Background on Melbourne Bushwalkers

Melbourne Bushwalkers Inc. (est. 1941) is one of Australia's largest and longest established bushwalking and hiking clubs, with around 450 members and over 60 years of walking history. For those with a keen interest in history, the first fifty years of the club have been documented in an excellent book which has been reproduced on this site. (See: The Melbourne Bushies - Fifty years along the track) Copies of the bound volume are available at the club rooms for $5 per copy.

The club offers a full programme of activities throughout the year ranging from our regular easy-graded Sunday Walks with bus transport throughout Victoria, to week long pack-carry trips. Our activities programme is not limited to walking and includes base camps, canoeing and bicycling in Summer, with social events all year round. During 2005 a total of 139 trips were held with 2535 "member participants" along with 490 "visitor participants". One-day walks continue to be the most popular, including the Sunday Walks, held every Sunday. A total of 81 different club members contributed their time, effort and expertise to leading the trips for which the club is very appreciative. The club holds regular First Aid and navigation training sessions for leaders and members.

The club is actively engaged in relevant conservation activities throughout Victoria. Significant highlights and achievements have included: submission to the Alpine Cattle Grazing Taskforce asking for the cattle licences to be stopped, submission to the Shire of Yarra Ranges Forests Policy, submission to VEAC for a greater Otways National Park and Trans-Otway long distance walking track, and a submission to the Grampians Walking Tracks Strategy. The club donates annually the interest earned from its Investment Account to worthy conservation projects. In 2005 this went to the Victorian National Parks Association and The Wilderness Society. Melbourne Bushwalkers Inc. is a member of the Federation of Victorian Walking Clubs (VicWalk).

The club has a small but interesting selection of books available for use by members. These fall into the broad categories:

• Guide books - Victorian walks, other-State walks and international walks.
• Natural history books - there are some useful, compact, area-specific flower guides that members may borrow for use on trips.
• Books of general interest to bushwalkers.