Bushwalking and access: The Kosciusko Primitive Area debate 1943–6

Abstract

The environmental history episode explored in this paper shows how the growth of a culture of bushwalking in New South Wales from the 1920s to the 1950s created a very particular relationship to land use and access. I suggest that the model of extended bushwalking in wild, remote places that was defined then has since become central to the culture of outdoor education in south-eastern Australia, but that practitioners are largely unaware of its origins and of its implications for their practice. The 1940s clash of visions about rights of access to large tracts of land between two prominent bushwalking leaders, Marie Byles and Myles Dunphy split the organised bushwalking movement and delayed the planning of wilderness in Kosciusko State Park (as it was then) for a decade. It also still accounts for aspects of land use in the alpine area, and although few today are aware of their history, the issues raised then remain active in recreational land management. Dunphy’s view has prevailed that protection of wild places was justified for the use of the fit and hardy few walkers whose tastes and skills could access them. But Byles’ argument for voluntary or regulated withdrawal from ‘wilderness’ areas, for protection of places for nature alone, is perhaps becoming more necessary.