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Tag Archives | WWII

Splendour Rock photos

Splendour Rock in the Wild Dogs of the Blue Mountains with its fabulous location is a unique war memorial that has attracted visitors from all over the world.  There is value in old photos.  Your help could make a planned book on Splendour Rock even better.  I am after photos of Jack Cummings as the Convenor of ANZAC Day Dawn Services.  Jack started the current series of an annual Dawn Service at Splendour Rock but it is a tragic tale.

Around 1990 Jack lead his first Dawn Service as a member of the (ex) Nepean Bushwalking Club.  He did so each ANZAC Day until his tragic death in 2001.  Now 2001 was not a good year for the Cummings family as on Christmas Day their family home and hence many bushwalking records were destroyed as a bushfire engulfed the town of Warragamba.

I am also after photos of something that is easy to overlook.  You camp on Mt Dingo but do you take photos of it?  Photos of camping on Mt Dingo before an ANZAC Day Dawn Service would also be appreciated.

Photos must be of the highest possible resolution.  All photos that are used will be acknowledged but (of course) not all photos will necessarily be used.  The aim is diversity in photos so please look through your old photo albums for relevant photos.  The more to choose from the better.

This small memorial raises many questions.  Who were the fallen bushwalkers?  Who cast the plaque and how / when was it installed?  Which bushwalker found this site and why was it chosen for the memorial?  When were Dawn Services held and do we have any old programs?  Who were the bushwalkers who served in WWII and returned?  What was the “Bushwalkers Service Committee”?  What about the “MATES” memorial?  The planned book by Michael Keats and I will answer these and many other questions with a wealth of information about this memorial plus several other memorials in the immediate area.  Hence, it should become a valuable reference for any bushwalker.  The story of Splendour Rock and the other memorials is a fascinating part of the history of bushwalking.

Coast and Mountain Walkers (CMW) have provided many excellent early history photos.  Other clubs must also have photos.  I am keen to balance this CMW contribution with more diversity.

Send your scanned photos to history@bushwalkingnsw.org.au

Splendour Rock Memorial 1948

Places of Pride – Australian Register of war memorials

Splendour Rock Memorial 1948

Splendour Rock is a special place that remembers bushwalkers from Clubs of Bushwalking NSW (BNSW) killed during WWII with that wonderful phase “THEIR SPLENDOUR SHALL NEVER FADE” and it seems that it is getting better known outside Australia.  Bushwalkers / walkers who go to Splendour Rock, in the Wild Dog Mountains of the Blue Mountains, are rewarded with an amazing wide vista of the southern Blue Mountains from Kings Tableland in the east to the Blue Breaks and Lake Burragorang (southwards) then finally to Kanangra Walls in the west.  Splendour Rock was chosen for its location but also as a bushwalkers war memorial so it does require a bushwalk to access it.

In 2014, on behalf of BNSW, I had Splendour Rock placed on the register of NSW war memorials maintained by the State Library of NSW.

From an incomplete series of visitor logbooks in the State Library of NSW we can see that Splendour Rock has always attracted bushwalkers, Scouts and others.  It is just not groups from NSW but groups from within and outside Australia (not just Europe).

Similarly, “Places of Pride” is a virtual register of war memorials from all over Australia maintained by the Australian War Memorial (AWM in Canberra) as it aims to keep the memory alive of all Australians who died in past conflicts.

Recently, again on behalf of BNSW, I added Splendour Rock to this virtual list, of Australian war memorials, maintained by the AWM.

See https://placesofpride.awm.gov.au/memorials/263171

Entries on Places of Pride are more concise than the State Library of NSW register so a link was added back to the BNSW website for more information on the thirteen (13) fallen bushwalkers remembered and so consequentially to the State Library of NSW register of war memorials.

Splendour Rock is obviously a little different and probably unique in Australia and NZ.  In the Places of Pride text box for information on Splendour Rock I had to stress that access was only possible via a bushwalk.  The registration process with Places of Pride required a location given as a decimal latitude and longitude.  Since, the interactive map could not find a recognised road it suggested that access was possible via a dirt road.

Splendour Rock is now remembered as both an Australian “Place of Pride” as well as a NSW war memorial.

Keith Maxwell.

Honorary Historian BNSW

Bushwalkers were there to (in WW2)

75 years ago there was genuine relief on two special days in 1945. On May 8 it was all over in Europe, VE day.   “Victory in Europe” – Hitler was dead and Australians serving there could come home.  Then, 15 August marked VP or VJ Day – “Victory in the Pacific” (or over Japan).  Thus, Australians serving in this theatre of war could also come home but the fate of some bushwalkers on active service was unknown as they were POWs (Prisoners of War).

World War 2 (WWII) was a different war for Australia compared to WWI.  The enemy was at our doorstep in New Guinea and nearby islands with multiple bombing raids on Darwin and other towns of the top end.  New Guinea was more than the Kokoda Track as the Japanese proved difficult to dislodge from many outposts.

At least 172 bushwalkers, men and women enlisted to meet this threat.  Our small nation of 7 million eventually had over 950,000 citizens in uniform.  Bushwalkers were spread through all three services of army, navy and air force.  Sadly, some bushwalkers were lost or became POWs in the ill-fated defence of Singapore with its surrender on 15 February 1942.

All POWs were not accounted for until well towards Christmas 1945 when finally, the bushwalking clubs could do a final count of their losses.  Thirteen (13) bushwalkers would never return to join their families and bushwalking friends.  The thirteen were remembered with short biographies in the 1946 Bushwalker annual magazine but what about a permanent memorial to honour their memory?

While we now know that these bushwalkers are remembered at Splendour Rock this initially was not an obvious choice.  A memorial park was even considered on Narrow Neck.

When Splendour Rock was dedicated on ANZAC Day 1948 access to this site was much more difficult than today.  However, the bushwalking clubs had chosen well.  Splendour Rock is unique.  There is nothing quite like it elsewhere in Australia or NZ to honour fallen bushwalkers (trampers).

So, 2020 is an appropriate time to update existing information on these fallen bushwalkers.  In 1945, the NSW Federation of Bushwalking Clubs (now Bushwalking NSW) was far smaller than today so their loss was keenly felt.  Some special bushwalkers never came back.

Take a moment to view this revised file here of these FALLEN BUSHWALKERS then reflect – “LEST WE FORGET”

TAFFYS ROCK MEMORIAL

The walk to Taffy’s Rock is a popular out and back walk from Cowan Station for many Sydney Clubs.  Access can be by train or car.  Details of the walk are not hard to find.  But who was Taffy?

Around the 8th January Dorothy Vera “Taffy” Townson made news all around Tasmania and NSW for the wrong reason.  She had died of snake-bite; twice on the leg and elsewhere on a multiday walk in Tasmania.

Taffy joined the Rucksack Club in January 1944 and must have been an independent woman who was 39 in 1948.  In 1948 the Rucksack Club was a strong club with around 100 members of whom 33% or more were women.  The Hikers Club of Sydney became the Rucksack Club in November 1936 but unfortunately faded away around September 1973.  A strong portion of the club had served in WWII as service women and men.

In 1947 the Murwillumbah area was her home where she may have been the proprietor of a hair dressing salon.  She approached Alfred Watkins and Sam Hinde to join a Rucksack Club multiday walk from Waldheim Chalet (Cradle Mountain) to Lake St Clair in Tasmania.  Well into the walk beyond Pelion Hut her friends went ahead while she was left alone for a toilet break.  Unfortunately, she disturbed a Tiger Snake which struck three times.

Extreme efforts were made to get medical assistance from Sheffield, outside the National Park, to no avail. Survival may have been unlikely anyway.  Two only of the bites were attended to via the basic treatment methods of the time.  Taffy may have had to walk to join her friends plus (it is said that) she was too modest to say that a third bite had occurred when her underpants were down.

Taffy died about 4.30am on 8th January.  Bushwalkers from Sydney University Bushwalking Club (SUBW) helped carry her body out of the National Park.  The track could only allow two at a time to carry the improvised stretcher in 10 minute bursts.

Taffy now lies in Devonport Cemetery.  At the Rucksack Club General Meeting on 14th January those present stood for a moments silence to remember this well-respected member. Plans were started almost immediately for a memorial to Taffy. Tasmania would not accept a memorial but on 20th March a memorial walk was held with the hope that in future the Lands Department would accept a nomination for a location to be named in her honour.

Minutes from May 1948 show that member Ted Sloane was delegated to seek such a spot.  At the General Meeting of January 1950 a quote from Raynore Pty Ltd of £8.8.0 was accepted for the manufacture of the current plaque at Taffy’s Rock.  The Club to bear the full expense.

So, when you are next at Taffy’s Rock spare a moment to reflect on the unlucky Taffy and her snake bite.

© Keith Maxwell

The Chardon Award

Guest Post by Keith Maxwell

It’s almost the time of year for the annual Chardon Award.   The Award recognises those who have made a significant contribution to the bushwalking movement. However you may be wondering, who inspired the Chardon Award?

Harold Chardon, Left of 2 standing men. Photo by Alan Rigby.

The Award is named after Harold James Chardon. The bushwalker we remember for the “Chardon Award” was born in Queensland on 7 May 1905, the child of Alice Jane (Tatton) and William James Chardon.  Early on they settled in Bondi. Harold Chardon would become a surf life saver, a ‘tiger’ bushwalker, public servant and conservationist. In 1932 he played a pivotal role in the foundation of Bushwalking NSW (BNSW) and the Blue Gum Forest campaign.

In 1922 Harold started a career in the NSW Public Service as a Junior Clerk, Stamp Duties Office.

Bondi must have been a great place to grow up as he became a strong swimmer and life saver but also showed an early interest in organisation.  On 29 January 1926 Bondi and North Bondi Surf Clubs held a combined surf carnival.  Harold was the Secretary of the Bondi Club.

 

 

Harold became keenly interested in the outdoors and in 1929 was appointed an Honorary Ranger in Wild Flowers and Native Plants and in 1930, Birds and Animals.  All this as part of the newly formed Sydney Bush Walkers (SBW – formed October 1927) where for a short time in 1928 he was the Club Secretary.  It was an exciting time to go bushwalking.  So much of what we now take for granted around the towns of the Blue Mountains was being explored and mapped. In stamina he was able to join the SBW ‘tiger walkers’ who would cover big distances by travelling both light and fast.  With Wally Roots (a.k.a.Orang Utan) he joined another ‘tiger’ walker in the first bushwalker descent of Orang Utan Pass into the Grose Valley.  In 1930 he was invited to join the exclusive Mountain Trails Club.  In the lower Hollanders River, catchment of the Kowmung River, is the granite “Chardon Canyon”.

 

Yet in 1931 dark clouds were forming in the Grose Valley – Blue Gum Forest seemed to be in the gaze of an axeman.  Harold as SBW President was part of the delegation that negotiated with Mr Hungerford of Bilpin who was prepared to sell his rights in the forest for £130 (down from £150 but probably in excess of $15,000 in 2020).  Harold was then one of four SBW members as part of the subsequent Blue Gum Forest Committee.  The Blue Gum Forest Campaign is a long story where many groups had to come together, especially the bushwalking clubs.  As a respected bushwalker (and a past SBW President) he called the bushwalking clubs to a meeting on 21 July 1932.  From this meeting the “Federation of Bush Walking Clubs of New South Wales” (now BNSW) was formed.  Harold was very much the delivery man to BNSW as the meeting Secretary.  (This is why the Chardon Award has been named in his honour).

“Wilderness” was a term in the future of 1930s Australia.  Myles Dunphy formed the “National Parks and Primitive Area Council (NP&PAC)” to push for new National Parks.  In August 1934 the Katoomba Daily produced a supplement from Myles Dunphy that included a proposal for a Greater Blue Mountains National Park.  Harold as Chairman of NP&PAC assisted in preparation of this supplement.  (This dream was mostly finally realised in 1976 with the creation of Wollemi and Southern Blue Mountains National Parks.)

1936 was a busy year.  In Bexley Harold married fellow bushwalker Win (Winifred) Lewis.  Then, in October he was part of the first (informal) search by the Search and Rescue Section of Federation – now SES Bush Search and Rescue NSW.  It was an extremely strong party of eleven bushwalkers who entered the Grose Valley almost as a “who’s who” of bushwalking.

During WWII Harold served in the Second A.I.F. (army) in New Guinea as Chief Signals Officer Lines of Communication.

Post War Harold continued to rise up the Public Service fulfilling valuable roles in Workers Compensation and in 1958 as an Accountant moved from the Department of Labour and Industry to the Department of Agriculture.  He retired from this Department on 6 May 1965.  His final years were spent at Connells Point on the Georges River and he died on 26 June 1993.

Harold James Chardon is remembered as a surf life saver, strong bushwalker, public servant, ex-serviceman, strong conservationist and a guiding hand in the formation of BNSW.  BNSW is proud to have an award named in his honour that recognises outstanding bushwalkers.

Guest Post by Keith Maxwell

Blue Mountains Mystery

The Blue Mountains holds many mysteries, but one is unusual.  Among the mysteries are two planes and a memorial plaque.  The Blue Mountains have claimed many planes but mostly their crash time AND location is known.  Aeroplane Hill in the Blue Labyrinth outside Hazelbrook is the crash site of a then new RAAF Wirraway fighter from a group of four being relocated on 1 August 1940.  More recently, in 1993 Bushwalkers Search and Rescue (now Bush Search and Rescue NSW) helped find (deceased) the pilot and passenger from a Cessna that disappeared over the earlier October Long Weekend.  CMW bushwalker, Brian Walker saw the wreck on a ridge across a deep valley off the Boyd Plateau (near Kanangra Walls).  So, the time AND location of these crash sites are known.

BUT, two planes remain as a mystery.  WHEN they crashed is known but their location is NOT known.  The United States Marine Corps will be eternally grateful to anyone who could locate the wreck of a Dragon Rapide biplane freighter (and its passengers).  Surprisingly, many of these planes were still constructed in WWII and continued in service post WWII.  On 17 April 1943 two US Marines were passengers on a Dragon that was seen to be in trouble in the lower Blue Mountains.  Again, on 22 October 1954 Max Hazelton came back from the dead when he walked into a Post Office now covered by water of Warragamba Dam.  He had survived a crash and a six day walk from the Kanangra Walls area.  Max later established the regional Hazelton Airlines.  In 2014 Dick Smith and Max unsuccessfully tried to locate his crash site.  Thus, the time BUT not the location of these aircraft crashes is known.

What about a different mystery where the LOCATION is known but NOT when and why??  The location of a memorial to a WWII Battalion is known but little else.

Splendour Rock at the southern end of Mt Dingo in the Megalong Valley is an outstanding location to remember bushwalkers who died in the armed services of WWII.  From Sydney Bush Walkers (SBW) records we know the names of the first bushwalkers to see this site and when its fabulous memorial was installed in 1948.  “The Bushwalker” archives at www.bushwalkingnsw.org.au describe the dedication service, led by Paddy Pallin, on ANZAC Day 1948.  For many recent years there has been a simple memorial service each ANZAC Day at Splendour Rock.  All bushwalkers should consider attending this moving service with its dry overnight camp at least once.

So, not only do we know the location and time of dedication of the Splendour Rock plaque but the names of the fallen bushwalkers we remember each year.  In 2014 the NSW State Library eagerly accepted the nomination, by the author, of Splendour Rock for their register of NSW War Memorials; see www.warmemorialsregister.nsw.gov.au/content/bushwalkers-war-memorial-splendour-rock

Very few at Splendour Rock would know where to look for a much smaller memorial to 2/17th Battalion of the WWII A.I.F.  (The ‘second’ Australian Imperial Force; A.I.F. was the Australian Army of WWII).  Why was this plaque installed to remember “MATES” of just one of many battalions of one of several Divisions raised in WWII?  Information from the Australian War Memorial (AWM) shows that during WWII the size of a battalion was modified but was still less than 800 men.

Just to the west of Splendour Rock is a small south facing wall.  Location for this plaque must have been more important than access as you need to scramble over a large boulder then look up.  The plaque is above your natural eye height.  Who were the “MATES”?  Some only or all the infantrymen of this particular Battalion?  Author, Michael Keats is more than 90% certain that bushwalking historian, Wilf Hilder (deceased) told him that Gordon Broom installed this plaque.  Now, from National Australian Archives we know a Gordon Broome served in the 2/17th Battalion.  Much later he was a member of Sydney Bush Walkers (SBW).

Thus, here is the mystery.  We know the location of a memorial plaque to ‘MATES’ possibly installed by Gordon Broome BUT not when and why.  Since it is near the Splendour Rock plaque, which was dedicated in 1948, this ‘MATES’ plaque should be post 1948.  Many lines of inquiry have failed to provide further information.

SBW records cannot offer any further information.  The family are not keen to be contacted.  The 2/17th Battalion Association (BA) is mostly made up of ex-servicemen post WWII who trained prior to disbanding the Battalion in 1946.  The few very old hands still alive from WWII cannot help with this mystery.

Wilf Hilder knew much about the Blue Mountains, but we can no longer ask him.  An important logbook would seem to have been lost in a fire of Paddy Pallin’s shop around 1970.  An entry from a 1958 logbook in the NSW State Library mentions that an earlier logbook was passed onto Paddy Pallin.  The Paddy Pallin archives have no mention of this ‘MATES’ plaque.  Bushwalking NSW has incomplete records of old “Bushwalker” annuals / magazines on their website.  Equally, there seem to be no records of the names of the 140 bushwalkers who attended the 1948 dedication.

However, Gordon’s name does appear many times in campaigns from North Africa to New Guinea of the official history of the 2/17th Battalion (plus a privately published history of “B” Company).  He did not escape injury being wounded during close combat in New Guinea.  Is Gordon remembering the ‘MATES’ who helped him survive but also mindful of other mates who could not be helped?

For many years post WWII Gordon was active in the BA social sub-committee.  In 1953 he also joined a sub-committee to add a further memorial to those of the 17th Battalion (from WWI) at St Thomas Church, North Sydney.  Eventually in 1956 a plaque was installed with the words; “IN MEMORY OF THOSE MEMBERS OF 2/17th INFANTRY BATTALION WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES 1939.1945″.  The BA still have a service of remembrance each year on the Sunday before ANZAC Day.   Could the “MATES” plaque at Splendour Rock have also been installed around this time?

So, why is this “MATES” plaque at this particular orientation?  Small trees have now grown up but it would seem that the plaque has been placed, up high, to follow the sun from sunrise to sunset of “The Ode”, “… At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We will remember them…”

Can we be sure of any emblems on this plaque?  There can be no doubt that the shallow “T” in the top centre is the ‘T for Tobruk’ award that can only be shown by Battalions who took part in this terrible siege of 1941 in North Africa.  (The encircled troops still took the fight up to the German “Afrika Korps”.  The repulse of the Easter 1941 attack may have been the first defeat of a ‘blitzkrieg’ attack.)

The importance of the diamond emblems can only be guessed at since the logic of Gordon Broome remains unknown.  While the colours must have been very deliberately chosen there are two possible explanations.  Information from the AWM suggests that the black over green are the colours of the (WWI) 17th Battalion while brown over red applied to the (WWI) 23rd Battalion.  Now, both the 2/17th and 2/23rd Battalions were part of the Tobruk siege but why mention the 2/23rd when records also show close liaison between the 2/17th and 2/13rd Battalions in this siege.  OR do the diamonds apply to liaison between battalions in the later New Guinea campaign?

An alternative suggestion from a member of the BA is that the 2/17th Battalion used the black over green diamond until they sailed to North Africa when the brown over red diamond was adopted.  The problem is that battalion diamonds from WWII have a narrow grey border.  Either way this plaque would have required some planning and expense.  There is no maker’s mark on this plaque.  The high position of this plague at Splendour Rock suggests that its installation may have required two or more bushwalkers.  Perhaps the mystery is a deliberate act so we should just remember the many ‘MATES’ of the 2 A.I.F. who did not return.

So, the mystery at Splendour Rock seems to endure as on another ANZAC morn the sun slowly rises again over the distant Kings Tableland to stab the valleys with shafts of sunlight.  Cloud hides the water of Lake Burragorang.  The memorial calls us to remember the fallen but leaves us to seek out their names.  The same sun starts to light up the ‘MATES’ plaque; lest we forget.  Does it matter that we don’t understand the full mystery?  The plaque was not put there for you or me but by fellow mates.  You should, like the author, now seek out this “MATES” plaque each time you visit Splendour Rock to stand in silent respect and wonder at the strength of friendship plus dedication required to remember ‘MATES’ at this remote location.

 

Keith Maxwell.

Splendour Rock 70 anniversary

Wednesday 25 April 2018

This will be a special day as it will be 70 years since the bushwalkers who had survived WWII gathered to remember their lost walking mates.  They dedicated a permanent memorial to them with the outstanding sentence “THEIR SPLENDOUR SHALL NEVER FADE”

A simple ceremony will be held in the half-light before sunrise over Kings Table Land and a cloud covered Lake Burragorang.  There is a special atmosphere in the overnight (dry; no water) camp of the 24th on Mt Dingo.

All bushwalkers should visit Splendour Rock at least once since it holds so many bushwalking memories.  The vista more than lives up to its ‘splendour’ name as you see a vast sweep of bushwalking country.  In 1948 the bushwalkers could still remember friends who had pioneered ways to visit so much of this country in overnight trips.

GETTING THERE

Splendour Rock is on the far end Mt Dingo in the Megalong Valley.  It is hard to tire of walking the Wild Dogs with its mix of place names and bushwalking challenges over and around Mt Mouin, Mt Warrigal, Merrimerrigal before finally Mt Dingo.

Bushwalking NSW will be supporting this anniversary.  In 1958 they started a new visitors’ logbook with a special title page.

The BNSW website has more information on these men from a range of clubs (some of which are no more).  See www.bushwalkingnsw.org.au

Now is the time to start planning your 2018 ANZAC Day trip to this place of so much special importance to bushwalking.