A BRIEF HISTORY OF FEDERATION WALKS (aka FedWalks):

Federation Walks, now 90 years old, started as the world-wide ‘hiking boom’ took off in the 1930s. From Australia’s earliest days, men and women were drawn to the natural environment and walked the wild country and seaside, utilising trails and pathways established by First Nations people. As Australia developed, the tracks of miners, timber getters and cattlemen served the walkers well.In the early 1930s Victorians joined the world-wide obsession with walking and clubs sprang up everywhere. The fad had hardly caught hold before it waned, but curiously, in 1934, as its popularity faded eight walking clubs in Melbourne founded a Federation, to promote the activity and to lobby for political recognition.Federation Walks has been operating over the past 90 years with only a few exceptions including the war years when walkers were called into the war effort.The evolution of walking clubs and associated activities has further developed making the organisation now known today as Bushwalking Victoria a significant body in the areas of recreational walking and club development, conservation and track maintenance and search and rescue activities.Comprising more than 60 established clubs, 12 associated organisations and about 200 individual members, Bushwalking Victoria represents over 6000 club members and an estimated 360,000 active recreational bushwalkers in the Victorian community.So put the weekend of 11-13 October 2024 at Wilsons Promontory in your diaries for this year's FedWalks event and start the planning to attend this unique weekend experience. Bookings open to all club and individual members on Monday 3 June 2024.References:The Scroggin Eaters: A History of Bushwalking in Victoria, to 1989 by Graeme Wheeler (1991)The Ways of the Bushwalker: On foot in Australia by Melissa Harper (2020)www.bushwalkingvictoria.org.au ... See MoreSee Less