The living rock: the origins of climbing in Australia

This site is an archive of documents, images, interviews and other information relevant to the origins of climbing in Australia. Comments are welcome (meadowsmh@gmail.com). Text copyright 2024 M.Meadows. Copyright to photographs is held by named photographers. Please request permission to reproduce.

Thursday, September 22, 2005

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The Brisbane Rockclimbing Club The third incarnation of climbing club in Queensland—the Brisbane Rockclimbing Club (BRC)—was formed on 1 Se...

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Donn Groom (pictured) was a key influence on climbing in Queensland and Tasmania the 1960s and 70s. His father Arthur Groom became the first...
Wednesday, September 21, 2005

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Northeast Buttress on Tibrogargan in the Glasshouses, north of Brisbane. The route followed by Pat Conaghan and Grahame Hardy in 1964. At th...

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Tibrogargan's Northeast Buttress Pat Conaghan (pictured) teamed with Grahame Hardy in the Glasshouses to force a new route up Tibrogarg...

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Arapiles awakens Two new rockclimbing clubs formed in 1963—in the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia—as a large outcrop of pro...

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The swinging sixties Climbing in Australia went through an extraordinary period of development during the 1960s. As Queensland entered a pe...

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The Southern Alps of New Zealand Ron Cox leading on the 2nd ascent of the lower section of Nazomi's Southwest Ridge in January 1962. Naz...
Tuesday, September 20, 2005

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Mt Geryon: 1st winter ascent, 1960 Ron Cox had emerged as a dominant figure in the Queensland (and Australian) climbing scene and always...
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A long abseil Over Easter 1960, Ron Cox, Grahame Hardy and Basil Yule made the first descent of the 350 metre East Face of Mt Barney, follow...

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The 1st ascent of East Crookneck Ron Cox began his epic on a biting, cold winter’s day in June 1959. With Pat Conaghan belaying, he slowly a...

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Pushing the limits As Cliff Richard and the Shadows burst upon the popular music scene, university physics student Ron Cox launched a three-...

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First Australian at the South Pole While his former climbing partners grappled with the heat of a 1956 Queensland summer, Jon Stephenson (pi...

The modern Australian climber, circa 1958

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By the mid to late 1950s, climbing down under had become ‘an exhilarating and exciting pastime’, according to the magazine Australian Outdoo...

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Geoff Goadby (left) and Alan Frost inside the amazing Shell Rock on the western shoulder of Beerwah, in the Glasshouse Mountains, following ...

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The West Beerwah chimney Bert Salmon had discovered a huge hollow boulder, perched precariously above Beerwah’s western cliffs in the Glassh...

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Buildings and bridges From the late 1920s, climbing cultures had emerged in Queensland and New South Wales, but even back then, not all the ...
Monday, September 19, 2005

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Reptile Climber Mike Woodrow on the first pitch of the steep, spectacular route, Reptile , on the Funnel in The Steamers shortly after the f...

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The 1st ascent of Boonoo Boonoo Falls By 1956, climbing was expanding around Australia with activity in Bungonia Gorge, the Wolgan and Cap...

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A leap of Faith In 1955 in Queensland, Bill Peascod played a key role in influencing a new approach to climbing. Some called it 'a new e...

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Bill Peascod addressing a climbing training session at Kangaroo Point in Brisbane, 1955, with an impressive array of carabiners and pitons....

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The Tigers' rule Bill Peascod emigrated to Australia in 1952 but climbing was far from his mind at the time. From 1938, he had put up nu...
Saturday, September 17, 2005

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Climbing with 'the spiritual father' The following edited account was published in the Italian Alpine Club journal, Lo Scarpone, i...
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Alan Frost, Jon Stephenson, Geoff Goadby and Peter Barnes: 1st ascent of Glennies Pulpit in the Fassifern valley, 1954. The climb was t...

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Jon Stephenson takes in the Hinchinbrook Island panorama en route to the 1st ascent of The Thumb on Mt Bowen, January 1953. Picture: John C...

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Hinchinbrook Is: the 1st ascent of The Thumb, 1953 One of the last sought-after unclimbed summits in Australia in 1952 lay just off the n...

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Victorians make their mark Southwest Tasmania's Federation Peak was again the focus of climbing activity in 1952 when John Young, Joan...

Reds under the beds

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Sometime in the early part of 1951, a special Brisbane Climbing Club meeting was called and Dr Freddie Whitehouse, a respected lecturer in g...

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More ascents in t he Steamers Two weeks after his first ascent in August 1950 of the Mast in the Steamer formation, Bob Waring returned for...

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The Steamers from the air. The formation is named because of its resemblance to a boat sailing west. From left, the features are the Prow, ...

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First ascents in The Steamers Towards the end of August 1950, Queensland climbers Bob Waring and Jon Stephenson set off to climb the first n...

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The Sydney Rock Climbing Club is born From the early 1950s in Australia, outdoors’ organisations seemed to breed overnight, resulting in an ...

Climbing in the 1950s

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The only type of rope readily available as a climbing aid during the 1950s and early 1960s was Australian sisal but it was unreliable in hol...

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The Brisbane Climbing Club 1950 In April 1950, the Brisbane Climbing Club was started by climbers in the Brisbane Bush Walkers Club (set up ...
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