With nearly two years of high school still ahead of me, and with a few long day walks in the Adelaide Hills to bolster my sketchy confidence, I bravely walked into a room somewhere behind the SA Museum. 

It was early 1965 and my purpose was to attend an ABW General Meeting. As I entered the room, I was immediately struck by how everyone was older than me, with a moderate spread of years either side of thirty or so it seemed to me. I wouldn’t have dared talk to anyone, and I don’t recall anyone speaking to me. The meeting begun, I can recall the President summarizing the past month, and in a mildly chiding but humorous vein, naming someone who had left his cutlery home on a recent trip. It seemed like a trifling matter to me, but it got a laugh so perhaps the spoon defaulter was renowned for his usual exemplary trip planning and preparation and in which case, I get it. 

My other memory is of two or three stirrers seated in the back row and interjecting with witticisms of sometimes dubious merit and these met with a mix of Presidential Tolerance and a scattering of restrained laughter. So overall, a fairly lively affair but I didn’t go back because school football was soon to account for weekends. Even without that, I felt that my age mitigated against me taking it any further. Six years later I went back but to serve a different purpose.

In 1971, I went to ABW’s April meeting to promote that year’s AUMC 24 Hour Walk which I was organizing in the Rockleigh region. (Now called rogaining, ABW had organized and set the event in the previous year.) I got there early to introduce myself to the Secretary and so ensure a short timeslot. 

I’d no sooner sat down somewhere in the middle of the room when I became aware of the guy sitting in front of me laughing in a somewhat derisive manner at something that he was reading. He leaned over to share whatever it was with his neighbour and more hilarity ensued. Curious, I craned over to have a look. Oh crikey! He had the latest edition of AUMC’s quarterly magazine Chunder! (and don’t you just love that name) and I was chastened to see that the cause of the merriment was an article that I had written in all seriousness. What so funny? 

The article was my take on lightweight bushwalking, and it basically recommended taking the pack less packed. Pretty dry stuff I would have thought. Then it suddenly dawned on me what had triggered the laughter, and it caused me to blush a little. It was the bit about how heavy food is and hence the blindingly obvious recommendation being to take less of it. (I had been experimenting with this crazy idea and found that running out of food a day or so before trips’ end was generally of little or no consequence. And I mean, if you’re not going to experiment when you’re young, then when are you?) 

My fear now was that, on being invited to come out to the front to deliver my short spiel, a connection might be made between me and the author of that forgettable nonsense. (I’m still in possession of a few Chunders but not of that Edition. And I’m not sure that I’d really want to read it anyway though it could be good for a laugh.) 

My next encounter with ABW was in 2006 when I joined the club. Having just pressed Send to join, I burst into the kitchen to tell my wife with the enthusiasm of someone who’d just won a minor lottery. She told me that she was very pleased to hear this because now, as she put it, she wouldn’t have to worry about me ‘so much’ when I go off walking. I couldn’t help but notice the ‘so much’ but just what interpretation I was meant to put on it, I couldn’t tell. I can only think that she must have wondered about ABW! 

I have a memory of the first meeting I attended that has really stuck in my mind. It was during the break when two ordinary members took it upon themselves to independently come up, introduce themselves and welcome me to the Club. That made a huge and favorable impression on me and the proof of this is that I remember who they are to this day. 

After finishing school, I had four years of association with AUMC and this had a major influence on my life, introducing me to bushwalking, climbing, snow trips, canoeing and the amazing 24-Hour Walk along with some friendships that continue to this day. My overall impression of that club is of people with enthusiasm and the energy to match and this associated with a mildly underlying current of youthful recklessness, and which of course had its own appeal. Even today, when I occasionally meet someone from that club and no matter the era, I feel a shared connection to something good. 

I am not of course trying to make any comparison between my former and current bushwalking clubs. That would make little sense because times and things have changed, including life on university campuses and its clubs and of course, myself. Concerning change, I can think of two occasions on Flinders trips in the late 1960s that typify a bygone and more relaxed era and unlikely to return. 

One of these was on a trip to Arkaroola when we pulled into a garage at Leigh Creek to get a tyre repaired. While we hung around, the owner-mechanic effected the repair, and all this with levers and rubber mallet. He then told us to take the tyre off and replace it again ourselves, all this so that we would know how to do it. 

The other occasion was when we stopped at Blinman while returning from the Gammons. It was near sunset and people were lined up and heading into the Hall so we went over to see what was going on – what! us miss a party? We were told that they had no entertainment for their mid-year social and that if we could get up and sing for a while, we would have free entry. Yes of course we could sing! 

Thanks to the girls in the party, we did manage to pull it off with a few renditions of songs popular at the time and finishing with a gutsy, everyone-join-in singalong, of ‘Bottle of Wine, Fruit of the Vine’ by The Fireballs! And all the lovely sandwiches, cakes and cups of tea that followed! We left soon after and camped near the Pound and next morning, made a rapid ascent of Point Bonney before heading for home. 

Returning to the present, I think that ABW is rapidly regaining much of its former pre-Covid energy and enthusiasm, and this due a lot I think to its many and often younger -but not only younger – new members. I hope that they will get involved with the club as much as their circumstances allow, and in that way, hopefully go on to develop that same and lasting feeling of connection that results from sharing in something good. And that is doing varied, interesting and sometimes challenging bushwalks in great company, along with the club’s social gatherings outside of walking. I do feel confident that this is and will be, the case. 

All photos by Rob Rushton-Smith AUMC 1970