revolvers with them as protection against - well, | suppose - the unknown. To those of us who are fortunate nowadays, this woulc probably quaint. Howev unknown in those days, there were something i most especially women undertake such adventur even more determinat something of a revolutio
Even today, how many look at us aghast at th actually sleeping in the of hostile snakes and spi: of the absence of civi pervade many sometime:
The breaking down of { misunderstanding is the the members of the Cl challenge to come. Fr spread all the casual . disregard which reduce quality of life. In the e conservation movement dedicated and sometime
CONSERVATION
Members of the S.B.W again, as we have read the problem - the pur purchase of Era and mo: property at Kangaroo Val
They were very much present day conservatio its adoption of practic areas of wilderness from
In 1975 the Colong Comr Kanangra-Boyd from
plantation. $.B.W. memi conservation ranks. Subs the Border Ranges, Mya Mountains National Park Tasmania, have seen | encouragement of Sydne
Conservation today | however, which were c those hardy foundation who set out with their made camping gear to and passes and valleys the threat of mining in by the Ciub and subsequ before the Wardens C Doyle over our opposit mining rights. Subsequ appear in court, and t settled when Mr Mulock Resources and Develor
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Battye to say it would be recommended to the Governor that a Reserve be constituted over the Ettrema Wilderness Area.
SHADES OF CONSERVATION
Within the Club there is a wealth of opinions on conservation, from the ultimate wilderness devotees to whom every cairn is a crime despoiling the bush, to those who prefer to be guided by graded paths and by well known and established indicators.
The establishment of man made constructions in bush areas has certainly exercised the Clubs attention from time to time. Sometimes it has extended to such special subjects as the huts in the Snowy Mountains and Kosciusko National Park. The restoration by some Club members led by Gordon Broome, of Moulds Hut near Spencers Peak, did not meet with universal aesthetic approval. Its destruction by fire by those who did not approve (not, incidentally, Club members) was a sad reflection on the misguided passions of some extremists. Overall, however, saner and happier counsels seem to have prevailed and most of the historic huts have been allowed to remain. The list of conservation battles during the decade in which Sydney Bushies have joined either as a Club or as individuals have been many and, of course, have extended to both Tasmania and Queensland.
Here in NSW, with a State Government sympathetic to the conservation movement, the record of establishment of National Parks makes heartening reading. Conservation has developed into a world-wide concern and has evolved independently but with obvious similarities from a variety of sources in a number of countries.
One of the strongest motives for conservation is the wish to preserve areas we know and love. Many of these areas were unknown and unloved befcre the questing spirits of early bushwalkers ventured into them. All of this is well recorded in the wealth of geographical names attributable to Sydney Bushies. As Charlie Brown puts it, while discussing what the Club has to offer in his article Another Members S.B.W. in the November 1977 Club Magazine:-
Having gone up, down, over or through Gentles Sheerdown, Dorrie Lawry Pass, Deberts Knob, Duncans Pass, Taros Ladders, Maurie Berry Pass, Roots Route (sorry, its now Ridge) and Mount Pailin one realises that many of the things taken for granted by us newcomers were hard-fought objectives won only by a unique brand of determination and pioneering spirit that this diminishing planet may never see the likes of again. HOW TO GET LOST
by Paddy Pallin (Rover Ramblers and Sydney Bush Walkers)
Dont be half-hearted with your walking. Plan your trips ahead, and if you are considering getting lost, do the thing in style and make a job of it.
Here are a few tips that will help.
Before you set off there are certain preparations to be made. It is silly to get lost in easily accessible country, and so it is best to choose the wildest and most rugged territory. Of course, you must have information to help you to get into the area, sO go to some one who knows the district and get some dope on it, but whatever you do dont take notes of what he tells you. Rely on your memory, or should he insist on giving you notes and route sketches, it is much better to leave them behind.
With food, you have the choice of two choices. You can so cut down the food supply that you will be on short rations before the first week is up, or you can take an extra liberal supply, including lots of fresh or tinned fruit and vegetables (so full of vitamins, dont you know), in a number of bottles and tins. The latter course is preferable, because getting lost on an empty stomach is distinctly ultra vires or honi soit qui mal de mer (if you know what { mean). Besides, the bottles and tins come in so useful for leaving messages behind for the search party. By the way, you musnt dream of taking pencil and paper along with you, it is so much more fun'|writing messages with a burnt stick on rocks, or the tail of your shirt.
Then, of course, keep your proposed route a profound secret. If possible dont even let anyone know Ifrom what station you will be commencing your trip and need | say how foolish it would be to give anybody even a brief itinerary of your trip, because, obviously, that would make it so much easier for the search party, and that would spoil the fun. Unfortunately, for some obscure reason, parents generally want to know when you will be coming balck, but be as vague as possible. It is even better to say you intend leaving from one place, and then ichange your plans at the last moment. This puts possible rescuers quite off the scent.
Having thus prepared, set off on your trip with light hearts and full knowledge that you are going to cause a spot of bother before you reach home again.
it is not a bad plan if you wish to get lost to leave map and compass at home, but some people prefer to take them along because then they have something to blame. If you do take map and
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NE VER TRULY LOST - THE RECOLLECTIONS OF PADDY PALLIN from Chapter Five - Unemployed in the Great Depression |
snsasaseeees In the Secretarys Office at the insurance company the foltowing Monday | stood with sunburnt face and peeling nose, encased once more in a business suit, half-strangled by an unaccustomed stiff collar, listening to what should have been something like a death sentence for me. instead, | felt as John Bunyans Christian must have felt when the Burden dropped from his shoulders.
1 no longer had a job, | was told. Jack Langs accession to power had sent a great scare through the financial institutions. Most banks and insurance offices had paid off large numbers of staff, and | was one of the victims.
| suppose |
army of unemployed. The humiliating conditions of the dole, the fact that | had a wife to support and had just built a house with a heavy mortgage, were grim items which should have added up to a frightening picture. Instead a great wave of relief came over me. With the sudden clear vision that comes in moments of crisis, | saw how much | had hated that job. Rather than return to anything similar, | would pluck up courage and do something of which | had long dreamed of.
In 1930 there were already three bushwalking clubs in Sydney, the Mountain Trails Club, the Sydney Bushwalkers and the Warragamba Walking Club. Members of these clubs were severely hampered by the difficulty of obtaining efficient equipment which was compact and light enough to carry on the back. | had done a lot of such camping in England,! as a Rover Scout and Scoutmaster, and
Australia. In England, not always content with what | could buy, | had made several items to my own design: Could | do this for a living?
Here | stood at another junction. The idea of making lightweight camping gear for Australian bushwalkers beckoned me and my heart said Go, but my head stubbornly resisted and asked me sensible questions. How could | live while starting such as business? Where would the money come from to buy materials and set up a factory? And what about the mortgage? My wife solved the problem.
Our good friend Dick Graves had obtained a typing job for May, which because of her skill led to a secretarial position with Hoyts Theatres. Her wages, plus the occasional ten shillings | got fora days gardening, kept us. We had previously saved the sum of one hundred pounds with which |
bought materials to make up into camping gear.
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Things did not start with a flourish. My little business would be described nowadays as a backyard industry. In reality it was a back | bedroom business, and | did the work ona household treadle sewing machine. | sewed, kept | house and cooked meals while my wife earned the | money to keep us both. This was a rather unusual role reversal for the time.
After a few months | took the bold step of renting a room in George Street near Grosvenor Street and employed my first assistant, Oliver Wulf. He proved to possess a rare combination of conscientiousness, loyalty and practical ability. Eventually he took over the manufacturing side of the business, and retired only after nearly 50 years of friendly association.
In economics it is said that a demand creates a | supply, but with my little business it was almost a | case of supply creating the demand. To enjoy bushwatking to its fullest, one must be prepared to go for lengthy periods into wild places far removed from human habitation. This entails carrying a
tent, sleeping bag, groundsheet, cooking utensils, map, compass, spare clothing and food, so as to be completely independent in all weather conditions for the length of the trip.
It is therefore necessary to achieve, in this equipment, a total weight which is within the average persons ability to carry. The weights generally accepted as average are nine kilograms (20 pounds) for gear and 900 grams (two pounds) a day for food. Thus a person could, for a weeks trip, plan on a load of 15 kilograms (34 pounds) or a little more. Some people reduce the weight to weli below that, and of course many exceed it.
The heaviest items are generally the pack itself, the tent, steeping bag and groundsheet. In addition, there are a number of special items needed such as nesting billies, aluminium plates, food containers and so on. As the supply of these became available, more and more people began to find enjoyment in the pastime.
One of the members of the Sydney Bushwalkers, Clem Armstrong, was employed by F.J. Palmer & Sons. One day in 1931 | called into the George Street store where he worked, and we were discussing the mystery hikes which had suddenly become the rage in Victoria. These consisted of a trainload of people being taken to a railway station in the country; walking en masse about eight or ten miles to another railway station, and then travelling back to the city. 21 Myles Dunphy is recognised for championing the cause of national parks in Australia for most of his life. From 1916 until a few years ago, Mr Dunphy waged an active campaign for a state-wide system of national parks containing wilderness areas and complete wilderness parks. His voluntary efforts inspired others and gave impetus for the establishment of a comprehensive system of national parks in New South Wales, Australia.
The bushwalking club movement began with the formation of the Mountain Trails Club in 1914. In 1927 the States senior walking club, the Sydney Bush Walkers, was established, and in 1932 the NSW Federation of Bushwalking Clubs was set up. Myles attended the meeting at which it was decided to set up such a body.
THE MOUNTAIN TRAILS CLUB
When the 'Mountain Trails Club was formed at 64 Johnston Street, Annandale at the home of Myles Dunphy and family, the members at the time were H.R. Gallop, R.D. Rudder, M.J. Dunphy, H.G. Peatfield, ,G.H. Matheson and R.C. Doyle. From 1917 to 1928 the following fellows were invited to join and did so: L.R. Davies, W.J. Cockerill, F. McKenzie, A.P. Rigby, E.A. Dickson, J. Gillespie, M.L. .Berry, A.J. Crandon, F.E. Rice. W.F. Livingstone, A. Gallagher, A. Yardley.
From 1929 others were invited to join. The club did not receive applications. Any prospective member had to wait then was noticed three times on the notices of the meeting this meant that a waiting period as meetings were held once per menth, During this time, and perhaps before, it was up to members and proposer and seconder to invite the prospective to walks, camps and homes. What was required by the club was a genuine liking for foot-travel in rough country and compatibility on trail and in camp.
MOUNTAIN TRAILS CLUB, NSW OBJECTS OF THE CLUB
To associate for mutual benefit we walkers and mountain trackers who love the forest and the broad open life of: the Bush; we who at vacation time instinctively turn from the crowd of pleasure seekers to the broader and more lasting
enjoyment of the Trail; that by unity the Craft of Trailing or Tracking may be raised to a higher level by our efforts; that from us others may learn to appreciate this manly and wholesome recreation, which calls forth in its exercise the full application of all the senses, cultivates the faculty of observation, the powers of endurance and self reliance, and instils into us a regard for the welfare and preservation of the natural beauties
22 then it was suggested by Roy Rudder that a better plan would be to form a separate walking club, quite distinct from the MTC and having its own management but by word or symbol to show that it was formed under the auspices of the MTC.
All members present at the meeting agreed that the MTC could not do less than render a public service by forming a new walking club; free and
easy, open to all who cared to walk in the open. The club would have a liberal constitution and easy conditions of membership with definite objects of being a recreational walkers club, purely and simply, and be open to members of both sexes.
The matter was argued at great length. Rigby withdrew his motion regarding probationary members. Meanwhile, Dunphy put Rudders suggestion of a branch club before the meeting. Rigby moved that a new club be formed which was seconded by Roy Davies.
Then there followed the first meeting of the Waratah Walking Club later to be named the Sydney Bush Walkers. The full list of those present at the meeting form the foundation members of the club and were: Alan Rigby, Roy Davies, Morris Berry, Jack Cockerill, Harold Peatfield, Eric Dickson, John Gillespie, Albert Crandon and Myles Dunphy.
The meeting proceeded to draw up the objects and constitution of the new club. The stated objects were:
= To amalgamate those who esteem walking as a means of recreation;
To form an institution of mutual aid in regard to routes and ways and means of approaching the great outdoors;
“ To establish a definite regard for the welfare and preservation of the wildlife and natural beauty of this country;
” To help others to appreciate these natural gifts.
FORMATION OF THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKERS (Based on minutes of the Mountain Trails Club)
where hikers could meet and discuss routes, places of interest and so fill a long felt want for those who go on walking trips. Many walkers no doubt prefer to go with their friends or even alone rather than be bothered with organising trips but their information would be valuable to others and so | would suggest a free and easy meeting place for all those who hit the trail. Organised trips could be arranged for those who wished and no doubt the scheme would be one of mutual benefit. The club should naturally be open to lady members for one sees as many of the fair sex on the trail as men. Jack Debert, The Sun, newspaper 2/8/1927
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Reply to Jack Debert:
interest the letter of Mr. J. Debert advocating the formation of a hiking club. With the approach of spring the beauties of the countryside seem to lift their voices appealing to the hiker calling him to view the unadorned splendour. With some friends | periodically go out on walking tours and find it a very healthful and interesting pastime. It is one which, were it easier to get information re routes and conveniences for camping, would be unsurpassed.
Miss Jess Scott, The Sun 4/8/1927
There followed a letter that appeared in the The Sun 5/11/27 from the Secretary of the Mountain Trails Club:
tt should be a matter of interest to all recreational walkers in the State that, primarily through previous correspondence in The Sun, a walking club was recently formed under the auspices of the Mountain Trails Club and affiliated with it. This action should fill a long felt want. Membership is open to all walking enthusiasts of either sex over the age of sixteen year. All interested are invited to attend the next meeting to be held Friday November 11 at 7:30 pm, Room 3, New South Wales Sports Club.
Letter to the Editor,
reaching 80 years since my father was first President. Unfortunately | have another engagement in Queensland which has come up, on the same weekend. | have a lot of early club information including the original advertisement which was on the formation of a mixed walking club in Sydney inviting males and females to join.
My father more or less formed the club with the help and aid of several other members - what a challenge! We should take our hats off to them. Eventually the Club can have the history | have to hopefully cherish for many more years, so that future members can read and appreciate what the founders went through to make it the great club it is today.
Yours sincerely,
lan A Debert
(H.M.) Past President
THE DECADE OF BUSHWALKING (BEFORE CARS) By Alex Colley 0.A.M.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
the hills around Lithgow as a boy. Often | looked from our back verandah towards the bush to the north, longed to explore it, and imagined that it went on forever. Years later, in the SBW, my wish came true. It was, in fact, a magnificent wilderness continuing all the way to the Hunter Valley. | went on my first overnight trip in 1925 - a week spent on the Cox - but it was not until Tom Herbert introduced me to the Club in 1936 that | became a member.
shortly after went on the first Tiger walk, managing to catch up with the party at meal times. | was President in 1941, Magazine Editor from 1947 to 1950, Business Manager of the Magazine from 1963 to 1965, and have been Conservation Secretary since 1966. | deeply appreciated being made an Honorary Active Member in 1982.
As SBW delegate | attended the 1968 meeting of conservation societies which appointed the Colong Committee, and became a member of the Committee in the following year. | have been Honorary Secretary of the Committee (now the Colong Foundation for Wilderness) since 1975 and participated in its successful Colong Caves, Boyd Plateau, Border Ranges, and Greater Blue Mountains|campaigns. | was awarded the Order of Australia (O.A.M.) for service to conservation in 1984.
WALKS Because bushwalkers didnt own cars most walking was done in the green belt beyond the
Cumberland plain. Some memorable walks were done in this area between 1937 and 1939, and during the war it was difficult to arrange walks beyond it.
Most of the more memorable walks centred around a group known as The Tigers which dissolved after 1939. The formation of groups within the club has been a feature since the beginning. In fact one of the great benefits of Club memberships is that amongst a large membership one is sure to meet up with kindred spirits. The Tigers, more than any other group, have achieved a special place in folklore. The nine members of a walk were led by Max Gentle on April 23-25, 1937. The
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route was Wentworth Falls - Kedumba - Kedumba Pass - Policeman Range - Tiwilla Buttress - Cloudmaker - Strongleg - Cox River - Carlons - Katoomba via Carlons Head. This was the first ascent of Carlons Head. !t was achieved by forming a human pyramid against the rock face. Dot, at the apex, climbed up the last few feet and lowered a rope to which each of the rest of the party was tied for the ascent. It was a dicey operation with a 200 foot drop beneath.
With Dot holding on ten feet from the ground, Jack and | made a base, Alex stood on our shoulders and Bill formed another tier above him! The idea was for Dot - our star climber - to step on Bills shoulders and scramble the last few feet in her inimitable style to the depression. But as she began to apply her weight, Alex, who was badly placed, cried out that he couldn't stand the strain. Dot stepped back to one side and Bill - stout fellah - made a desperate effort upwards. My head was pressed against the base of the cliff and Alex quite forgot to get off, but Hilma kept up a running commentary quite illuminating even if somewhat disconcerting to the victim climbing: Bills climbing - hanging on by his nails - oh hes right over the edge - shaking all over - theres nowhere to put his feet - he may do it - hes UP. (from The Epic Gangerang Trip, by Gordon Smith, The Bush Walker Issue No. 1, 1937).
The distance of the walk was about 75 miles, climbing about 9,000 feet. After the walk the Editor, Marie Byles, asked each of the party to write a piece for the magazine. One contribution was:
Max Gen T le Gordon Sm 1 th Hilma G alliot Alex Coll E y Jack Debe R t
Bill McCo S ker David Ste A d Dot Eng L ish Len Scot L and
Though the identical group did not walk together again, its members were the core of many subsequent walks. Other strong walkers and a number of average ones joined the Tiger parties. This was possible because the leaders, Gordon Smith (then Australias long distance walking champion) and Jack Debert, researched and scheduled walks carefully. Jack ensured early starts and the walkers progressed steadily all day as a group. Some of the Rabbits were able to go because Gordon and Jack carried a good deal of their weight. 25
to work was important. One car was available. Some got a lift. Two walked all the way to the bus. We arrived back at dawn, in time to go to work. Although it was no bushwalk, the 24 hour walk in Centennial Park, when Gordon Smith broke the Australian record by doing 114 miles, has a place in Club history. Jack Debert did 100 miles and David Stead 82. Lesser walkers accompanied them in relays.
TRANSPORT
The second pre-requisite of bushwalking is transport. A century ago it was possible to start a bushwalk from suburbs three miles or less from the GPO and in some outer suburbs it is still possible today to start from home. To get much further, transport is necessary. In 1934 there were 644,645 motor vehicles registered in Australia, of which about 200,000 were in NSW. In 1985 vehicles numbered 9,118,300 of which 2,984,900 were in NSW. The multiplication of vehicles has changed our whole lifestyle - though despite the fact that a motor car goes at some ten times the speed of a horse, no time has been saved. More time and money is spent on travel than ever before.
In the 30s public transport was not a last resort, but the accepted means of travel. Only two or three club members owned cars. Travel was by train, and most walks started from platforms, though taxis were often used for longer trips. The fourth ,column of the walks programme was devoted to times and places and train departures.
There were many advantages in public transport. There were no delays at the start (trains ran on time then). Those who missed the train missed the walk, and few did. Trains were safe. There was no driving in peak hour week-end traffic and then on for hours during the night (particularly hard on the driver after a long walk). The party travelled together as a group, not in separate vehicles. There was no worry about leaving your car in the bush, at the mercy of thieves and perhaps bush fires, or damaging them on rough tracks. Walkers did not have to return to their starting point as most do with cars, nor could they turn round at any point and come back if the weather was inclement. In order to catch the train back it was necessary to schedule the walk carefully and most walks were completed as programmed. But bushwalkers, tike everybody else, love their cars, and those dear old days are dead.
On several occasions buses were hired, either from the City, or from Bomaderry. This was a very convenient means of arranging trips through the Clyde Valley and the Budawangs. EQUIPMENT
in the early days many Club members made their own gear, but by 1937 nearly everything was made by Paddy Pallin, then a one man show, and bought from his George Street shop. The main changes since then have been the advent of nylon and the H-framed and body packs. Paddys japara products were light, durable and effective, though nylon allowed some saving in weight. Many other lightweight products have been evolved. Paddys A-frame packs, which weighed about 5-6 lbs, were a great improvement on the dungal swags of the 20s, though uncomfortable unless carefully fitted to the back. These days walking equipment salesmen dont know what anything weighs, but in the 30s every item was assessed.
In theory the march of science should have lightened our packs; in fact it hasnt. The principle enunciated in Parkinsons first law - that work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion - applies equally to walking equipment: Equipment expands to fill the space available for its carriage. Dot Butler carries less in her little 1930s frameless pack than any other Club member. |
Standard footwear was heavy hobnail boots. Some, however, had taken to sneakers - like a
sandshoe, but with leather uppers and no tread - sure to slip on wet rocks and slide on gravel, but very comfortable and light.
MAPS
There were a few Inch-to-the-Mile ordnance maps showing contours at intervals of 50 feet, mostly of areas near Sydney. The southern Blue Mountains were covered by the half-inch-to-the-Mile Blue Mountains and Burragorang Tourist Map, together with Myles more detailed maps of this and some other areas. Myles maps, the unrecompensed product of many years of dedicated research and meticulous draftmanship, were his great gift to bushwalkers. They still have a ready sale, both for their artistic and historic appeal and for the information they contain. Beyond the ordinance maps and those produced by Myles we had little beyond Inch-to-10-Miles Tourist District maps, or Parish maps. Tourist District maps were essentially road maps. There were no contours marked, but the main streams which were known were shown and so were the main divides, which when known, were indicated by hairy caterpillars. Parish maps were compiled only to show land holdings: they were usually white space. Walking with these maps in areas such as the northern Blue Mountains, or the upper Hastings, was a _ real challenge.
Jack Debert and Dot English eating ice cream on the Kowmung, Xmas 1938. Has anyone done it before or since? Photo: Alex Colley
5 SALUTE AND FAREWELL TO MARIE BYLES BY DOT BUTLER
In the beginning were the barbarian - the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, the Picts and the Scots, with a sprinkling of marauding Danes. The Dark Ages were followed by the Renaissance and in the year sixteen hundred and something were born the parents who gave birth to Nathaniel Byles. Nathaniel begat John who died of apoplexy while driving over Nufield Common but not before he had begotten John Curtis the coal merchant who begat Henry Beuzeville (by now the Juguenot strain is evident) who begat the Rev. John who begat Cyril who married Ida Margaret (one of eleven Unwin children) who, at 8.58 pm on Palm Sunday, 5 April 1900, gave birth to a daughter, Marie Beuzeville. A Burmese astrologer later proclaimed This person was born under a bright star.
Born before the end of the Boer War and in the last year of Queen Victorias reign when England was at the height of her imperial Glory, Marie was to witness two World Wars and one world-wide Depression, the atom bomb over Hiroshima, the coronation gift of Mount Everest to the second Queen Elizabeth, the first visit to the Moon, the unspeakable horrors of the Vietnam War, the end of British might and glory, and in Mahatma Gandhi the first apostle of the power of truth and non- violence on a large scale.
Both her parents were radicals. Mother was a feminist who wore no corset and her skirts merely down to her ankles when all other girls were firmly laced and wore skirts brushing the ground. She hated housework and was a vegetarian, so Marie followed suit.
Father was a signal engineer with the Lancashire and Yorshire Railways. Neither parent was musical but Father said he could always distinguish between God Save the Weasel and Pop goes the Queen because people stood for the former. He was a fresh air fanatic and always slept with his window wide open even though he might wake in the morning with snow piled up on his bed. He took his three children on long walks in the English countryside in all weathers.
In 1911 Father emigrated with his family to take up the job of Signal Engineer with the NSW Railways. (His ashes are now scattered below the signal station at Redfern.) To the newly arrived Pommies it was a strange new land. Most amazing were the tall graceful Eucalypts casting astonishingly little shade. Father bought three acres of bushland at Beecroft and built the family home Chilworth. To Marie the chief joys of life were tramping holidays (the word bushwalking had not yet been coined), especially in the Blue
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Mountains with the stupendous precipices. One year the family walked home from Mt. Irvine stopping overnight at Kurrajong among the bell- birds. Although only children, Marie and her two brothers walked 20 miles a day. Other holidays were spent at Seawards, a tiny cottage which Mother had built at Palm Beach when it boasted only two other cottages and a guesthouse.
Fathers nickname for his small daughter was Mrs. Mahabili Pushbar, the Lady what get things done. Marie certainly had a mind of her own. She insisted that another small cottage be built on the estate so that her two brothers could be separately housed. She chose her own school - P.L.C. On leaving school, when all other girls were putting up their hair, Marie startled her parents by having hers cut short and announced that she was going to study Law. It was now 1918 and the first World War had just ended. At Law School Marie found herself, one lone female very much afraid of the opposite sex, in the midst of an uproarious class of over a hundred young men, mostly returned soldiers. They were very brainy and very high- spirited. A distant relative of Maries was a judge and the text-book on Crimes contained many of his judgments. The lecturer delighted in picking these out to read to the class. As soon as he said Mr. Justice Byles the class woutd stamp furiously till the dust rose. Despite such embarrassments Marie persevered and proved herself a brilliant student. Mr. Kenneth Street, later a judge and Lieutenant Governor, gave his opinion - Miss Byles has a mind as clear as crystal. At the age of 24 this pocket edition, seven stone, 5 feet 2 inches girl entered the profession as a Law clerk. Her first case was representing an old man who had taken someones water tank. She got him off on the more serious charge of stealing but he had to hand back the tank.
After three years in a lawyers office, having saved 600 pounds, she was able to realise her ambition of going around the world by cargo boat, mountaineering en route in England, Scotland, Norway, Canada and New Zealand. Her book followed - By Cargo Boat and Mountain.
Returning after a holiday most unusual for a girl she now determined to start work on her own. The owner of the Duke of York cinema let her have a partitioned piece of the foyer at 15/- a week. Father gave her a bass plate, Mother gave her 40 pounds and the Estate Agent gave her an introduction to the Bank Manager. The year was 1929 and Australia was just entering the Great Depression which lasted into the _ thirties, nevertheless Marie found business and got a reputation for absolute integrity in her profession. Her recreation was bushwalking with girl friends. At first they carried revolvers - one had an enormous Colt automatic conspicuously displayed
in her belt. Maries lay at the bottom of her rucksack. Their armaments also included a. tomahawk. Soon, however, these were left at: home, not because the girls were braver but : because the weapons were heavy. There was no |
light-weight camp gear to be bought. They carried
eiderdowns and camped in overhangs. Marie became an excellent bushman. She could find her
way in our often monotonous and featureless bush by using brains, compass, sun and map.
In 1929 she joined the infant Sydney Bush Walkers Club, now two years old. Nine years earlier she and three girl friends had made a first expedition to
Boat Harbour, a romantic place which captured her - imagination when seen across Pittwater from the -
Byles holiday home at Palm Beach. Marie was keen to see it made a National Park. Now she had
support from other like-minded people. Dorothy Lawry pressed for a change of name from Boat .
Harbour to Maitland Bay. The S.B.W. wrote to the Lands Department and they obligingly put the new name on the map. Marie now began softening up public opinion by writing articles showing that the Park was all but dedicated. 1932 saw the beginnings of the Federation of Bushwalking Clubs
and Marie persuaded them to make this their first . conservation project. The Lands Department sent .
their District Surveyor to accompany a $.B.W. team to assess the value of the area as a National Park. He was most co-operative and added the land at the northern end of Killcare Beach. Later large additions were made to the Park.
Now, with her S.B.W. friends she had climbing, ski- ing and horse-riding trips to Kosciusko. In 1932
Marie booked Betts Camp and she and Kath Mackay
climbed Mt. Townsend and descended 5,000 ft to the Geehi. flats below. It was at Betts Camp that
Kath made herself immortal by writing in the -
visitors book the poem which ended Burn, bash or bury all your rubbish and your tins, and hide your bottles as you would your sins.
Under the heading Worthy Causes to be Espoused Marie supported the Wild Flower -
Protection legislation initiated by Rae Page, and the Blue! Mountains National Park which Myles Dunphy proposed. She worked for the setting aside of Garrawarra and Era, and also the Barren Grounds. With a local working bee she helped plant Cheltenham Road with scribbly gums.
Marie was able, during the Depression, to save
enough money for two trips to New Zealand. She
and a girl friend, with two professional guides, climbed Mt. Cook. On their second trip they went into the unexplored Mahitaki Valley near Milford Sound and named various peaks, rivers and lakes.
28 i Vietoria Rd West Ryde NSW2114 Tel 9958 5844
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You wonder if they are all there to carry such a swag.
But you dont know the pleasures that they find in these bushwalks
OUR CLUB by Blue Gum
Sydney people everywhere, wonder who they are, You see them there, you see them here, they come from near and far. Dressed in shorts and hob-nailed boots and rucksacks on their backs, Not just men but ladies too, take to the rough bush tracks.
Fach one staggers neath his load of grub and sleeping bag
Untit youve shared their company, their camp-fires and their talks.
Should a walker become lost - no matter where or when -
Hoopers Search and Rescue Crew will be out in force again. |
Witting hands are always there to share the work and play,
And rousing songs they sing around the fire at close of day.
Let others ride in shiny cars and travel the easy way;
Kowmung, Blue Gum, or Carlons Head, theyll walk them any day. Every bush track is a joy to these friends as they stride, Remember, if you want to roam the bushland wild and wide Sydney Bush Walkers, thats their name, so let them be your guide. oN ye
SBW TRIP SECRETARYS REPORT - OCTOBER 2007
Spring walking in NSW - we are so lucky. | have just come back from one of the great bushwalks. Fantastic passes, great views, beautiful creeks, amazingly sculpted rocks, fields of flowers, pleasant companionship and the hidden wonderland of the Passages of Time.
This 80“ year of SBW has seen 10 new walk leaders on the program. Leaders are volunteers and the future of SBW is dependant on a constant renewal of members and the volunteers that run the club and walks.
Leaders (new and experienced) deserve your support as do the many other volunteers that run the club, prepare programs and magazines, act as S&R contacts and perform the numerous other jobs necessary to keep SBW alive and viable.
In 20 years, when we celebrate 100 years, | want SBW to still be a healthy, vibrant, active walking
30
club. You can help that happen; tell others about what we do - invite a friend along on a walk and contribute something to the club.
The program is still short of mid-week walks and we could still do with more easy walks. With the excellent work being done by several people to help new members make that transition to independent walkers, we need to ensure a full range of walks is maintained. If you are interested in or know of someone who you think may be suitable or interested in leading, let me know.
Be active and alive - see you on the track.
Tony Holgate
Walks Secretary
02 9943 3388 (home) 0434 968 793 (mobile) tholgate@optusnet.com.au
LIST OF PLACE NAMES ON MAPS NAMED AFTER SYDNEY BUSH WALKER MEMBERS
NOMENCLATURE Nomenclature is the system of names applying to any particular area. It is an art or science that has not been highly developed in Australia judging by the mediocre names we find attached to most places of scenic value with the usual layout of creeks, gullies, ranges, etc.
Myles Dunphy produced sketch maps of the Blue Mountains (the popular Blue Mountains Tourist Map, first published in 1932), Gangerang (wild dog mountains), The Warrumbungle Mountains and Burragorang.
Myles gave priority to aboriginal names, then descriptive, historical and classical names. The Gangerang map has aboriginal names like Mt Carra- mernoo (mother of cloud) and Moorilla (thunder). The visitor to any mountains will know that the weather is liable to change quickly, and how often cloulds gather over Myles Mt Cloudmaker or weather will be beating up the slopes of Mt Stormbreaker or fog out on Big Misty. There are names after people who have found new routes: Dorrie Lawry Pass, Genties Sheerdown or Gordon Smith pass.
Myles Dunphy was fond of names from Roman and Greek mythology in the Blue Mountains and Celtic mythology in the Warrumbungles. For example, Pooken Hole or Rip, Rack Roar and Rumble. Dex Creek is named after Myles dog Dexter Symbol, a black and white fox terrier that accompanied Myles on a trip from Kanangra to Katoomba.
When a name is chosen, it is likely to have its detractors. This problem is accentuated in more settled areas. Local residents often have their own names for features and although these names have no official recognition, they have earned de facto status by being used for generations.
The feature known as Peter OReilly Range (in the Wild Dog Mountains) was changed by an enthusiastic group of people to Yellow Dog Ridge. Bernard OReilly had lived his youth in the Blue Mountains and his father Peter O'Reilly was a Pioneer and respected local figure. In 1968, Bert Carlon, a cousin to the OReillys and a Megalong Valley setter complained to the Geographical Names Board of names being corrupted by bushwalkers.
NEW ZEALAND Name of Feature Name of Member Mt Dot ..Dot Butler
31
BUDAWANGS AREA
Name of Feature Name of Member
Angel Creek………ssccsenes Ken Angel
Byangee Walls………..0000. June Byatt and Ken Angel Colley Ridge… Alex Calley
kKilPatrick Creek…………… Charles Kilpatrick Maurice Ridge………………. Maurice Berry
Pallin PasS…..cssscccscersesees Paddy Paltin
Names given by Ken Angel and appearing on the old reprinted 1978 CMA map CORANG topographic sheet, but since abandoned in favour of earlier names used by the locals and surveyors of the area:
Name of Feature Name of Member
Angel Falls (Crooked Falls)……..Ken Angel
Mt Renwick (Mt Owen)……..00.0- Keith and/or Yvonne Renwick (brother & sister)
Mt Roswaine (Mt Cole)…Ross Laird and Betty Swain Mt Pataird (Shrouded Gods Mountain)……Pat Sullivan & Jean and /or Grace Aird (Wagg)
ETTREMA - YALWAL AREA
Name of Feature Name of Member
Colley Plateau… Alex Coiley Jingles Pass… ccssssseece Ben Esgates dog Manning Saddle…………. .John Manning Perryman Falls… Mike Perryman Prydes Amphitheatre….Charles Pryde PuttS Flat…….ccsssssscesee- Colin Putt
Putt Hilt. ceseccsesssseees Colin Putt Gerrys Canyon… Gerry Sinzig BLUE MOUNTAINS AREA
Name of Feature Name of Member Byles Pass (Blue Gum Forest to Mt Hay) - .-Marie Byles Deberts Pup (below Narrow Neck)
..Jack Debert
Duncans Pass…………0.0.. -Frank Duncan
Glen Alanne…ecscssceccesssees .Alan Rigby
Glen Enidn. essen -Enid Rigby
Glen OliVE…. cesses Olive Greenacre GION Tarra… cesssssssceseeronses Walter Tarr
Knights Deck… Wilfred (Wiff) Knight Knights Pups… Wilfred (Wiff) Knight Leydens Pass… Frank Leyden
Mt Debert (Debert Knob)…Jack Debert Prydes Prospect (north of Mobbs Soak)
. . .Charlie Pryde RISbYy Hill… ssesseseesseneee Rigby Family Tarros Laddet………….00. Walter Tarr (Taro) 32
Dear Norman, Here is the list of gear and tucker.
There are 32 different kinds of foods on our list so there is ample variety. Go through your personal list carefully, | may have missed some small things | you will think necessary. |
Im awfully tired and glad this particular job is done at last. The main list, then individual lists for everyone - the matter took some time today. ]
Be sure your boots are trustworthy and can stand a lot of water wading and climbing along rocky slopes.
My tent is 6×6, Dons is 5×7; they will hold 5 of us. ! think this is all.
Note: | have your ticket and your seat is reserved on the Caves Express leaving Central 10:35 am next Saturday morning. Meet me at the entrance
to the platform the express leaves from.
Cheers, Myles
KANANGRA BOYD - KOWMUNG TRIP 1932-3 Party Equipment (Norman Hodges)
Axe 2 % lbs
.22 rifle and 100 cartridges, 5% \bs
also cleaning gear
Tin opener % |b
First Aid gear - 1 lb | bandages, mesh tape, etc
Personal Gear - (allowance 16 lbs, not including books, shorts, singlet and coat) - 24 lbs total.
Boots, socks, singlet (wool or wool and cotton) coat or lumber jacket, hat, shirt, handkerchief, trousers, shorts, belt, leggings (some leggings will be necessary. Paddy Pallin will make you a Trailers pass for 3/6.
Party Equipment (Norman Hodges) Cont………..
KANANGRA BOYD - KOWMUNG TRIP 1932-3
In packets: money, matches, handkerchief, notebook, pens, comb, perm. Potash, sharp penknife and flynail.
Gear: ground sheet, beanhat (1 heavy or 2 light), guernsey, pyjama trouser, spare singlet, spare socks (2 spares), spare handkerchief, strong rubber boots (not shoes), towel, shorts, soap. Toothbrush and paste, small mirror, razor?, few safety pins, spare string, toilet paper, spare matches. Swag straps, knife, apron, mug and large plate.
if you want to take a camera regarded as an extra, as there are others going.
Tucker and candles as per separate list.
MYLES DUNPHYS TUCKER LIST KANANGRA- BOYD/KOWMUNG TRIP 1932-3
Tucker List (Norman Hodges)
Bread, malt or wholemeal 3 lbs Flour, self raising, 2x2lb packets 4 lbs Uncle Tobys Rolled Oats 1 pkt 2 \bs Rice 2 \bs Lean Bacon Rashes 2 lbs 1 tin Corned Beef 12 oz or 1lb 1 lb Potatoes, small to medium 3 lbs Globe Brand meat extract, 1 tin % Ib Lima Beans 1 lb Tea - Bushells Blue Label % lb Dried milk, 1 tin 1 lb Sugar 4lb Butter 1 lb Sultanas 1 lb Dried Apples 2 lb Chocolate, % lb slab % lb Jam 1-12 oz tin 1 lb ; 30 lbs
You and Norm have about 3 lbs more tucker each than other three, mainly because of the latter having tents, ropes and torches. We will even matters as we go along. Try and bring the lot. If you have to cut anything, cut the party bread and sultanas.
* In the first 6 days we only carry the swags 15 miles.
33 In memory of Myles Joseph Dunphy - 1891-1985
the leather boots
are cracked and dry
the hobnails rusting out
yet | half expected
you to arrive and pull them on for the day dawned
crisp, clear, autumnal
the dusty air
cleared by rain
in powerful flight swans passed overhead a pulsing arrowhead cleaving the sky
just the kind of day you enjoyed striding barelegged through the coastal heathland brushing by stunted grass trees and hakea pack on your back blackened billy can swinging in your hand your practiced eye picking the wallaby trail holding grade on the rise
and we would have stopped in a ferny gully with a creek of sweet water gurgling through rocks on its way to the sea get me some standing sticks lad youd say and soon the smoke would spiral to the sky
smell of burning gumleaves sticks crackling and flaring
until the billy bubbles and sings.
I see you lay out
bread, tomatoes, cheese on the battered tin plate open a can
cant beat Hamper Brand Corn Beef
youd say. . . solid meat your knife
worn to an arc with sharpening carving out slices
help yourself
and youd pour tannin-stained tea into the chipped enamel mugs
this place puts me in mind of the Kowmung trip in 34….
youd spin us a yarn
to take up through lunch
reeling back the years of your life
to find that lithe young man
swag on back
rifle in hand
looking out over the endless blue ranges
then time to move on youd say and we did
so many times
until you moved on
once and for all.
today | want you
to pull on those boots again
so | can follow
your swinging stride
holding back just far enough
to dodge the whiplash branches sprung by your passing
to go by myself into the sunlit spaces robbed of the rhythmic crunch of your boots your yarns your laughter
From Dexter Dunphy, Jaguar Heart: Poems, Wellington Lane Press, Neutral Bay, Sydney, 2003 For details about ordering this book, see www.dunphy,. net.au
SOCIAL NOTES October Social Programme:
Cathy is away this month so here are a few notes about what happened last month and what jis ahead in the coming weeks.
September was a little unusual in that we had two social activities in the clubrooms. Well, perhaps the Half Yearly General Meeting doesnt sound very social but on Wednesday 12 September not only did we have the business segment of the meeting but Pam Campbell gave a very interesting presentation on her recent walk in the Kimberley in Western Australia. About 25 people attended and were enthused by the presentation - Thanks Pam!
Then on the next Wednesday night, 19” September Patrick James conducted the Club Auction of pre- loved gear and other items. If you missed this you missed some amazing bargains. About 30 of us sat at tables with cheese, wine, cake etc and were entertained by Patricks unorthodox auctioneering. Net proceeds of over $300 went to Coolana funds.
Our normal social evening in October has been put -
back to the 24“ (the 4 Wednesday) to be included as part of the 80” Birthday celebrations - see below. The Nostalgia Evening is a party night and will feature some interesting items on display including the Clubs early records before they are permanently lodged in the State archives. The Club Birthday Cake will be cut and shared.
in November there is an opportunity to visit (sort of) Japan in armchair style with Leigh McClintock. Leigh is very familiar with Japan having visited it several times and will entertain us with a great presentation.
Bill Holland for Kathy Gero Social Secretary
17 Oct 21 Oct
24 Oct 8pm
27,28 Oct
31 Oct 7pm
(Clubrooms closed)
Big Day-O! Manly Dam 80“'Birthday Nostalgia Evening
A party night with displays of bushwalking gear and Club records, mementos and early maps.
80” Anniversary at Coolana
Coolana is looking great and family groups are welcome. 4WD transport to and from the camping flat available for the less able members and our new toilet will be opened.
New Members Training Night
Please check with New Members Secretary. This covers how to pack for an overnight walk.
November Social Programme:
7 Nov 7pm
14Nov 8pm
21 Nov 8pm
28 Nov 7pm
Committee Meeting Visitors Welcome
New Members Night Introduction to the Club for intending members.
Japan - Mountains of Hokkaido Come with Leigh McClintock and visit this wonderful area.
Training Night - First Aid
Please check with New Members Secretary. This covers basic first aid training relevant to bushwalking.
PAST EDITORS From left: Bill Holland, George Mawer, Ray Hookway, Don Mathews, Helen Gray, Bob Duncan, Geoff Wag, Spiro Haginikitis.
35 EDITORS OF THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER
Editor | , Cross] Issue | Issue Year from Year to | Editors name Reference | from to
1 1 9 June 1931 Oct. 1932 | Marjorie Hill 2 10 27 Dec. 1932 Jan. 1936 | Brenda White 3] | 3,4 28 28 Mar. 1936 Mar. 1936 | Marie Byles, acting editor 1 issue only 4 3,4 29 40 May 1936 Apr. 1938 | Marie Byles 5 41 88 May 1938 Apr. 1942 | Dorothy Lawry 6 6,10 89 89 May 1942 May 1942 | Alex Colley, acting editor 1 issue only 7 90} 123 Jun.1942 Mar. 1945 | Clare Kinsella , 8 124] 136 Apr. 1945 Apr. 1946 | Ray Kirkby 9] 137| 147 May 1946 Mar. 1947 | Ron Knightly
10} | 6,101 148] 196 Apr. 1947 Mar. 1951 | Alex Colley
11 197} 208 Apr. 1951 Mar. 1952 | Ken Meadows
12} | 12,27] 209] 232 Apr. 1952 Mar. 1954 | Jim Brown
13,14 233| 244 Apr. 1954 Mar. 1955 | Dot Butler & Geoff Wagg
15 13,15| 245| 268 Apr. 1955 Mar. 1957 | Dot Butler 16 16,22] 269} 279 Apr. 1957 Mar. 1958 | Frank Rigby 17 14,17} 280; 291 Apr. 1958 Mar. 1959 | Geoff Wagg 18} | 292} 327 Apr. 1959 Mar. 1962 | Don Matthews (Mulga) 19 328; 351 Apr. 1962 Mar. 1964 | Stuart Brooks 20 352] 363 Apr. 1964 Mar. 1965 } Bob Duncan 21 21,25} 364! 375 Apr. 1965 Mar. 1966 | Bill Gillam 22 16,22] 376} 387 Apr. 1966 Mar. 1967 | Frank Rigby 23} 23,26,29| 388 Apr. 1967 Mar. 1968 | Neville Page 24 Apr. 1968 Mar. 1969 | Ross Wyborne 25 21,25 Apr. 1969 Mar. 1970 | Bill Gillam 26| 23,26,29 Apr. 1970 Mar. 1971 | Neville Page 27} | 12,27 Apr. 1971 Mar. 1972 | Jim Brown 28 28,39 Apr. 1972 Mar. 1976 | Spiro Hajinakitas 29 | 23,26,29 Apr. 1976 Mar. 1977 | Neville Page 30,31] | Apr. 1977 Mar. 1978 | Owen Marks & Dorothy Pike
Apr. 1978 Mar. 1982 | Helen Gray
Apr. 1982 Mar. 1984 | Evelyn Walker
Apr. 1984 Mar. 1987 | Ainslie Morris
35,41 Apr. 1987 Mar. 1989 | Patrick James
Apr. 1989 Mar. 1991 | Morag Ryder
Apr. 1991 Mar. 1992 | Judy O'Connor
Apr. 1992 Nov. 1992 | Debora Shapira
A] Ly] Ly] Ge! Gey] Go] Ga] Ga] bo RSIS ASS SNA ajajs
| 28,39 Dec. 1992 Mar. 1993 |
Apr. 1993 Mar. 1997 | George Mawer :
| 35,41 Apr. 1997 Mar. 1999 |
Mar. 1999 Mar. 2001 | Ray Hookway Mar. 2001 Mar. 2006 | Bill Holland Mar. 2006 Pam Campbell Total number of editors 30 Editors who held position two times 10 Editors who held position three times 1 Magazine Issues Numbers: Originally each magazine was given an issue number, printed on the front
cover together with the date, and repeated on the Contents page. This lapsed in about January 1968. Issue Numbers have been revived with the September 1997 magazine.
36