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THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER

THE SYDNEY BUSHWALKER is a monthly bulletin of matters of interest to The Sydney Bush Walkers Inc, Box 4476 GPO Sydney 2001. To advertise in this magazine, please contact the Business Manager.

Editor George Mawer, 42 Lincoln Road Georges Hall, 2198 Telephone 707 1343
Business Manager Joy Hines, 36 Lewis Street, Dee Why 2099, Telephone 982 2615 (H), 888 3144 (B)
Production Manager Fran Holland
Editorial Team George Mawer, Jan Roberts & Barbara Bruce
Printers Kenn Clacher, Tom Wellman, Barrie Murdoch, Margaret Niven & Les Powell
Clubroom Reporter Jan Roberts

THE SYDNEY BUSH WALKERS INCORPORATED was founded in 1927. Club meetings are held every Wednesday evening at 8 pm. at Kirribilli Neighbourhood Centre, 16 Fitzroy Street, Kirribilli (near Milsons Point Railway Station). Visitors and prospective members are welcome any Wednesday.

President Greta James
Vice-President Ian Debert
Public OfficerFran Holland
Treasurer Tony Holgate
Secretary Spiro Hajinalcitas
Walks Secretary Eddy Giacomel

Patrick JamesItalic Text

Tasmanian Search For Wade Butler

The following is a reprint from the Wilderness Rescue newsletter for December 1995:

On the 29th November 1995 ten bushwalkers from Bushwalkers Wilderness Rescue flew to Tasmania to assist in the private search for the missing son of Sydney Bush Walker (SBW) Dot Butler, Wade. Wade had not been seen since leaving on a solo six day round trip to Precipitous Bluff (PB) via the southern ranges and return on the South Coast Track.

PB is an imposing long mountain, beside a coastal lagoon, that seems to rise out of the ocean to 1220 in high. The side paralleling the lagoon has outstanding cliffs of dolerite columns that give the mountain its name.

An extensive official search had retraced Wades footsteps and found a very definite footprint at PB low camp. This is the last camp before going up, over and down PB to New River Lagoon. The South Coast Track crosses the mouth of New River Lagoon.

As the official search was ending, it was thought that a voice was heard near a helipad beside Limestone Creek. Thus the private search concentrated on the immediate area of “the voice” and other possible ways off PB. Our radios were able to establish radio communications to the nearest town. Mixed teams with number of Tasmanian Bushwalkers were able to comprehensively search a number of areas.

Limestone Creek, which is a natural funnel that several ridges feed into, was line searched down to New River Lagoon on both sides. All the false leads at the bottom of the usual ridge were checked. Some of the Karst country at the base of the mountain was searched. The search around the area of “the voice” was thorough but found no trace of Wade.

Saturday afternoon, 2nd December, 1995 all volunteers were airlifted out. On Monday fresh teams of Tasmanians continued the search until Friday 8th December 1995. The private search was well led and organised by the Tasmanians and added extensively to the area searched officially. All ways off PB have been fleetingly to extensively searched. The Karst country with its sink holes has had some searching but would need many more bushwalkers to completely search it. The Southern Ranges and the South Coast track have been checked. No extra evidence of Wades movements has been found.

Wilderness Rescue was all the time working behind the scenes organising flights, budget details, updating information to all concerned. Wilderness rescue is extremely grateful for the opportunity to assist fellow bushwalkers in Tasmania. Wilderness rescue would like to thank Dick Smith for his sponsorship. His planned budget was increased to assist the Tasmanians in their second private search.

A Heritage To Be Saved

Nearly every tree, shrub and animal a visitor from abroad sees in the Australian landscape is new, save for a few like the eucalypts which are widely planted across the world. Australia is a continent with a unique collection of plants and animals organised in ecological communities that are found nowhere else. This is a heritage to be saved for all time.

Professor Charles Birch in Confronting the Future

Geoff Grace

The following contribution from Geoff Grace is about leadership. It's about the epic voyage of Captain William Bligh in an open boat from Fiji to Timor in 1789 and Geoff has pointed out that “It is relevant to Club activities as it is a story about leadership. When the objective is to get from A to B there must be a leader. Bligh proved himself an extremely competent and disciplined leader”.

Fiji to Timor. 29 April to 14 June 1789. No map. Distance: 7,000 km by open boat. Grade: Hard beyond belief Leader: William Bligh.

On the morning of 29 April 1789, with 18 loyal members of the crew of the Bounty, Bligh was forced by mutineers into a 23 foot open boat and supplied with the barest essentials for life. Under the most extreme circumstances, he navigated from Tofoa (Fiji) to Coupang (Kupang) in Timor. The near 4600 nautical mile journey (7000 km) took 45 days. Without Bligh's strong leadership, his discipline, seamanship and navigation skills, they would never have reached Timor.

They were at sea, crammed in a small boat with insufficient freeboard. It required continuous bailing. They suffered from exposure, thirst, starvation. There were frequent storms. Hostile islanders menaced.

Notwithstanding all Bligh kept a meticulous log. It is still in existence and makes absorbing reading. Bligh was leader both by rank and by virtue of his knowledge and ability. In the frightful circumstances of the journey, the discipline necessary both to keep order amongst the men and at the same time, to keep such a remarkable log, was outstanding. The log was not just an occasional record of events but a detailed navigational aid - the key to their ultimate survival.

The log is also a gripping adventure story. A few days after being set adrift, there was a hairsbreadth escape from total massacre by natives on Tofoa - “I was no sooner in the boat than the attack began by about 200 men, this unfortunate poor man was first knocked down and the stones flew thick and fast like a shower of shot - many men got hold of the stem fast and were near hauling us onshore, and would certainly have done if I had not had a knife in my pocket to cut, we therefore hauled of it to our grapnel with everyone more or less hurt. In the course of this I saw five of the natives about the poor man they had killed …… they filled their canoes with stones and 12 men came off after us…… ”

The man killed, (Mr Norton, Quartermaster), was the only person lost throughout the whole journey. The murder made such an impression on those remaining that - “I was solicited by all hands to take them towards home, and when I told them that no hope of relief for us remained but what I might find at New Holland until I came to Timor, a distance of full 1200 leagues, (1 league = 3 nautical miles) where was a Governor, but that I had no idea of the part of the island the settlement was at, they all agreed to live on one ounce of bread per day and one gill of water.” (4 Gills = 1 pint. 1 Gill = 0.118 litre).

Bligh had no doubts as to his own authority. He wrote always in the first person:

”… it was about 8 o'clock at night when I bore away under a reefed lug sail, and having divided into two watches and got the boat into a little order without a single map, and nothing but my own recollection and general knowledge of the situation of places assisted by an old book of latitudes and longitude to guide me .. “

Bligh's “own recollections and general knowledge of the situation of places” was considerable. Amongst other notable experiences, he had been an officer on Cook's third and final voyage which ranged the length and breadth of the Pacific. Bligh mentions Cook a few times in the log, including Bligh's personal involvement in an attack by natives following Cook's death.

“I once before sustained an attack of this nature with a small number of men against a multitude of Indians (after the death of Captain Cook) on the Morai at Owhyee ( Hawaii).”

In Hawaii, with the benefit of firearms, Bligh repelled the attack. At Tofoa, with only a few cutlasses for defence, he managed to get off the beach with the loss of one man. Without Bligh's quick thinking and knife to cut the stern rope, the Tofoa incident could have been the end for all of them.

Bligh had a compass and quadrant (Sextant). The overloaded boat had sails, oars and could be steered. Bligh was therefore able to follow a course and make observations of latitude. He obviously knew the longitude of Tofoa near where they were set adrift and the position of Timor, so there was a start point and an end point for navigation purposes. Apart from observations of latitude, navigation had to be by dead reckoning. “3rd May - At noon I considered my distance from Tofoa to be 86 miles WBNW, my Lat 19 degrees 27 min South and Longitude 183 degrees 52 minutes East.”

Bligh had certain knowledge of Torres Strait - the vital narrow gateway leading to Timor. He also knew that Cook had discovered a passage through the Great Barrier Reef south of Torres Strait.

A danger for Bligh was that the eastern extremity of New Guinea is further south than the tip of Cape York. Coming from a westerly direction, unless Bligh's course was well to the south of the latitude of Cape York, there would have been uncertainty as to whether their first landfall was Australia or New Guinea. To follow the north east coast of New Guinea rather than the north east coast of Australia would have led to oblivion. Bligh aimed his course to a latitude which turned out to be about two degrees further south than Cook's Providence Passage through the reef. “I cannot recollect what latitude Providence Passage lies in but I consider it very near to where we have come in. ”

Very early in the journey Bligh commenced logging the speed of the boat - an essential for dead reckoning calculations. ”…a line marked and practised at counting seconds…“

Every hour, the number of seconds to run out a measured line astern were counted. Traditionally the line was marked with knots, which is how “knots” came to be the nautical term for speed. Entries range from 1 to 16 knots with many records of four knots. A 24 hour run of 100 nautical miles or more was recorded on 17 occasions. (100 nautical miles = 185 km).

A progressive total of distance run was kept. How individual hours were measured is not quite clear however, Bligh could have used sun and star sights to divide the time. An observation of the sun (when visible) to determine latitude was taken each day at mid-day. Compass course and changes of wind direction were recorded. Course and distances, coupled with observations of latitude, allowed dead reckoning calculations.

Soundings were taken. Because the record never exceeds six fathoms, it can be assumed that six fathoms was the length of line available. Reefs were encountered with soundings of two metres. Speed was logged meticulously every hour. Was the same line used for both sounding and measuring speed?

After the first few days of writing the log as a running journal of events, on the 6th May, when the journey had started in earnest, Bligh commenced a formal log with separate columns for Hour, Knots, Fathoms, Remarks and Journal. Below those columns are places for Course, Distance, Latitude - (both observed and dead reckoned), Longitude by dead reckoning and a small space for remarks. The facing page contains the main journal. Each “day” of 24 hours commences at 12 mid-day.

After 25 days at sea, on 27th and 28th May, the log records their passage through the Reef. The observed latitude for 28th May is 12 deg 46 min - only 9 minutes difference from the position of Cook's Providential Passage. Seven days later, on the 4th June in Torres Strait, Bligh's observed latitude is 10 deg 48 min, again, only 9 minutes difference from the latitude recorded by Cook.

27th May - .. range the reef until found an opening…” “ From my recollection of Cooks survey of this coast ..”

28th May - .. “1 have already mentioned my reason for making New Holland so far to the Southward for I never doubted of numerous openings in the Reef through which I could have access to the shore and knowing I could range such a barrier of reefs until found a passage .. ”

Bligh stringently eked out their starvation rations and supplemented it with a few small birds caught by hand and other morsels of food. Rain at crucial times helped save them dying from thirst. On occasions when matters were at the lowest of low ebb - “Served a teaspoon of rum to each person”.

The journey ended on 14th Jan at Coupang (Kupang), Timor. A terse entry:

“At 9 got everyone on shore.”

Bligh would have felt a great sense of achievement. He alone was responsible for the success of the voyage. He would also have rejoiced that the first step towards bringing the mutineers to justice had been completed.

Bligh had a bad temper and a sharp tongue however, the highly objective log of that remarkable shows that under the most extreme circumstances, Bligh was a resolute and competent leader.

The Good Thing About Bushwalking is -

by George MawerItalic Text

There were a few happenings on my Snowy Mountains Walk over the Christmas New Year period that caused me to think about the attractions of group walking particularly on overnight and extended walks. It seems that almost from the moment we pick up the back pack and walk away from the cars we each take our place in a little tribe. A small self contained cooperative unit with a goal and a purpose. We have a leader - which frees us from most responsibilities - and we belong. We seem to look forward to the small challenges that lie ahead and know that they will be tackled as a group and we have that subconscious confidence that everything will work out OK no matter what.

I Believe that we always gain a little more of the quiet self confidence that comes from having tested and perhaps extended ourselves a little.

This particular walk was planned as an extended pleasure trip and I'm sure that that was how everyone found it to be. However it was interesting to see some of the people interactions within the party. There were twenty of us so there was plenty to see and hear.

Each seemed to have at least one area of expertise to contribute as need be. Maybe simple physical strength endurance and speed - very handy at times. Perhaps navigation skills or local knowledge. Experience and training in first aid. Optimism and joviality.

There were the peacemakers and calming ones. The early risers, the ones that get up early and get the fire started. The sleepy heads. The ones that pitch in and help, others to set up and to pack up. The motherly (and fatherly) types. The weather forecasters. The leaders advisers. The comedians and jokesters. The noisy ones and the quiet ones and those with bushcraft and camp skills.

Just how twenty people can be so close together for seven days and get along so well is remarkable in itself. It can't be that we're all such nice people. Maybe it's because we're close to nature and subconsciously we know we must.

What do you think?

199601.1585980735.txt.gz · Last modified: 2020/04/04 17:12 by ljclarke6

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