Three Cooees for World Heritage

Blue Gum Forest resonated with the booming voice of bushwalker and naturalist Wyn Jones as he performed his inspiring poem ‘Songliner’. The ceremonial fire was lit and charged with the ashes of previous campfires, carefully conveyed in beautiful gumnut-shaped wooden capsules through successive campfires held, in relay fashion, by communities and walking groups since the original fires lit by traditional Aboriginal owners at Govetts Leap in May.

The spirit of Eccleston Du Faur then appeared and told of early events in the valley, and the story of the 1931-32 campaign was related. The terrorist events in America being high on everyone’s mind, the audience was reminded of the importance of the forest to bushwalkers during World War II, a refuge where people could escape from the turmoil of world events and lose themselves in another reality - the natural world.

There was then toast to the World Heritage area, using an infusion of tea-tree leaves, and the crowd of 130 belted forth three massive cooees. The phenomenon was later remarked on by Confederation president Wilf Hilder, who was descending Du Faurs Buttress at the time, and by Rick Jamieson who was approaching up-river after starting from Yarramundi a couple days before.

The participants returned to Acacia Flat while the specially inscribed clay tiles that had been baked in the fire were retrieved from the ashes for later distribution. The fire site was rehabilitated, and the forest returned to its tranquil state.

This event, on the afternoon of 22 September, was the culmination of the Gumtree Songlines project, instigated by Wyn Jones of the Bluegum Pathways Group. The project involved three community campfires (Dunns Swamp, Deanes Siding and Carlons Farm), and a dozen or so walking parties. The parties covered several hundred kilometres of World Heritage ground, ‘singing with their feet’ as Wyn would say. On the way they identified and recorded nearly half the 90-odd species of gum trees in the area.

was a recitation of the epic bushwalking poem ‘A Grose Incident’, a hilarious round of performances by Playback Theatre, and a superb interlude by the group Didgeridoo Dingo (who departed for Perrys at about 11pm so they could attend another function the next day!)

Bushwalking clubs participating in Gumtree Songlines included Springwood Bushwalking Club, Wattagan Wanderers, Upper Blue Mountains Bushwalking Club, Colong Foundation, Sydney University Bush Walkers, Central West Bushwalking Club, Blue Mountains Conservation Society, North Richmond Recreation Club and the Sydney Bush Walkers.

The main purpose of Gumtree Songlines was to celebrate Blue Mountains World Heritage, and the reason for the climax being held at Blue Gum was simply because that was where it all started, 70 years ago when Alan Rigby and friends ran into Clarrie Hungerford and Bert Pierce.