Adventure
Victoria thanks Rod Lingard for his permission to make this material available.
A Short History of the B.M.T.A.B.
(Bushwalking and Mountaincraft
Training Advisory Board)
By Rod Lingard
April 2004
A Short History of the B.M.T.A.B.
CONTENTS
How the Board was established
The first few courses
Original aims of the Course
Structure and content of the Course
Early improvements
Major Changes and Refinements
Final Assessment to Shelley
The full-time Executive Officer
The major overhaul of Appraisals
The change of focus from technical skills to people skills
The Ski Tour Leaders Course
Final Assessment to Too Rour
The Day Walk Leaders Course
The Declining Years
The National Training Agenda
Economic influences
Changes within the Department
Changes in the Board and Committees
Strengths and Achievements
The ‘end product’ of the Courses
The volunteers – in general
The four-phase format
Great contributors to the BMLC
Search and Rescue connections
The Handbook
Groundsheet
Some Memorable Moments
A selection of favourite old stories
A few tense times in the field
Three memorable organisational events
Our worst disaster
A life saved
Some noteworthy Assessment trips
The Legacy of the Courses
Appendix A –Graduates – BMLC, STLC & DWLC - in numerical order
Appendix B –Graduates – BMLC & STLC - in alphabetical order
Appendix C –Board Chairs, and Executive Officers
Appendix D –Directors of Initial Training, and of Final Assessment
Appendix E –Volunteers who made it all possible
Preface ( Contents)
Several years ago there were occasional outbreaks of loose talk suggesting that a history of the BMLC should be written. At the time, no one imagined that the Course would cease to exist after a few more years. That misguided belief led to the thought that any attempt at a history of the Course would necessarily remain open-ended because the Course would go on for ever. Over the last couple of years an outbreak of realism has killed off the earlier belief and given rise to a couple of firm suggestions - from John Rawlings and from Steven Lake - that something should be written down before the whole thing fades into the mist.
I still hold the belief that very few people would bother to read it (and even less would want to buy it). However, I have lately been persuaded that, readers or no readers, an effort should be made to record for posterity at least a brief description of what happened in the 35 years of its existence. Perhaps some time in the next century some bright-eyed student of human endeavours may stumble upon this simple little record and be inspired by this example of what can be achieved by a group of people with intelligence, enthusiasm and the desire to do some good for their community.
I make no claim of factual certainty for this account. It is an attempt to put it down as I saw and/or remember the events. Time constraints and the fact that most of the documentary records have been put into storage have limited my ability to give the whole story. The period after I retired from the Department in January 1995 is notably thinly covered because I deliberately withdrew from the scene for a few years. I was persuaded to rejoin the Board for two years from March 1999, and have had limited contact with the action since that appointment ended.
Rod Lingard
April 2004
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Bill Ellemor,
who provided information and suggestions in a number of areas; Robin
Hunt, who provided a quantity of very helpful information about the events
leading to the establishment of the Board; Peter Millington who supplied
much of the detail for the lists in the Appendices; and Elaine Murphy
who arranged for proof-reading of the whole document and provided a number
of constructive comments.
Acknowledgements
( Contents)
How the Board was established
In the 1960s there were several major searches for missing
bushwalkers and a number of deaths, notably of students in school bushwalking
and canoeing parties. Naturally, these attracted a lot of
publicity. The best known of these unfortunate incidents was the
Footscray Technical School trip to the Cradle Mountain National Park in
Tasmania, which resulted in the death of a student. At the time of this
incident, 
the
Outward Bound organisation was running programs on the Bogong High Plains. At
different times through the 60s these programs were Directed by either Bill
Bewsher or Ted Lovegrove. Ted made a close study of the Footscray Tech. tragedy
and produced a long and highly critical report detailing the numerous
deficiencies, mistakes and errors of judgement which culminated in the death of
the student. This report was influential in persuading the National Fitness
Council of Victoria (NFC) to appoint, in 1968, a panel of experienced outdoor
recreation people to examine the problem. It was clear that, in most of
the incidents examined, serious mistakes had been made which might not have
been made if the leaders were better trained and experienced.
This panel recommended the establishment of a course to train bushwalking leaders.
A working party was set up to recommend a structure and process for developing a suitable course. The working party consisted of Rob Taylor (Chair), Bryan Scott, Bill Bewsher, Eric Quinlan, David Hogg, Ian Whitford, Ken Readwin, Charles McCubbin and Robin Hunt. The working party proposed that a “Bushwalking and Mountaincraft Leadership Board” be set up under the National Fitness Council. Initially, the Board comprised –
An independent Chairman – to be appointed by the National Fitness Council,
A field officer of the National Fitness Council,
A representative of Victorian Outward Bound,
A representative of the Federation of Victorian Walking Clubs (FVWC),
A representative of the Victorian Education Department,
A representative of the Police Search and Rescue Squad, and
Four independent members.
In
March 1969, Bill Bewsher was appointed as the foundation Chairman, and held
that position until 1982. Initially, Bryan Scott represented the N.F.C.
and the independent members were David Hogg, Ken Readwin, Charles McCubbin and
Robin Hunt. The Police representative was Bill Brand and the F.V.W.C.
representative was Eric Quinlan. Stuart Brookes took over as Federation
representative after a few months.
Ted Lovegrove moved to Adelaide at about this time and soon set about founding a similar Course in South Australia. It was then nearly 10 years before another course was established in Tasmania.
In the first few years the overwhelming majority of applicants for our Course were teachers or trainee teachers. The founders had recognised this demand but were determined that the Board should be kept separate from the Education Department, hence the alignment with the National Fitness Council, which was an independent statutory body. As the Course progressed, more walking club people, Scout leaders, and later, professional outdoor leaders applied to join the Course. This was facilitated by the independent posture of the Board and confirmed the wisdom of the earlier decision.
The first few Courses
In May 1969, the first 12 applicants attended the Initial Training week at the Howmans Gap National Fitness Camp. By early 1970, just one of those, Stewart Taplin, had completed all the Course requirements and was awarded Certificate No.1. In 1971, another four of the originals graduated, including the first woman, Jenny Robinson. Two other women (from the 2nd intake) who also graduated in 1971 were Carla Miller (Van Driel) and Mary Trayes. There were 16 people in the second intake and 21 in V3. From 1972 (V4) to 1975 (V7) the numbers attending Initial Training were in the range of 34 to 49 each year. From V8 to V17 the numbers were mostly in the 50s or 60s, with two years at 71 and just two at 47.
The numbers of people who completed all requirements and were awarded the Certificate were quite low in the first four years (averaging 35.8% of starters) but in the next 12 years reached an average of 52.3%. By the middle of 1985, a total of 377 people had been awarded the Bushwalking and Mountaincraft Leadership Certificate.
Original aims of the Course
The founders sought to produce bushwalking leaders who could –
Plan and conduct a trip safely and successfully;
Cope satisfactorily with any emergencies which might arise;
Ensure that participants enjoy themselves, without damaging the environment;
Pass on basic knowledge and skills to beginners.
In later years these aims were revised to specify the target skills in greater detail.
See ‘The End Product of the BMLCC’ on page 13.
Structure and content of the Course
Applicants for the first few Courses had to submit a reference from their school or other organisation and supply a list of the main bushwalking trips they had done in the last 10 years. They then had to undergo a medical test organised by the Board’s own doctor, Hugo McKay, and attend a pre-Course meeting in the city. From the second Course onwards, they were required to attend a familiarisation weekend before being accepted to go to the Initial Training Week at Howmans Gap Camp. The content of that week was partly based on the British Mountain Leadership Course which had been developed several years earlier. There were lectures on various skills topics and a few field activities. In the British Course, the participants then went off to gain experience by their own initiative for as many years as they liked before applying to do an assessment course. We introduced the idea of guided experience via the Advisor System, and we set quite strict time limits on the experience-gaining phase. We also required our people to undergo field assessment for four days before they were accepted for our Final Assessment Week. To graduate, they had to have a current, recognised First-Aid qualification. Between Initial Training and Final Assessment our people had to log at least 16 days of approved standard bushwalking experience if they finished the Course in one year, or 24 days if they took two years to complete . It was expected that this experience should cover a wide range of areas and circumstances and must also include a trip in snow conditions.
I think that the additional requirement to do a Hot, Dry Walk did not come in until a few years later.
For the first few years, people submitting for Final Assessment shared the Howmans Gap Camp with the candidates coming in for Initial Training. The Assessment group sat for a few written examinations and were required to take a staff person on a day walk on the Bogong High Plains, following a specified route, to demonstrate their navigation skills. Towards the end of the week each of the Assessment people was given a walking group of Initial Trainees for a three-day walk on the High Plains. A staff member went with each group and assessed the leadership performance of the aspiring graduate. This system worked quite well while there were only a few people seeking final assessment, but 1975 was the last year in which that process applied.
Early improvements
Staff on the first couple of Courses were concerned that applicants did not appear to be sufficiently skilled in navigation and some were judged to be not fit enough to cope with a demanding bushwalk, particularly if they were in a leadership role. The Board therefore introduced at first one, and then two, preliminary weekends in which applicants were tested and trained in basic navigation, and a general assessment of their fitness was made. A few different areas were tried for these weekends. Cathedral Peak, Mt Donna Buang and Berringa (south of Ballarat) were tried but all were found wanting. Finally, the Board settled on the Kinglake West Forest Camp for the First Appraisal Weekend and the Whroo area (near Nagambie) for Second Appraisal. At first the Kinglake site was used for a very tightly structured series of individual tests which every applicant had to go through. The Whroo weekends were almost totally devoted to navigation testing – in small groups on the Saturday and individually on the Sunday. See page 26 in the ‘Memorable Moments’ chapter for a couple of stories about Whroo.
For the first few years, the Initial Training Week at Howmans Gap concentrated fairly heavily on technical skills – navigation, first aid, movement over difficult ground or in very poor visibility, selection and maintenance of gear, etc. To some extent we were learning as we went along. After a couple of years, a river crossing exercise and a night navigation exercise were included in the week. In 1974 (V6), the Course moved up a notch with the appointment of Stuart Brookes as Director of Initial Training. Stuart is a master organiser and he took a week of leave in the week prior to the Course to attend to every detail of the preparations. One facet of his planning is revealed in the fact that this was the first year in which a photograph was taken of every group before they set out on their three-day walk. The whole week ran pretty smoothly despite such distractions as one staff member taking sick and the weather turning quite nasty for the walks. Stuart set the standard for others to follow.
In 1976 the staff were very pleased to see a major improvement in facilities at the Howmans Gap Camp. The new buildings were opened at last. Prior to that we were housed in the old huts left behind after the construction of the Kiewa Hydro-Electric Scheme. These huts were very basic. The walls were thin and had very little insulation. The rooms were cramped and draughty. The bathrooms and laundry were absolutely primitive. The new building seemed like a luxury hotel by comparison – except that in this first year the heating did not work, and we were there in May !
Two refinements were introduced to the Interim Training Period. People were required to do a ‘Hot, Dry Walk’. They were encouraged to do one organised for the purpose by the Board, or they might satisfy the rule if one of their own trips could be shown to have been very hot and dry. The other new regulation was introduced in 1976. In August of that year, a Course Member who was better known as a footballer than as a walker, took a quite large group of 14 and 15-year-old boys on a snow walk to Johnsons Hut. Several colourful reports reached the Board about the incident. As a result they decreed that all Interim Training experience walks had to be approved in advance by the Advisor or they could not be counted as approved experience.
Major Changes and
Refinements
( Contents)
Final Assessment to Shelley
1975 was a significant year in the development of the
Course. It was the last year of the old system where both the new intake and
the graduate group shared the use of the Howmans Gap Camp. There was also a
huge jump in the number of people presenting for Final Assessment. In the
previous year there were 14 people in the graduate group - in 1975 there were
29. Since the new intake numbered just 49 it was clear that there were not
enough “Indians” to make up 29 little walking groups. John Holman had
just been appointed 
Director
of Final Assessment and he decided to abandon the three-day walk for this
group. The new intake went out on a three-day walk with staff as their
group leaders. The graduate group were put through a number of extra field
exercises including a search and rescue practice and a more difficult
orienteering test without compass. For the first time, some of the walking
groups on the three-day walk were issued with a UHF radio loaned to us by the
Police Search and Rescue Squad. This gave the base staff a much greater
opportunity to react quickly to any difficulties which might have arisen out on
the High Plains.
By the end of the week the decision had been made that Final Assessment had to move to another location. Before long the choice had been made in favour of the Shelley Forest Camp in far north-east Victoria. There followed a period of intense research and planning in readiness for a new graduate group in May 1976. A few new activities were introduced to the week. A half-day test of navigation without compass was held in an area of native bush, and at the end of the week, a very different two-day field exercise was held. This started with a half day of navigation testing in a pine forest followed by a solo overnight bivouac with just the gear they took on the day walk. The next morning everyone proceeded to a rendezvous point where they were served a hot breakfast and then immediately organised into groups to begin a structured search and rescue exercise. Earlier in the week, two new discussion sessions were introduced. The first was a group review of a number of case studies of mishaps which had occurred to individual members of the group at some time in the past.
The second was a general discussion about gear and other matters about which a leader might talk to beginners. The new format were generally judged to be a success and has been followed fairly faithfully ever since. John Holman stayed for one more year as Director, before handing over to John Retchford.
A full-time Executive Officer
In 1977 the board appointed a subcommittee with the task of developing a five-year plan. We had gleaned the information that the then Minister for Youth, Sport and Recreation had expressed some enthusiasm for the idea of a Mountain Training School similar to something which he had seen during a trip to England and Europe. Accordingly, we included that concept (as a minor suggestion) along with our major request which was for funding to enable the appointment of a full-time Executive Officer to assist the Board. He took the bait. He expressed considerable enthusiasm for our brilliant suggestion of a Mountain Training School and he went on to approve our total submission. In November advertisements were placed seeking applications for the position of Executive Officer. To my surprise, it did not demand a university degree or equivalent qualification but simply sought extensive bushwalking experience and administrative abilities. At the time, I had been working with advertising agencies for about 20 years and felt a “midlife crisis” coming on ! I decided that I would probably live longer, and happier, out of advertising so I submitted an application. The rest, as they say, is history. The NFC staff who had provided part-time support in the past had been generally good people, but the Board felt a lot happier with a really committed bushwalker as their full-time employee.
The major overhaul of Appraisals
By 1980, the First Appraisal at Kinglake West Forest Camp
had become extremely tightly 
structured.
The timetabling needed a main-frame computer but we did not even have a PC !
There was a growing realisation that we were testing applicants skills but did not know if they were any use as members of a bushwalking party. The then Director of Appraisals, Kathy Liley, began a process of reviewing and modifying the format of the weekend. At first she simply introduced a half-day walk on the Sunday afternoon, but she went on to plan a complete change in the process. It happened in 1985, when Mike Scowen took over as Director of Appraisals, but it was largely the work of Kathy, assisted by John Hutchison.
The First Appraisal became a weekend bushwalk in parties of seven or eight applicants with two staff. Over the course of the weekend, the staff observed and noted the abilities of the applicants by applying realistic field testing, and through lightly structured discussion sessions. A detailed report card was produced for each person. These cards were then used at the Second Appraisal weekend which took the form of an intensive navigation testing and training camp-out near Daylesford. This format proved highly successful. It was particularly good for identifying lack of skills and quite good for teaching skills to those who needed help. I believe that the standard of navigation skills revealed at Howmans Gap and later stages of the Course was improved after this new process was introduced.
The change of focus from technical skills to people skills
In 1978 Alan Tickell was Director of Initial Training.
He had David Green on his planning sub-committee. David was the prime
mover in changing the emphasis of the Howmans Gap Week away from chiefly
technical skills. He introduced a series of sessions which focussed
attention on what behaviour was most appropriate for a leader when faced with a
variety of circumstances. Course members were 
encouraged
to think about the issues and express their opinions in discussion groups.
These covered conflict management, crisis management, team building, and
encouragement of inexperienced walkers. David introduced the concept of
“hot-house team building”. At the start of the Howmans week six or seven
trainees and two staff were placed in a team which then engaged in every aspect
of the week as a team. Lectures, field activities, discussion sessions,
even duties, were all performed within that team. The teams had to plan their
own trip for the three-day walk, organise the rations to suit their team, and review
the performance of the team internally. They had the opportunity to learn
by experience the way in which a group of people may develop in just a
week. Many of these teams organised reunions and arranged to do trips
together later in the Course. A few teams learned a fair bit about what
factors can inhibit team building in a bushwalking group. This was often
because one member could not, or would not, engage fully in the work of the
group.
For many people, both staff and students, the Howmans Gap
week was the heart and soul of 
the
Course. Most Course Members seemed to depart from that week feeling
uplifted by the experience. Quite a large number did not go on to
complete the rest of the Course but some of these apparently did so because
they felt that they had gained most of what they had sought when they applied
for the Course. A number of people who have worked on various
phases of the Course have commented on the spectacular increase in
self-confidence displayed by many Course Members from our first contact with
them through to the Final Assessment Week. All phases of the Course made
a contribution to this but the Howmans week was surely the “great leap forward”
and the base for the personal development which occurred in the later stages.
The Ski Tour Leaders Course
In 1982 the Board received a letter from the Nordic Touring Committee of the Australian Ski Federation asking that we examine the possibility of developing a Ski Tour Leaders Certificate.
Land management authorities, particularly the NSW National Parks Authority, were concerned about the growth of commercial ski touring operations using the Kosciusko National Park, and were keen to have some yardstick with which to assess the capabilities of the people seeking permits to conduct commercial ski touring activities in the park. The Board appointed a subcommittee to consider the proposition. The subcommittee recommended that we develop a course along similar lines to the BMLC, in fact utilising the early phases of the Course with almost no change. After considerable debate, it was decided to adopt this idea despite the obvious difficulty of relating it to the ski season. After a lot of thought and planning the first STLC course was launched in 1983/4, in tandem with the V16 intake for the BMLC.
In
my opinion, the greatest contributor to the setting up of the STLC and the
development of the format and content of the Course was Graeme Young. He
persuaded the ASF to send the original letter proposing the Course and he wrote
much of the material which was eventually adopted by the Board. In the winter
before the Course was launched, Graeme and I spent a week in a lodge at Falls
Creek, discussing various options and putting recommendations to paper. We also
had a pretty good week of skiing with our families.
The first intake included quite a large contingent from NSW, so we had to make provision for the people to undergo initial appraisal in that State. A small group of us went up to Sydney and met with representatives of the NSW Nordic Ski Council, who took us out to a remote area in the Blue Mountains which they proposed as a suitable place for the Initial Appraisal (of bushwalking skills, as a guide to their general outdoor capabilities). The local expert took us down a long ridge into a large creek, at a point just above where it dropped sharply into a sandstone canyon. He then announced that he had a commitment for the night back in Sydney and that he must leave us at this point. He assured us that we would have no trouble getting down into the canyon at a certain point a few kilometres downstream and that we could climb back up a different ridge back to the cars the next day. We did not quite live up to his expectations. We could NOT get down into the canyon at any point and were forced to make camp on rock ledges high above the creek. We considered tossing a billy on a long cord down into the creek for water but this was not practicable. It started to rain and we desperately tried to harvest some of the rain but again with little effect. Right on nightfall, one of our group managed to find a small creek which we could access from the ledges so we were spared the discomfort of a dry camp. The next day we managed rather better and returned safely to the cars. It was a sharp lesson in the difficulty of walking in parts of the Blue Mountains.
The Initial On-snow Training for the first Course was done as a Campout on the ridge south of Watchbed Creek, between the Cope Fire Trail and the old route of the Snow Pole Line. The next year it was moved to a more challenging location in the Rocky Knobs area. On that occasion the intake included a very skilful skier who displayed a level of self-confidence which some people felt was bordering on arrogance. Our return to Falls Creek involved skiing down the rather steep drop into Rocky Valley Creek near the small bridge. Our hero was towing a pulk containing all his gear. He chose a course which involved sidling across a slope which proved too steep for the pulk. It spun down the slope taking him with it. The several observers at the bottom of the hill broke into spontaneous cheering.
Organisationally, the STLC was originally managed by the Course Committee, but that body soon became overloaded and was split into two committees – BMLC and STLC. Unfortunately, this eventually led to some tensions and almost a rivalry between the two. At the very least, there were problems maintaining good communications between them and a few misunderstandings arose at times. The Course also had some problems with staffing of the On-snow Training Week when it was held in the Kosciusko National Park. Some of the specialist staff engaged from the area seemed to be less devoted to the task than the people we sent up from Victoria. A few Course participants complained of being left to their own devices on a couple of occasions. Despite these minor difficulties, the STLC was generally well run and it built a very good reputation in most of the Ski Touring community. It has produced 111 graduates in the 18 years of its operation.
Final Assessment to Too Rour
1984 was the 9th year in which Final Assessment was held at the Shelley Forest and in that time the Board had invested a great deal in effort into developing and refining the activities which made up the week. In that year we actually had a large number of special maps of the area printed without the road system being shown. This was for the Navigation Testing in the pine forest, where the candidates were supposed to use only natural features to guide them. Unfortunately, I did not get around to booking the Camp for the next year until late November. To my great shock, they had fully booked the Camp to other groups for the whole of the May school holiday period. We had to find another venue, and fast. Garry McIntosh and I had a look at the Too Rour Forest Camp in the Strathbogie Ranges and decided that it could fit the bill. It took a huge effort by a lot of our people to adapt all our planning from Shelley to Too Rour but we did it. Unfortunately, our Chairman, Stuart Brookes, was so troubled by my stupid error that he felt moved to resign from the Chair and the Course. This was a considerable loss to us, but he felt isolated in his position on the matter and decided to quit the scene.
Garry and I tried to make the best of the situation. Shelley was a long way from Melbourne and transport costs to get there were quite high. Too Rour was much closer, and the facilities at the relatively new camp were very much better than Shelley. The surrounding country was in some ways not as good for our purposes but we adapted to it. We continued to use it for thirteen years, although towards the end the clearing of additional areas of it had become a bit of a problem for us.
Mike Scowen and Theo Read each served three years as Director at Too Rour and Heather Jackson was Director for two years. Ken Judd did one year and John Kerby the last three. I always felt that they all managed to generate a good atmosphere in the Final Assessment Weeks at Too Rour. Most of the people who completed the BMLC at that time seemed to leave us with generally positive feelings about the value of the Course as a whole. Elaine Murphy did the last couple of Leadership lectures there nearly every year and her sessions were always very much appreciated by the Course Members.
The Day Walk Leaders Course
For many years the Board was
concerned that the BMLC was a "full strength" leadership course for
experienced bushwalkers, and there was no readily available training for
inexperienced people who aspired to lead groups in the bush. In 1980, Bryan
Scott proposed a ‘Proficiency Certificate Course’ and this was advertised but
only 10 applications were received. This was not considered a viable number so
the idea was dropped. During the 1970s and 80s the Education
Department ran a few "Intermediate Bushwalking Courses for
Teachers". Most of these were quite popular. Most were staffed by
people associated with the BMLC.
In the
summer of 1986/87 the Board ran a 'Bushwalking Skills Improvement
Course'. Kathy Liley and Bob Wood were the primary organisers and several
others helped with staffing. The first course had 27 applications, 25 of
them female. The same team of Kathy and Bob ran two more courses over the next
two summers. All were quite popular but for some reason it was dropped
after 1988/89.
In December
1995, the Board decided to promote a trial run of a Day Walk Leaders
Certificate Course. Bill Ellemor and Roy Graham were appointed to organise
it. They sought to provide generally similar training and assessment to
that of the BMLC, modified to fit the day-walking context. During the Interim
Training phase the Course Members were required to gain experience of both
circuit walks and those which required a car shuffle or use of public
transport. The Course was judged a success and continued for the next few
years. Unfortunately, applications dropped away and in recent years it
did not run. The cost and the time commitment probably discouraged
potential applicants. At this point, only 10 people have been awarded the
Certificate.
( Contents)
The National Training Agenda
I first became aware of the significance of the National
Training Agenda (NTA)for Outdoor Recreation when I attended the National
Outdoor Education Conference at Port Sorell in Northern Tasmania in 1992.
There were a number of sessions in which it was discussed. At the final
session of the Conference we were urged to start preparing for it, although no
one seemed to be quite clear about how, or if, it would affect us. I did
not at first see it as a threat. We felt so confident of our role in the field
that we willingly set to work helping to define the 
‘competencies’
needed by good leaders of bushwalking groups – either recreational or
educational. Neville Byrne was the Victorian representative on the National
steering committee. It was only much later, when they started to reduce
everything to the broadest generic terms that I began to see it as a dreadful
aberration. Many of the skills needed by a bushwalking leader were broken
down into words which were supposed to be the same as those needed by a person
working in the Racing Industry or the Arts. Outdoor Recreation, Outdoor
Education and Tourism were too small to have separate National Training
schemes. We had to be lumped in with Racing and Arts to produce a big
enough economic grouping. And the ‘competency’ principle could not
accommodate such concepts as “field experience in a variety of environments” or
“sound judgement under stressful conditions”.
However, the scheme rolled along and the opportunists soon saw it as a chance to offer ‘quickie’ leadership training programs (“Nationally recognised under the NTA”) and they were soon followed by the Technical Colleges and Universities who were keen to get into any new area where they might offer training. It became very confusing for young people who wanted to work in the Outdoor Recreation scene. They were not sure where to obtain their training, but it did not look as if the two-year BMLC was their best option.
I do not believe that the Competency-based scheme will ever produce leaders of the quality which the BMTAB has produced. It lacks the amount of field experience and it lacks the element of expert guidance which our Advisor system generally provided. It also lacks the provision of time for personal maturation and confidence-building which the BMLC process provided.
Economic
influences
Another influence in the declining demand for our Courses was the push for greater productivity throughout the whole community in a period of continuing high levels of unemployment. People who might, in better times, have undertaken a Course such as ours were worried about both the cost and the long-term time commitment. Widespread perceptions of job insecurity also resulted in a noticeable reduction in the availability of volunteer helpers who were still in the workforce. The Board experienced some difficulties in recruiting skilled and experienced volunteers in the numbers which were readily available to us in the past.
There also seemed to be some reduction in the total participation rate for overnight pack carrying adventure activities. Certainly the established clubs experienced loss of demand for overnight activities - and growth in day-trip participation, possibly related to an ageing membership profile.
Changes within the Department
After 15 years of stable administration of the BMTAB within the Department, from 1993 to 1997 we had four different Administrative Officers, most of whom were not widely experienced in working with volunteer organisations and not previously involved in the outdoor recreation field. In this period a number of tensions arose between the Board and elements of the management structure of the Department. In some cases members of the Board made contributions to the tensions or misunderstandings. In other cases the problems seemed to come from the Sport and Recreation Victoria (SRV) side, in some instances possibly deriving from a notable lack of in-house understanding of the outdoor recreation field. One officer of the Department seemed determined to prove to her superiors that she was capable of ridding them of this old and unfashionable program. We were put under great pressure to move out – preferably to TAFE, because that was considered the most appropriate location for a training course. In March 1999, we were given an ultimatum to vacate the space which we had occupied at SRV. At that stage we became aware of the availability of space on the same floor as VicFit, at 232 Victoria Parade, so we were hastily moved there. By July 1999 the decision was made to move in ‘under the wing’ of VicFit. This seemed to be the best option at the time, but after two years it became clear that we had to make a move and we took up space at the Outdoor Recreation Centre at Heidelberg.
Changes in the Board and Course Committee
During this turbulent period in our history there were changes in the membership of the Board and Committee and a noticeable change in the way the Courses were run. I attended an Advisors Meeting in 1998 and was surprised to hear one of the organisers tell us that there had been quite a few faults in the way the Courses were run in the past, but the new team would be making it all work much better. One change was the adoption of a much harder line with Applicants who were late with their paperwork or had transgressed in any other way. When I assisted with the staffing of the Howmans Gap Week in 2000, we held a feedback session at the end of the week. The Course Members said mostly nice things about the week but absolutely savaged us about the treatment they had received during the earlier stages of the Course. They were furious about late paperwork from our side and about the harsh treatment of some other Applicants who had been late with theirs.
( Contents)
The ‘end product’ of the Course
On page 2 of this book I quoted the original aims of the BMLC. It was a fairly simple statement of what the founders hoped that the graduates would be able to do. In later years a much more detailed, and ambitious, goal was set down and an effort was made to ensure that the training offered should be capable of producing the desired result. I reproduce the document below.
I think
that this was a significant document. It sets down all of the most
desirable skills for a competent outdoor recreation leader. I also think
that, in our best years at least, we were successful in making it possible for
our Course Members to acquire all those skills. There were some people in the
wider community (and even a few among our staff) who seemed to think that every
person who undertook to do the Course should pass the requirements and obtain
the certificate. This idea seems very unrealistic to me. We
achieved a pass rate of between 36% and 54% in different years, and of those, a
majority would probably meet all the criteria listed above. Compared with
leadership courses overseas, that is a very good result. You cannot expect
everyone to become a first class outdoor leader.
The volunteers – in
general
Quite
obviously, the great strength of the Courses was the volunteer staff who ran
them. It was nearly all volunteers who set up the Board. It was wholly
volunteers who developed and continually refined the activities which provided
the training. Volunteer Advisors guided the Course Members through the
requirements of the Courses and reinforced the lessons that were learned.
It was the fact that volunteers were appointed to direct each of the phases of
the Courses which ensured that fresh ideas were constantly being put forward,
and enthusiasm for the tasks was maintained. Outdoor training centres in the
United Kingdom are continually searching for ways to sustain the enthusiasm of
their full-time professional instructors. When our staff grew weary of
the task, they moved on. We had a firm policy of introducing a percentage
of new staff to every residential training or assessment week.
I always
felt that my most important task, when I was Executive Officer, was to assist
the volunteers with their paperwork and other routine matters, and to strive to
keep them happy in their jobs. A few times I failed spectacularly in this role,
but I tried, and generally I felt that I succeeded. The willing support
that I received seemed to imply that most of our volunteers were happy to be
involved.
In the early years, the volunteers
were found mainly among the walking clubs. These clubs continued to
support us by allowing our Course Members to gain practical experience through
attending their club trips. Bill Bewsher had a great talent for identifying
and recruiting talented people from his own club, the Melbourne University
Mountaineering Club (MUMC). Many excellent staff came from that
source. Capable people from other clubs were also found and persuaded to
assist. Later, we were able to recruit most of the staff from the
ranks of graduates of the Courses. They knew the program from personal
experience and were able to bring constructive ideas for better ways to do
things. In our best years we had an ‘embarrassment of
riches’. So many capable people were keen to help that we could not
always use them. Sadly, that changed in the years of our decline, as
mentioned above.
With a
couple of hundred volunteers assisting in various capacities, it is natural
that there were some differences in interpretation and in expected
standards. The Board was very conscious of the need to treat every Course
Member fairly and as close as possible to equally in our judgement of their
standards of performance. Roughly every two years the Board presented a
staff training seminar, mostly of two days. Through these we hoped to bring our
Advisors and Assessors to common understandings of the rules for the
Courses and the desired standards of performance. Only a percentage of
our volunteers were able to attend these, but those who did got a lot of help
from them. In 1986 and ‘88 at Too Rour and 1990 at Footscray, we employed
Mike Harrington from the Augustine Centre to guide and inspire us and he did
this with great flair. Other years we used mainly our own people to
conduct the sessions and they were also generally very effective.
The four-phase format
It is easy
to take for granted the basic structure of the course. In my opinion, the
four-phase format was an important element in the training process.
Self-confidence is critical to good leadership and each of the four steps in
our process provided the course members with a ‘tick of approval’. Many
people who applied and were accepted for the first Appraisal Weekend were quite
nervous at first and were pleased to be accepted for the second weekend.
After that they were told, in effect, that we considered them good enough to be
admitted to the residential training week. At Howmans Gap their peers and
the staff all gave them feedback on their own strengths and weaknesses.
Most people left the Howmans week feeling inspired and ready to build on the
knowledge they had acquired. Towards the end of the Interim Training
period they did their field assessments, and were again told that we considered
them good enough to proceed to the final stage. The Final Assessment week
provided several opportunities for them to demonstrate their ability to cope
with a challenge. Importantly, there was also generally an atmosphere of
mutual respect among the Course Members presenting for Final Assessment.
The piece of paper in their hands was the final endorsement of our judgment
that they were capable outdoor recreation leaders.
The other
great virtue of the four-phase format was that it conveniently broke the task
into manageable elements, and provided the opportunity for four different
volunteers to take a management role in a definable portion of the total task.
I cannot remember any phase director who did not do a pretty good job in the
role. Many of them did outstanding jobs applying huge amounts of energy
and skill to the task. A few of these have been mentioned in the other
parts of this Short History, and I should mention a few others at this stage.
The Directors of the residential weeks are all listed in Appendix D.
Carla Miller gets my vote as the best-ever Director of Appraisals, but
there have been a number of other very good occupants of that chair. Kathy
Liley and Mike Scowen are mentioned elsewhere. Phil Waring,
Lorraine Smith, Frank Davin, Roy Graham and Terry Cerini all served in this
role at some time. I may have missed others.
Graeme
Young did a very professional job in the role of Director of Interim
Training. He revised most of the paperwork, ran an active supporting
panel and improved the efficiency of the operation in various ways. Mike Scowen
and Steve Manders also did good work in this area. Other Directors included
Dave Burnett, Dave Caddy, Bob Peterson and Thais Bassett.
It is also appropriate to mention a few people who served as leaders of the Course-organised Snow Walks. Alan Tickell, Bill Bewsher, Dave Burnett, Peter Hicks, Tony Kerr, Tom Kneen, Ken McInnes, Bill Ellemor, Rob Kovacs, Jeff Swan and Bob Manks all ran Snow Walks a number of times. Similarly, our Hot, Dry Walks were led on several occasions by either Jim Moore or Alan Hassell, both of whom lived in the Mildura district so knew a bit about it. Other regulars included Bob Peterson, Paul Gallant, Mike Tegg, Ken Judd, Glenn Warren and Steve Manders.
Great contributors to the
BMLC
Back in
1990 I wrote a series of items for ‘Groundsheet’ under this title. It attracted
some interest at the time and it seems to be a subject apposite to the purpose
of this little book so I shall include an edited version here. It was
limited to 12 names previously but I shall add a few more now.