History of John Blay’s connection to the Bundian Way

In the early 1970s he became friends with a number of old Aboriginal people at Wallaga Lake Koori Village. They had been walkers before cars were so common. Often they preferred walking from one place to another. People like Guboo Ted Thomas and Percy Mumbulla were an inspiration. Guboo especially took delight in telling stories of his walks as a kid and how he went with the Wallaga Lake Gumleaf Band to Cooma show to play gumleaf. He told of the precise route they followed. Unfortunately not much of that route across the Monaro is available to walkers due to fences and highwayisation. He even talked about walking to Bairnsdale.

In 2002 a history research grant was received from the NSW government, then a second one to look at the natural history of the SE forests region, with special reference to Aboriginal walking routes. Not long after his SE forests project began he met BJ Cruse, chair of Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council and their cooperation on the Bundian Way began. In between his many long distance walks he would spend time in the Mitchell and National libraries documenting the route. Patterns became evident…