54
the use of a safety rope. Salmon
argued that rope was potentially
dangerous because if a leader fell,
others would also be pulled to
their doom. But in his 80th year,
he acknowledged that his ‘no rope’
ethic was misguided. ‘I’m older
and I see the error of my ways,’ he
confessed. ‘Not everyone has the
ego that carried me through.’By the mid-1920s in the Blue
Mountains, a small climbing group
headed by Dr Eric Dark was also
active in Katoomba. Dubbed the
Blue Mountaineers, unlike their
Queensland counterparts, they used
‘32 mm yacht manila or heavy sash-
cord’ as a safety rope. In August
1931, the group made the first
ascent of the Arethusa Falls and
Lerida Gorge at the head of the
Grose Valley, climbing 100 metres of
sheer cliffline. They used a variety
of techniques, including swimming
across the gorge to attach a rope
on one wall to enable the party to
bypass a huge boulder blocking
their path.The use of a safety rope and
belaying techniques in the Blue
Mountains was central to thesuccess of Eric Dark and the
diminutive Dorothy English, later
known by her married name,
Dot Butler — the ‘barefoot
bushwalker’. Together, they made
the first ascent of Crater Bluff in the
Warrumbungles in 1936. Although
it was English’s first rockclimbing
experience, she led one of the
pitches — climbing barefoot — up
what is now the descent route, the
‘Green Glacier’. Dot Butler’s mentor
was Sydney solicitor Marie Byles.
In 1928, she had extended on her
existing bushwalking interests and
travelled to the UK and Canada
on a climbing trip, making a first
ascent in the Rockies. She returned
to Sydney in 1929 and immediately
left for Christchurch, becoming the
second Australian woman to climb
the highest mountain in Australasia
— Aoraki-Mount Cook. She was 28
— the same age as Freda du Faur
when she made the first female
ascent 18 years earlier.Throughout the 1930s until the
onset of World War II, southeast
Queensland was the undisputed
centre of climbing activity in
the country with large groups of
men and women making regularascents of local mountains.
Women were involved in the most
difficult ascents of the day — often
outnumbering men — with the
exploits of climbers like Jean Easton
and Muriel Patten well known to
readers of the Brisbane Courier.
In 1934, Muriel Patten became
the first woman to climb the First
Sister at Katoomba — without a
rope, of course — with Jean Easton
becoming the second, three months
later. It was a halcyon period
in Australian climbing history,
particularly for young women,
who were able to experience
outdoor activities like climbing in
an environment removed from the
mores of polite society.The aftermath of World War II had
a dramatic impact on climbing
culture globally with the advent of
new equipment and techniques.
But in Australia and elsewhere, it
also resulted in women virtually
disappearing from the heights
with societal pressure for them
to refocus on family and home
affairs as part of the postwar
nation building process. Although
there was a significant increase
in the number of bushwalking
and climbing clubs here — many
associated with burgeoning
university enrolments — women
had almost vanished entirely
from the ranks of climbers. The
influential University of Queensland
Bushwalking Club (UQBWC)
formed in 1950 with a small core
of adventurers who pushed the
known boundaries of difficulty well
beyond the limits established by
Bert Salmon and his colleagues. The
Sydney Rockclimbing Club formed
12 months later with the Melbourne
University Mountaineering Club
emerging around the same time.
The Victorian Climbing Club was
set up in 1952. Around this time,
bushwalking groups were using
ropes while canyoning in the Blue
Mountains and it seemed a logical
transition to extend their use to
climbing.A key international influence was
former Lakeland climbing guide
Bill Peascod who emigrated to
Australia in 1952. He made several
first ascents (Tonduron and the
Breadknife) in the Warrumbungles
with Sydney rockclimber RussA record 15 climbers on the south side of Crookneck, Glass House Mountains, in 1933. A. A. Salmon collection.FEATURE