Preface

When Sylvia Wilson first mentioned to me her idea of a 50-year history of the Club, my immediate reaction was to say, `Oh! I'll edit it'. I, like so many others involved in this publication, have gained enormously from the Melbourne Bushwalkers and what it offers, and felt that this is something I could give in return. What makes this project special is that it is a labour of love for all those involved. However, little did I realise at the time what I was about to embark on — a task that has given me both enormous challenge and satisfaction, entailing a lot of hard work and cooperation from many people (and especially I wish to thank Derrick Brown, who has given me tremendous support and propelled everyone along so cheerily when momentum sagged). I also have had some delightful surprises, such as the discovery that my mother had actually been on some of the early walks in the forties and knew Egon Donath, one of the Club's founding members.

Each chapter of this history is written by a different person - the contributors either chose a particular period or subject and gleaned their material from the archives - reports and publications of the time and from interviewing those who had been there, or they were closely involved themselves in the events. Each account is necessarily subjective

there will always be another view, another set of facts to record, or another tale of a particular event. I have therefore occasionally allowed some overlap in the telling of `what happened'. The writing style of the articles also varies markedly, of course. I have retained the individuality as much as possible while giving consistency in presentation.

Not all the material gathered for the history could be used - it was just not possible to include it all in a book this size. However, all articles in their original form are being kept in the Club's archives.

Barbara Weiss