Australia’s early women bushwalkers shunned convention by walking unchaperoned and wearing shorts. These fascinating photos and archival snippets tell their story.
In the 1920s and ’30s, some people scoffed at the idea women could handle rugged encounters with nature. The bush was considered a place for men.
The Melbourne Women’s Walking Club was the first of its kind in Australia. But other women of the era also took their place on the walking track. They include Jessie Luckman of Tasmania, Marie Byles and Dot Butler of New South Wales, and Alice Manfield who led guided walks on Victoria’s Mount Buffalo.
Thanks in part to the audacity of early female bushwalkers, it is no longer controversial for women to walk unchaperoned or wear shorts.
Many members of the Melbourne Women’s Walking Club went on to become committed conservationists. Several played vital roles in advocating for the protection of the natural spaces we enjoy today.
For example Jean Blackburn, an enthusiastic club member from 1934 until her death in 1983, played a leading role in the creation of national parks in Victoria.
The club survived the stresses of the Second World War and a slump in membership in the 1950s. Today, more than 100 years after its inception, the Melbourne Women’s Walking Club is still going strong. In fact, today it boasts its largest ever membership.
Source: ‘The bush calls us’