Contents
Background
My previous article on this subject was published in December 2014.
For the general benefit of members and those members who may be visiting any of the peaks listed below, I have recorded the current knowledge on logbooks on peaks in the Flinders Ranges and in areas north of there.
If you can contribute new information or correct information set out below please contact John Bartlett.
Logbooks Held in the ABW Library and Archived
The below logbooks have been scanned and published online as a way of archiving them and making them accessible.
Table 1 – Archived Logbooks
| Peak | Archived Logbook Dates | Archived PDF |
|---|---|---|
| Pompey Pillar | 8/6/1986 – 15/9/2001 | |
| Patawarta Hill | 18/5/1987 – 29/7/1997 | |
| Patawarta Hill | 14/6/1999 – 15/7/2009 | |
| Mt Brown | 21/10/1989 – 9/3/2001 | |
| Mt Falkland | 19/5/1984 – 2/6/2008 | |
| Mt Aleck | 7/6/1986 – 19/8/2013 | |
| Cleft Peak | July 1990 – 14/6/2015 |
We recently replaced the Cleft Peak logbook, read our blog article about that recent trip into the Gammons.
The Cleft Peak logbook was originally placed by the Adelaide University Mountain Club (AUMC) in 1980. It was removed in September 1989 by the Scientific Expedition Group (Jennifer Beer), pages photocopied and inserted into a new book. We will make contact with them to see if they would like to keep the logbook.
Flinders Ranges Peaks – Current Information
Table 2 – Lower Flinders Ranges
| Peak | Logbook Notes |
|---|---|
| Devils Peak | No logbook – too many visitors |
| Mt Brown | No known logbook there now – too many visitors. Old logbook archived – see above. However, there is a plaque that was placed there in 1986 by ABW as a SA 150th Jubilee event to commemorate the first ascent of Mt Brown by botanist Robert Brown and a party from Matthew Flinders’ HMS Investigator in 1803. 1986 was also ABW’s 40th anniversary. |
| Mt Remarkable | No logbook – too many visitors |
Table 3 – Aroona Valley & Parachilna Gorge Area
| Peak | Logbook Notes |
|---|---|
| Mt Barloo | No information |
| Mt Barbara | No information |
| Iralbo Peak | No information |
| Kankana Peak | ABW container placed 1987. Status of logbook unknown. |
| Mt Falkland | Old logbook archived – see above. Verified as present June 2015, by Sammi/Trevor May. |
| Mt Hayward | No information |
| Mt Elkington | No information |
| Mt Hayward | Helen Davies thinks Ian Seymour (deceased) placed a logbook there a long time ago (1980s?). She thinks Ian was the instigator of logbooks on peaks. |
Table 4 – Wilpena Area
| Peak | Logbook Notes |
|---|---|
| St Marys Peak | No logbook – too many visitors |
| Point Bonney | ABW metal container there – verified by Jeremy Carter 5/9/12 |
| Mt Sawtooth (unofficial name) | No information |
| Mt Karrawarra | No logbook – verified by Jeremy Carter 14/9/12 |
| Mt Abrupt | John Callinan walk in 2013 found container with logbook (not full). Verified by Michael Dzintarnieks |
| Pompey Pillar | ABW metal container confirmed by Simon Cameron 27/7/13. Logbook verified by Mark Proctor’s party 30/09/06. Previous logbook archived. |
| Mt Aleck | Logbook removed by Arkaba Station, and now archived. |
The Manager of Arkaba Station stated that the Mt Aleck log book had been removed “for safety reasons as we are conducting on-going feral animal culling and we can’t have bushwalkers being at risk on the property”. Logbook and container placed 7/6/86 by a party including John Bartlett. The logbook was returned to us in May this year, but the whereabouts of the container is unknown.
Table 5 – Patawarta Hill – Mt Hack Area
| Peak | Logbook Notes |
|---|---|
| Patawarta Hill | ABW container and logbook verified. Replaced on John Bartlett’s trip June 1999 and now in the Club library. Current logbook verified by Bob Geary’s party 20/5/14. Two old logbooks recovered and archived. |
| Mt Hack | ABW container, logbook and small notebook placed by John Bartlett’s party 17/5/87. Verified 21/8/14 by John Callinan’s party. |
| Mt. Tilley | Notebook started 3/9/84 in deteriorated lunchbox. Last visited 19/8/14 by John Callinan who put notebook in a plastic bag. |
Table 6 – Northern Flinders and Beyond
| Peak | Logbook Notes |
|---|---|
| McKinlay Bluff | ABW container placed in 1987. Not known if it has a logbook. |
| Mt McKinlay | No information |
| Cleft Peak | In June 2014, Cameron Roy (not an ABW member) advised ABW that the logbook was full and container was in good condition. During a visit in May 2015, Nino Fioretti’s party confirmed the above. Logbook was replaced during John Bartlett’s party visit in June 2015 and archived. |
| Freeling Heights | Visited by Jeremy Carter 17/4/12 – can’t remember if there is a logbook or notes. Peter Woodlands believes a logbook intended for Freeling Heights was put on the wrong peak. This enigma may be linked with Edmunds Hill – see below. |
| Benbonyathe Hill | Visited by Jeremy Carter during visit 12/4/10 and verified canister and notes there. |
| The Armchair | Visited by Jeremy Carter during visit 7/4/11 and verified canister and notes there. |
| Mt Painter | Visited by Jeremy Carter during visit 8/4/11 and verified canister and notes there. |
| Gammon Hill | Visited by Jeremy Carter 14/4/10. He thinks there might be a metal canister there. |
| Edmunds Hill | Visited by Trevor May party on a Mawson Plateau trip 9/7/14. Party found a logbook. Someone? thinks it was an east escarpment notebook. Location on escarpment GR 5045 6665. |
| Mt Woodroffe (NW corner of SA) | Verified by Jeremy Carter during visit 18/5/13 with canister and and 3 glass jars verified. |
| Mt Hopeless (north of Flinders Ranges) | Visited by John Bartlett’s party 1996. No knowledge of logbook. Others reported a logbook present at least since 2001. Visited by Jeremy Carter 2/4/11; cairn collapsed, logbook presumably buried. |
| Mt Babbage | Visited by John Bartlett’s party 1988. No knowledge of logbook. Visited by Jeremy Carter 3/4/11, cairn had collapsed. |
Please note that Edmonds Hill is Edmunds Hill, named by myself in October 1989 after Lorraine Edmunds the Information Officer at Arkaroola at that time.
With me on that visit to the Mawson Plateau was Tom Dermody from Mount Gambier and member of the Adelaide Bushwalkers Arthur Ward.
Kind regards
Andrew
0448 801 448
June long weekend 2015, confirming Trevor May’s group went to Mt Faulkland. Log book is definitely there.
Thanks for letting us know Sammi, cheers
Freeling Heights has a 25 cm PVC screw-top 90mm storm-water pipe which contains a thick wad of pages dating from the mid 1980s and a small notebook placed there in 2012 and in current use. There were 2 recorded visits in 2016, 3 in 2015 and 1 in 2014. Our party of 5 (31/5/17) was the 2nd recorded visit this year. There was no pen/pencil in the container and we didn’t leave one.
The Mt Abrupt logbook dates from 1989 and typically had 4-6 party visits per year (range 2-13 parties) up to 2004. I was there in November 2004.
Kankana had a weather secure logbook in Oct. 2002 and I recall a comment by a party from Sydney Bushwalkers writing that the Heysen Range has to be ‘one of the best ridge-top traverses in Australia’.
‘Mt Sawtooth’. Two of us camped near the summit in 2007 and there was no cairn anywhere along the ridgetop and hence we assumed, no logbook either.
Mt Tilley had a small discoloured and cracked plastic container with a note book in a cracking plastic bag (and which I replaced with a new bag). Not many visits were recorded with the most recent being 2009, my visit being Aug. 2012. There was no pen in the container so there may have been unrecorded visits.
The unnamed high point of the Chace Range had a glass screw-top jar but apart from a recent visit from Rawnsley Park’s owner, the page with earlier names just disintegrated into miriad tiny pieces when I tried to unfold it. I was on my way to Rawnsley Park so took the bottle with me.