Our program consists of walks generally on the third Saturday of each month from February to November. These walks are usually about 10-15 km long, often with additional shorter options, from a starting point within a couple of hours from Melbourne. Walkers provide their own transport, with many members forming ‘car pools’.
Each year we have a five-or six-day excursion with day walks from shared accommodation (such as cottages, motel or lodge) at locations such as Cradle Mountain, Tasmania (2007), Flinders Island (2010), Falls Creek (2011), Central West Tasmania (2013), Heysen Trail, SA (2014), Eden, NSW (2018), Buffalo Plateau (2019). We also generally have two or three walking weekends at various times of the year from places such as Cape Otway (Great Ocean Walk), Gellibrand (Beechy Rail Trail Walk), or Castlemaine and Bendigo (Dry Diggings Track).
An experienced walks leader scopes the walks, and prepares notes that are circulated by email before each walk. These notes outline the walk, its level of difficulty, and give ‘how to get there’ directions and meeting arrangements. Many walks offer options for different levels of fitness. See 2023 Walks and Activities overview and Walks Calendar for information about our current program. The Walks Calendar also supplies a map with directions to the precise staring location of each walk.
In addition to walking together, each year we have a couple of very enjoyable social occasions, – a long lunch mid-year and a more informal barbecue at year’s end.
Why do we do it?
Our walks are not solely exercises in physical fitness. We delight in the beauty and diversity of landscapes in Victoria and interstate. Some members are keen photographers, poets and painters. Conversation along the track is lively and wide-ranging, with members’ expertise and interests including ecology, conservation, history, water management, health, art, music and overseas travel.
While most members are in their fifties and upwards, we welcome new members of any age, especially younger walkers. We enjoy the mix of interests and ages that stimulates conversation and adds to the range of perceptions and responses to the bush.
Our history
Gretna Weste, AM In 1975, our foundation President, the late Dr Gretna Weste AM, an Associate Professor of Botany, led the first walk through the Werribee Gorge. In 2005 the MUAB published Amblers. Ramblers and Scramblers: A History of the Melbourne University and Alumni Bushwalking Group 1975-2005. The work was reprinted in 2009 and copies are available from the Secretary of MUAB for $20. This book gives a lively account of the group’s foundation and evolution. Reflections, photographs and paintings from more than 25 members illustrate both the group’s activities and the responses to the bush by individual walkers. The book also includes fine line drawings by artist, Janet Fenton. The bushwalking boots featured in the logo are used here with Janet’s permission.
The publication of this book was assisted by a grant from the University of Melbourne History of the University Unit.
In 2015 the group celebrated its 40th anniversary. In 2017 we became incorporated as Melbourne University and Alumni Bushwalkers Inc., and we are generally known as MUAB.