Il Canberra Bushwalking Club Inc. I-' I
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:IL I CANBERRA BUSHWALKING CLUB INC. I-' I NEVVSLETTER'P.O.Box 160 Canberra City, ACT 2601 H - I 4. Registered for posting as a PSiodical Category B. Price 20c. Vol. 13. NOVEIVIBER 1977 No. 11. Coming Events: . - •. . b Wednesday 16th -November MeetIng ' : 1 Land Use Research Building .C.8.I.R.O., .. Black Mountain 71. 45'pnrnvnrds . - was that track not shdwri on the imp" Major McClosky, Army Survey Corps will talk on the making of maps and listen to our complaints about the maps , that I are produced . . Wednesday. 23rd -Walks flariñing Evening and Library Night • . .; ..... Si Bonython Street,.. Downer ..... Come along and Thelp plan the programme, sociaJ.ise or sit. in a 6'0rner with a book from the mafficent Jrdt c•fléotion (no women's weekltes provided) B.Y.O.). Monday 28th - Committee Meetin . .. 5 Olympus Way, tArons This is the headquarters for LAG. The meeting is Open to members who would' like to come along.. Thursday 1st Dec - 'IT' CLiing Date for December IT a Sat/Sun 10-11 Christmas Party Wdékenid . .. For details - look carefully in this issue of IT. t Thesday¶ 13th - IT Cc.11ation.. 25 Eggleston Cres, Ch1ffIJ. Are you an expert at walking round a table, stapling, fold.i-ng, sticky-taping, post-coding, or supervising - your services. are needed. (for supervising applications in writing to. Editói' please). . ... EDTTORIAL "Our aim is that the National Park shalL afford to those who live in .itachnce to make a living in a competitive world,. and to thdse who visit it the solace of tiàtüral beauty,". M . (Kenneth Dobefl) 4 This Is. one of the many quotes cocntained in a recently- published article J by the Assoctation for Regional Parks and Countryside Commissions. of Australia. A little later in Its article it says "There Is no natural state.. Dedicated inhabitants need to preserve a.park. Nature is never statio.' The Association appears to see man and domesticated, animals being essential to the entIre environment there seems to be no place in their world for undisturbed environments. Page Two November 1977 In its article it deplores the urbanisation of rural land. Why does it not take the next step: to a recognition that just as urbanisation is destructive to rural land, so too is ruralisation of Threat and aipine land. The Association says its aim is education to a public awareness of a need for regional parks and country..side commissions or similar bodies dedicated to preserve the rural countryside having regard to: the prodikction of fresh foods and other horticultural, agricultural and forest products; the maintenance, preservation and beautification of the ' S countryside for the recreation of the people; : to preserve aI d6nities with the tMdit'ional a) ' to ensure that housing areas fit in with scenic and environmental amenities, ......' to minimise environmental pollution and deterioration;. to encourage conservation of natural vegetation and . atw'al resources. All fine and commendable aims, thou "to encourage oonservation of natural resourds" remifids one of the aternent'"in the National interetht: ' t &pljátion of thi aims of the Association", which is likely to be a 'body with à"tiong future ±rtfluence'on :4jjj.'. and forested land, leae grave concern fO;r the status of our remaining 'unmanused' bush and landforms. ..... ..,... ..... The .:4l$tralian ,concept,on of National Paris has been based langely on false:ideas of wilderness." This was not in any way qualified and suggests thAssqciation4s attempting to denigrate the opposition instead of stating 'its own objective and uncoloured views. Possibly members of the Association are afrfid 'of" the oppdsitioti'so.they' feel the need to "str'engthen" their arguments. •. ' . .' .. Y "Australia was like a park and not a wilderness when husbanded by the Aborigines The Association has a distaste for wilderness (how do they define, it?) but the Aborigines were part of 4t, whether, park or wilderneâs. .: They did not have domesticated stQ6k'tnd were themselves nomadic in their habits.. They moyed with the .envirome,nt. very large parts of the country environment tich delights and refreshes urban man, the maintenance, the work, the ordered detail, the almost park-like appearance are not provided unassisted. They are the work of the dedicated farmer. Remove him and the land that was the nation's pride and beauty will quickly deteriorate. It would seem that the Association cahnot h andle the concept oC an environment ecologicallr'un'changed by man's presence, and the beauty - nature's beauty - that is there. Is beauty derived from exploitation of the environment or from its preservation? Further, is preservation of flora, fauna,' and landform compatible with domesticated stock,' agricultural production or Patural resource explOitation. Why should the latter take precedence over the former when there is so little of a the former remaining. A park may be grass azidradiata pine trees (or other.sPecies) but - - the evolved eco] ogy originally there - nature's beauty - is lost foreven. -Pt Novethber .1977 Page Three Man's replacement is impermanent, often unpleasant an4can lead to a desolate environment. "Establishfrsg t nature reserve is far from being a mere matter of fencing sheep, and possibly people, out' and then letting nature rip." One feels saddened by the destructiveness of man, when he narrows his world down to what he can gain from what he thinks the world should be like. He would destroy less and gain a fuller awareness if he observed and listened to what is there. /Ev'en among bushwalkers there are degrees of awareness. Just as y6 find joy in a 'wildezigss expextence' so too can joy'-be derived from Imowing that some areas are undisturbed while we remain confined to our domesticated urban or rural environment. A copy of the Association article is held.by the Conservation Officer. EDITORIAL SUBCONMI= The Editor would greatly appreciated help from a couple of members who would be interested inbeing on the sub-committee. Please enquire to - that's right - the Editor.. "The Eye" has been sleeping lately but don't worry - he's stirring - so watch out! Who put that in - Ed. President&sl Meanderings "In WilderneSs is the preservation of the World" . Henry tbc're :1851... A few weekends ago I attended the first National Wi&derness Conference, organized by the Australian Conservflion Foundation. Modelled on those organized by the Sierra C1uW'in the U.S.A., the Conference provided an opportunity for people from all over Australia to focus on Wilderness in Australia. We as bushwalkers are prime users of this limited resource - a..resource that is fast disappearing. The Conferece was agreed that there was an:urgent need to identify potential wilderness areas and to impose 1.nteram restrictions on use of such areas while they are fully evaluated. The Helman Study of potential wilderness areas in N.S.W. was seen. as the first of a series of studies that need to be done throughout Australia. Another theme that emerged at the Conference was the difficulty of management of wilderness areas. Studies on recreational use and attitudes towards wilderness indicate that our attitudes to wilderness (varied as they' are) are not shared by other large seentsof the population. This Inevitably affects the way in which the varioUs Park services manage wildeiness areas. With their limited resources, adequate management of wilderness areas by the responsible authc-rities is not possible and this can lead to public reaction agathst the declaration of more areas as wilderness. Page Four November 1977 In our efforts, to have more areas preserved as wilderness we also create a greater awareness of wilderness values and experiences and this leans to increased use of areas. The Conference recognized the need to undertake urgently studies into problems of carrying capacity, physical and psychological, of wilderness areas; work on a code of ethics for wilderness users was also seen as necessary. We as bushwalkers cannot be complacent. Thought must be given to what'each of us see as important to wilderness conservation. Next time we go into the bush and light a fire, tramp down a track, build a stone cairn, stumble across another group of walkers or trail bikes, remember that wilderness is a valuable resource - not just for our otm selfish recreational uses, but for ecological, scientific and cultural reasons. As bushwalkers, let us be at the forefront of those actively preserving and promoting wilderness. Henry PHG1'OGRAPHIC COMPETTFION Once again the Club photographic competition 'has come and gone with its share of troubles and criticisms. Due to unforeseen circumstances the "non member" judge was unable to attend and this was unfortunate, however let me add a few more criticisms. This club had 236 members in 1976 who were eligible to enter - 12 did. If one removes the slides I put in to fill out numbers and the slides which were ineligible for one reason or another we had a very small entry. Criticism was voiced at the beginning about the lack of oral., criticism - that comment was made by someone who did not enter - were they afraid of criticism?? Constructive written criticism was available but only one person enquired, everyone else just grabbed their slides and ran. I consider that the photographic competion should not be held again for several years and that more benefit would be gained by this year's entrants by their having a private showing of what they consider their best shots of the year - "ThVTTATION BY ENTRY ONLY". Finally let me congratulate this s winners, Mike Patterson, Reet Vallak, Cynthia Breheny and Philip Burden. Craig Allen WALKS REPORTS Plan A was described in IT (Sept, as 'Black Coda'), but not even Terry really thought'it would go.