|
Some
folks walks for prizes – round and round a great arena, or along a
hard highway. Postman walk for wages - delivering letters to the same
houses day in, day out, for years. We walk for pleasure. Not only the
pleasure that comes from splendid exercise and good company, sunshine
and fresh air, but the joy that comes from beautiful scenery, bright
flowers, and close comradeship with nature.
 Thus
it was that some Bush Walkers and Trailers just happened to be there
when the lessee of one of the loveliest spots in New South Wales started
ringbarking the blue gums. Their majestic beauty, the long years of
their growth, tenacity of their roots in holding together the soil of
the river-flat, all meant nothing to him. He wanted grass for his
cattle. He had the legal right to kill every tree. Reasoning and
persuasion failed, so bargaining was resorted to, for the Trailers and
Bush Walkers recognised that the trees must be saved. The Mountain
Trails Club had 27 members, the Sydney Bush Walkers about 140, none of
them wealthy, and the lowest price for his rights over the 40-acre block
which the lessee would consider was £ 130—to be paid within three
months!
The
Wild Life Preservation Society was approached, and swung in behind the
scheme solidly—with £ 25 cash. A committee was formed, representing
that Society and the two Walking Clubs, and the fight to save the trees
was on. While 'Club members were doing all they could to raise money,
the Committee was approaching various wealthy and public-spirited
citizens for assistance, and many responded to the appeal. To one
gentleman in particular belongs the honour of having actually saved
these wonderful trees. His response was prompt, and was a loan for 2
years, free of interest, of the £ 80 needed to
complete the purchase price, £ 50 cash having already been raised. As a
result of the sustained efforts of the walkers, that loan was paid back
within the two years, and the Blue Gum Forest was given back to the
Crown, to be dedicated as a camping reserve for all time. Four members
of the organising committee were nominated, and appointed by the
Government, as Trustees of the Forest.
When
the grazing lease was granted, the Lands Department Officials
were unaware that there was anything specially
worthy of protection within the area, far the Forest is hidden in one of
the sunken valleys of the Blue Mountains, some 7 miles from Blackheath,
the nearest Railway Station. There are no roads leading to it, for the
mountains rise precipitously all around to a height of 2,000 feet above
the valley floor.
In
the Forest the walkers can pitch their tents in peace, far from the
noise of motors and the litter of picnickers. They
can enjoy the quiet of the bush, the cheerful gurgle of the Grose River,
the majestic beauty and cool shade of the trees, and the magnificent
grandeur of the encircling heights.
The
Blue Gum Forest is their own, physically as well as spiritually, for it
is through their efforts that the trees still live. And, like a tree,
the effects of those efforts are still growing andspreading, for the
Lands Department officials now know that the walkers recognise and love
beauty in nature and are anxious to preserve it, and willing to work to
attain their object. So any requests for the preservation of primitive
areas that the "walkers make now receive very sympathetic
consideration, and already two further areas have been added to the
State's reserves. |
