But during the war a small number of people, including some bushwalkers, made a very different stand for their principles, a stand, which exacted considerable personal penalty by way of incarceration and ostracism: these were the conscientious objectors to military service.
Ted Hartley of the Kameruka Bushwalking Club, who died suddenly in June aged 80, was a conscientious objector; he was one of bushwalking’s most unorthodox characters. A Quaker and pacifists, Ted came through the ranks of the scouting movement in the 1930’s, and as a scoutmaster at age nineteen, he showed early promise. The war however was to impact harshly on his life for Ted served successive periods of incarceration at Emu Plains Prison Farm, a total of 12 months. Here, at Emu Plains Ted was ordered to do war effort support work. "Hang on" said Ted "I don’t support the war, that’s why I’ve been sent here in the first place…" Sticking to his guns, he earned himself a long period of solitary confinement.
After the war, Ted developed his interest in bushwalking, eventually joining the Rucksack Club of Sydney, which was one of the few pioneering clubs of the 20’s and 30’s to survive the war. The Rucksack Club was a proud club and was indeed thriving in the 1950’s. However dark clouds were on the horizon for the Ruchsackers:in the 50’s the range of activities available to bushwalkers was fast expanding; adoption of the new rope technologies was leading the more adventurous into new fields. The popularity of caving, climbing and ski touring was on the rise, and the new sport of canyoning was about to burgeon.
The elders of the Rucksack Club were bushwalking traditionalists and by the end of the decade they were struggling to contain the high-spirited of their younger brigade. The "troubles" culminated in dissent: Ted was perhaps the most experienced Rucksacker to defect; he joined the Kameruka Bushwalking Club, at that time a small club, one of the young generation of walking clubs formed post war.
The history is that the Rucksack club went into steep decline, whereas the fortunes of the Kamerukas were to soar, and much of this can be attributed to the distinctive style of leadership, humour and enthusiasm brought to the club by Ted. From the young Kameruka brigade was to emerge some of the finest and most formidable walkers of the 60' and 70’s, with Ted the original "Old Bush Bum" cajoling them on to explore ever further afield to venues such as South-West Tasmania, Hinchinbrook Island and the Warrumbungles. The club’s activities were diverse, and they among the leaders for many years in endurance walking and canyon exploration.
Ted stood for no ceremony, it was boots and all bushwalking for the famous KBC who reeled in the horizons at a terrific rate: it was Ted who christened them "Paddy's Hairy Men" but their on-the-ground mentor was Ted himself.
In the field Ted’s most unique achievement was undoubtedly his solo 1957 first recorded assent of Byangee Walls in the Budawangs. He also left a distinctive literary legacy in the form of a body of light-hearted satirical and humourous verse to be found in the pages of Walker's Song Book, first published by Ted and friends in 1962 in tribute to a young Kamerukan who lost his life on a bushwalk in the Blue Mountains shortly before. Walker's Song Book is regarded by many to this day as the most original of all such song books. This is due largely to the clever selection of traditional campfire songs interspersed with many of Ted's own "traditional" bushwalkers-verse which included many little gems such as " My Girls a Corker", "The Lonely Airdrop" and "No Boots At All".
Farewell Ted Hartley - an individual and man of conscience of whom all bushwalkers can be proud.