With Swag and Billy: A Guide to Walking Trips in Tourist Districts of New South Wales

About this film

LibriVox recording of With Swag and Billy: A Guide to Walking Trips in Tourist Districts of New South Wales by Henry J. Tompkins. Read in English by Phil Benson A guide to hikes around Sydney, Australia, from the early years of the twentieth century. In 1895, Henry J. Tompkins and William Mogford Hamlet, two friends with literary inclinations and a taste for romantic scenery, formed the Warragamba Walking Club. Although the strength of their membership is unknown (Tompkins expresses his preference for parties of two, and no more than four), the Warragambas also counted John Le Gay Brereton, poet and professor of literature, among their number. Published by the Government Tourist Bureau, With Swag and Billy ran to three editions (1906, 1910 and 1914). The second edition included shorter walks in present-day suburban Sydney and longer routes in the Blue Mountains, the Southern Highlands and Hunter Valley. As there were few walking paths at the time, most of the routes follow what are now main roads, but they give a flavour of what it was like to walk the roads of New South Wales when the only hazards were the occasional bicycle or horse-drawn coach. Carrying their gear in a swag and…

Directors & creators

Henry J. Tompkins

Subjects

librivox; audiobooks;australia; walking; new south wales; sydney; bushwalking

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