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APPARENTLY
it is high time that the origin of this name was recorded. Recently the
founder of one of the younger walking clubs said to me: "I think
'Singajingawel' is the most musical and pleasing of all the aboriginal
place-names I have heard; don't you?"
"Sorry,"
I replied, "but it is not aboriginal. It is a corruption of
'Sing-a-jingle-well,' and it was so named by my friends, the Taylors, in
October, 1930."
This
is the story of the naming:
In
October, 1927, Evan Taylor, his wife, Dorothea, and I set out to try to
clamber on to, and over, Mt. Solitary, but the fourth member of our party
became ill on the Saturday night and had to rest on Sunday morning, and
Evan stayed in camp to look after him. Dorothea and I just took a light
lunch and explored up the "Knife-edge" and along the top of the
mountain, finding water in two creeks before we turned back to camp. We
all returned to Katoomba across the Jamieson Valley.
Our
second attempt on Mt. Solitary was made on the Eight-hour Week-end in
October, 1930, when Evan's sister, Dorothy R. Taylor, took the place of
the man who had been ill.
Between
these two trips our small group of walkers, "The Wraggle-taggle
Gypsies," had scattered to the ends of the earth, literally; the
Sydney Bush Walkers had been formed; and I had joined it and had obtained
from the club a little songbook which contained many old favourites. On
the 1930 trip I took this book, as Dorothy was one of our
"Wraggle-taggle" songsters, and she sang to us most of the way
along the old tram-track such "jingles" as "Some
Folks," "Funiculi Funicula," etc., etc.
The
Actual Naming
We
clambered up the Knife-edge, crossed the knob of Mt. Korrowall, passed the
big cave, proceeded along the top of the mountain, saw—and named—"Squirm
Cliff," and camped in the hidden valley at the eastern end of the
mountain. This was a pleasant camp, with more singing, and, when we had to
return there for the second night because we could not get down on to
Korrowall Buttress, Dorothy decided we must name the camp-site and the
valley; she suggested "Sing-a-jingle-well," which we adopted. On
the same day we had named "Point Repulse" above the Buttress,
but I do not think that name has become generally known like
Singajingawel.
Nowadays
bush walkers dash over Mt. Solitary and do the trip from Katoomba to
Wentworth Falls, or vice versa, in a short week-end, which seems a pity,
for there is a surprising variety of country in the three or four square
miles of that mountain-top, and many happy hours can be spent in exploring
the various small valleys.
In
1930 and 1931 there were fewer walkers and much less knowledge of the
country available, so, as one who had actually been over Mt. Solitary, I
was frequently asked for directions. Naturally, I always mentioned the
best camp-site, in the hidden valley of "Sing-a-jingle-well," on
the best of the three creeks in which one could be fairly sure of finding
water.
Mrs.
Taylor and I certainly were not the first people to get on to Mt.
Solitary. There were very faint signs of a track up the Knife-edge in
October, 1927, and the first thing we saw when we reached the top was an
empty sardine tin! Someone had eaten sardines on a mountain that was
reputed to be waterless!!
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