Part 4: Going Bush

When Europeans first ventured into the Australian bush, notions of leisure were far from their thoughts. But many discovered a love of being outdoors, surrounded by nature. Spending time in the bush soon became a desirable pastime for health and fitness, self-improvement and nature study. Bushwalking also became a popular activity with holiday-makers.

When the Melbourne Amateur Walking and Touring Club formed in 1894, there were few established tracks. In fact, more often than not, it was these groups that mapped the trails and built the huts that so many of us now enjoy. These bushwalking pioneers established various rituals, rules and regulations with a great sense of fun and eccentricity.

None more so than the Barry Mountaineers, a branch of the Melbourne Amateur Walking & Touring Club, which operated in the 1930s. Membership of the Barry’s was not given lightly, as this letter addressed to ‘Wanderers from The Lowlands’ from the Chief of the Barry Mountaineers illustrates:

For your information, we would inform you that there are three ranks in our Order. Those members who have travelled only between St Bernard and Selwyn are ranked as Barry Mountaineers, those who have travelled only between Selwyn and Speculation are a rank higher and are designated Worthy Barry Mountaineers, while those who have travelled across the Barry Range from end to end are given the still higher rank of Most Worthy Barry Mountaineers.

You are therefore eligible to be initiated as Barry Mountaineers; but as conclusive evidence of having reached the Peak of the Selwyn, you are instructed to return to the Lowlands with a granite stone, taken from the highest point of the Selwyn.

The Mountaineers’ initiation ceremony was a formal occasion with initiates reciting an oath of allegiance, receiving a password and secret salutation, as well as being invested with the Button of the Order. All fun aside, the club’s hikes appear to have been superbly organised, with instructions for 20 or so participants regarding travel, accommodation, provisions, safety precautions, leaders and whips, packhorses, medical and fire kits.

Provisioning a party for a walking tour of several days, not to mention guiding a group through often uncharted terrain, was not to be taken lightly. Margaret Frances Strongman’s typewritten diary dating from 1937 to 1944 gives us many insights into the organisation of such walking parties. Strongman, a member of the Melbourne Women’s Bush Walking club, recorded the preparations for a walk of several days with a group of its members:

Jean...called a round table conference to discuss ways and menus for the coming trip...Jean is a strong well-built girl with a wide experience of walking in the Australian bush, and we can safely place ourselves in her hands...The main idea when planning the menus was to keep down weight, but we seem to be going to do ourselves rather well this Christmas time nevertheless...Everything has to be carried, as there is no hope of coming across any signs of civilisation up on top.

Margaret was delighted when she woke up on the eve of her departure to discover that ‘Father Christmas had called in the night and left us some camping utensils’.

The excerpts from Margaret’s diary, on display in the exhibition, chronicle her three-day bushwalking honeymoon.