PO Box 2199
QUEENSLAND
BUSHWALKERS
CLUB Inc.
Newsletter
QBW on the Spicers Gap road
Club News
From the editor
Welcome to the May newsletter.
The heat of summer is finally relenting and the walking
has become a bit easier. Members are appreciating the
variety of walks on offer, from beginners to medium. A
number of our regular walk leaders have had important
priorities elsewhere lately that have reduced their
ability to lead walks, so it's been great to see others
step up to fill those spaces.
Eight members enjoyed a beaut Easter base camp at
Kwiambal National Park in NSW and all returned safely
after the 5 hour drive. The spectacular gorge scenery,
weathered granite shapes and companionship around
the campfire made it a memorable experience. We'll
bring you a writeup in more detail soon.
This month I've delved into the archives for a few walk
reports since early this year. And importantly, note that
the May club meeting has been moved to 30 April.
Enjoy your reading and see you on the trail.
Michael H
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Sunnybank Hills
QLD 4109
Email qldbwc@yahoo.com
Phone No: 0401 527017
http://sites.google.com/site/qldbwc/
May 2019
Photo: Michael H
Membership
The club currently has 58 members.
Membership fees for 2018/19 are $30. Please send
your payment to Helen or by direct transfer into the
club bank account. Payment details are on page 4.
The same membership form is used whether you are a
new member signing up or a current member wishing
to renew – it is on the club website. Please complete
the form, sign it and either post, email a scanned copy
or hand it to Helen at a club meeting or on a walk.
The club email is qldbwc@yahoo.com.
Notices
The May monthly club meeting is now on 30 April at
7:30pm at Little Kings Hall, Carl St, Buranda.
The annual general meeting at which committee and
office holders are elected is normally in August, but this
year will be in September, in conjunction with the
regular monthly meeting.
A weekend basecamp dedicated to the memory of
Norm Johnston will be held on 15/16 June. It will
include a dinner and an ascent of Mt Maroon.
 General News held over those days, with the bonus feature of an
early rising to see the sunrise on New Years Day.
Closure of Green Mountains campground
The Green Mountains campground will be temporarily A track walk to Mt Mathieson was completed by the
closed from 7 May to the end of 2019. This is to allow time I arrived. Next day was a bit more adventurous,
work on the Green Mountains Camping Area sometimes off-track walk to a knoll on the Spicers Peak
Ecotourism Revitalisation Project. The day use area west ridge. This writeup is mostly about that walk.
will remain open during this period. For more info see:
https://parks.des.qld.gov.au/tourism/ecotourism/green-
mountains/ .
Combined Clubs Campout – 'CCC' 2019
The bushwalking clubs of Central Queensland are
holding the annual Combined Clubs Campout and
you're invited. The venue is Kooyalee Girl Guides
camp 15km north of Rockhampton and the camp runs
from 3pm Friday 3 May to 2pm Monday 6 May. A full
program can be emailed to you on request.
Pilgrimage 2019
A reminder that Pilgrimage this year is planned for the
long weekend of 27-30 September at Camp Laurence
on the shore of Moogerah Dam near Aratula.

Coming Walks Making a point

Any person wishing to come on a club walk must On 30 December, a total of 8 walkers travelled the 2km
contact the walk leader first. The leader will organise from the campground to Governors Chair by car to
the meeting place and car pooling and has full commence the walk. That may sound a bit lazy but
discretion on who can come on the walk. If possible believe me it felt so worth it by the end of the day! After
provide leaders with plenty of forward notice if you wish a final pack and application of sun and insect repellent
to nominate for a walk or if you change your plans. we headed off shortly after 8:30. The initial few
kilometres follows a road built in the 1860's as the first
Nominations close 9:00pm on the Wednesday prior to road link between the Darling Downs and Brisbane.
a weekend trip or by 9.00pm on the Monday before Information boards along the way provide insights into
Wednesday trips. the history of the road. It makes an interesting contrast
More details are available in the club calendar. with the billion dollar 2nd range crossing road currently
under construction near Toowoomba.
April 2019
30 Tues Club meeting (Buranda) 7.30pm A side track led to a Telstra maintenance road which
Michael Hoopmann 0401 527 017 we then followed for a while. At a point determined by
May 2019 mutual consultation and close examination of GPS's,
we left the formed road and began an ascent
4 Sat Mt Coot-tha Lookout to Slaughter Falls D/W
Peter Pendle southwards up a gully towards Spicers Peak west
ridge. Initially we waded through bracken fern thickets,
7 Tues Monthly Club meeting changed to 30 April
(see above)
then along some interesting sections of bedrock. As
the hill steepened we moved to an adjacent ridge and
19 Sun Wivenhoe Dam D/W followed it up to the cliff line through semi open
Peter Pendle
woodland. At this point Patricia and Helen decided that
25 Sat Doon's Drop (Mapleton) D/W the view was good enough, and they bade us farewell.
Patricia Kolarski
26 Sun Karawatha Environmental Centre D/W The cliffs gave no indication of an easy way through,
Sandy Thomas
so we skirted along their base to the west, crossing a
June 2019 few screes and boulder slopes as we did so. This
1 Sat Roma St Parklands to Southbank D/W
made for fairly slow going, and encouraged us to look
Peter Pendle for an alternative way to return. After some time we
arrived at the foot pad that follows the spine of the
7 Tues Club meeting (Buranda) 7.30pm
Michael Hoopmann 0401 527 017 ridge from the west up to Spicers Peak. Some of the
more eager / curious / energetic members of the group
scampered up the rocks at this point to gain the top of
Past Walks the knoll, which provided clear views of Mt Mitchell
Spicers Gap Basecamp 28 Dec - 1 Jan across the valley to the north. It also provided a very
Patricia organised a basecamp at the Spicers Gap welcome cooling breeze.
campground over the New Year period. It was well
attended with about a dozen members spending We regrouped back below the cliff line to have lunch on
varying amounts of time there. A number of walks were a grassy sward shaded by some gums. Quite a few

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ants joined us. The top of the ridge offered an easy to
follow footpad with a steady descent to the west so we
readily agreed to use that as our return route. When
we met the park boundary we turned north and
plunged down the steep slope through open woodland
until we met a vehicle track towards the valley base.
Along the way we saw a koala in a tree. There was a
bit of lantana but not enough to cause concern.
A breezy view of Mt Mitchell
Soon enough we found the maintenance road and
began the long steady slog back up to Governors Chair
from the west. This proved quite a challenge to our
patience and stamina in the warm afternoon sunshine,
and the sight of the carpark at 4pm was well received.
There was enough time to appreciate the view to the
east that the Governor enjoyed back in the day, then
we drove back down from the crest of the gap to the
campground where happy hour awaited and we could
tell Patricia and Helen what they missed.
The walk provided many opportunities – to observe
flora, fauna, geology, to practice map reading and
navigation, to work on team consultation and support,
the discovery of new places and to build character. The
distance may have been only about 13km, but there
was quite a lot of up and down involved. A big
thankyou to all the walkers for your company – Aileen,
Dave K, Helen, John E, Mary, Sandy – and to Patricia
for your organisation and leadership.
Michael H
Mt Cotton 16 Feb
A walk description for Mt Cotton could be completed as
follows – 'we followed a bitumen road for a kilometre to
the top of the ridge, saw the view, and walked back
again.' But the story of our walk is so much more than
that. It may sound a little hyperbolic to say that we
climbed it 'because it is there' in the manner that
George Mallory allegedly approached Mt Everest, but
that is the raw fact.
I had lived with 15km of Mt Cotton for over half of my
relatively short life, but had never walked on it. It was
time for that to change. I wasn't particularly drawn to
the excitement of the walk, and it didn't fall into the
peakbagging category. I simply decided that it was
there and it was beyond time that I went up it.
Discussions about Mt Cotton with other members didn't
put me off, but it was clear that if it was going to
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happen I would have to make it happen, so I put it on
the walk calendar.
A reccy of the mountain with John B on a particularly
warm and humid day, showed me that even though the
elevation is a very modest 230 metres, it is sufficient to
raise both a sweat and the heart rate. As can be the
case on a walk with John, our talk covered a number of
topics and eventually moved from items of topographic
interest to the more intriguing question of why is Mt
Cotton deemed to be a mountain rather than a hill.
This led me to some research on the topic which
uncovered the surprising fact that there is no agreed
global definition of a mountain. The United Kingdom
and Republic of Ireland require a mountain to be over
610 metres while the US Board of Geographic Names
was a bit more lenient until the 1970's in setting a
height of 300 metres. Since then it has become even
more lenient and said that if it's called a mountain then
it is. Effectively in today's language - 'whatever...'.
If so, then at 230 metres, Mt Cotton is lucky to be
called a mountain. In fact give that the average height
of Australia is 330 metres, we are lucky to have close
access to any mountains at all. I guess we have to
make the most of what we have. So, back to the walk...
Armed with the information gained from the reccy, I
realised that a walk up and down a bitumen road was
not going to cut it. So on the day, we extended the walk
by adding a loop down the northern flank of the
mountain where there are plentiful tracks and fire trails
through the forest for options. We walked about 7km
and went up and down the mountain twice, which really
impressed another walk group we passed (twice).
The second ascent
Mt Cotton has the advantages of close proximity to the
metropolitan area, multiple avenues of approach,
relatively good elevation and views, a cooling sea
breeze at the top, and a unique and delightful cafe on
West Mt Cotton road for refreshments after (highly
recommended).
A big thankyou to those walkers who joined me on the
day who didn't necessarily share George Mallory's
philosophy but were there anyway.
Michael H
 General Information Club Equipment
QBW Management Committee Compasses Topo Maps
Garmin GPS First Aid Kits
President Michael Hoopmann 0401 527 017
Vice President Lynn Sawtell 0419 686 559
5 GPSs which have a 20 metre contour topo map of the whole
Secretary Lynn Nicol 0400 705 041
of Australia included.
Treasurer Aileen Elliott 0457 144 012
PLBs with inbuilt GPS
Outings Officer Patricia Kolarski 0448 526 618
5 PLBs with inbuilt GPS. The PLBs will be made available at
Membership Officer Helen McAllister 0419 684 319 each club meeting and will need to be returned at the following
Media Officer Michael Hoopmann 0401 527 017 club meeting.
Training Officer Vacant Contact Gerry Burton on 0408 793 715 to book these items.
Social Secretary Sandy Thomas 0403 821 525
Reciprocal Walks with Other Clubs
Other Voluntary Positions
Equipment Officer Gerry Burton 0408 793 715 Redland Bushwalkers Club
Supper Convenor Mary Sherlock 0457 990 067 The only stipulation is that Redland club members have priority
Librarian Noelene McCay 0407 658 023 over visitors. Calendar is available at:
http://www.redlandbushwalkers.org.au/static/calendar.html
BWQ Rep Gerry Burton 0408 793 715
BWQ Rep Richard Kolarski 0455 879 785
Bushwalkers of Southern Queensland (BOSQ)
Members of other BWQ affiliated clubs can join up to three
Insurance Hotline 1300 574 980 walks per calendar year. This will be with the agreement of the
Meeting Place activity leader. Members of BOSQ have priority for nominations.
Calendar is available at http://www.bosq.bwq.org.au/
Club meetings are on the first Tuesday of the month starting at
7.30pm. There is no club meeting in January. YHA Bushwalkers
Meetings are held at the Little King's Hall on the corner of Carl Members of other BWQ affiliated clubs can join up to three
and O'Keefe Streets, Buranda. Entry is via the gate on Carl St. walks per calendar year. Calendar is available at:
There is parking within the grounds and in Carl Street. http://sites.google.com/site/yhabushies/outings
Tea/coffee and cake/biscuits are provided after the meeting. Gold Coast Bushwalkers
A coin donation is appreciated.
Gold Coast Bushwalkers may admit as honorary members
Membership financial members of bushwalking clubs affiliated with BWQ.
Probationary Membership This dispensation will be at the discretion of the Management
Committee. https://sites.google.com/site/goldcoastbushwalker/
A non-member automatically becomes a Probationary Member
on his/her first walk after signing the Acknowledgement of Risk Ipswich Bushwalkers Inc
form. No fee is payable to become a Probationary Member. Intending walkers must contact the leader in advance. The
A Probationary Member must become an Ordinary Member on newsletter also contains a full description of the grading system
his/her second walk by filling out a membership form and paying and a list of Committee members and their contact numbers.
the membership fee. Calendar available at www.ipswichbushwalkers.bwq.org.au
Ordinary Membership
A person may become an Ordinary Member by filling out and Feature Pic
signing a membership form, having a proposer sign the form
and handing the form with the membership fee to a committee
member or walk leader.
The proposer may be any current member of the club.
An Ordinary Member has the right to vote at an AGM or be
elected to a committee position.
Members of Another Bushwalking Club
Members of another bushwalking club which is affiliated with
Bushwalking Queensland Inc. (or an interstate Federation) and
who are covered by the same insurance do not need to become
a member of our club to go on our walks. However QBW
members will have priority if there is a limit on numbers.
Payments
Pay fees or other items direct to the QBW club account at:
BSB: 124-057
Account No: 20421276
Account Name: Queensland Bushwalkers Club
Reference: Include your name and what the payment is for – A base camp isn't all hard work!
eg “RSmith member fee”. Photo: Michael H
Website
Additional information is available on the club website at URL:
https://sites.google.com/site/qldbwc/

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