Adventurer has visions for Munibung Hill
All adventures start somewhere. There is a genesis, something that sparks a passion that kick starts a curiosity that given expression and allowed to flourish, becomes a part of who we are.
THIS IS THE CASE with Graham Burgess. As a child growing up on the southern slopes of Munibung Hill his sense of curiosity was kindled on the tracks leading up to and across the ridges and down into the valleys, along with observations of plants and animals that are the essence of Munibung Hill.
Born at Jesmond in 1941, now at age 83, Graham Burgess lived in Waratah until age eleven when his parents moved the family to Morse Street, Speers Point in 1952.
Graham is not one to turn down an opportunity. ‘Adventurer’ is one way to describe Graham Burgess. ‘Visionary’ is another apt way of referring to his way of thinking. One of these had seen him launching the Wangi Queen on Lake Macquarie as part of a tourism venture.
It was shortly after this that Graham was invited to sit on the committee of the Hunter Region Tourist Authority (HRTA) which he did for nine years.
During his time on the HRTA Graham identified the tourist potential of Munibung Hill.
We might ask what had been the initial spark for this idea, so let’s back track to those childhood days when Graham had been exploring Munibung Hill whenever he had a spare minute.
“I would visit Munibung Hill with a couple of local friends, Kevin Cousins and Ken Ross,” said Graham.
“We’d go straight up from the end of Morse Street. It was steep but no obstacle for young kids who could scramble where others might balk.”
Undefined track, off-limits for most people. (Photo: see MMM story)
“When I was older it was this particular access route that I used many times as part of a training routine.”
“With a backpack to add some weight, the climb was ideal as part of my fitness training exercises, in preparation for some strenuous expeditions – the Kokoda Track walk, the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain and the Sandakan Death March trek in Borneo. There were lots of others but you get the gist.”
“The impact of Pasminco on Munibung Hill has been dramatic. There’s no getting away from the fact that it has left scars that will take decades to heal.”
“The felling of Blackbutt and Turpentine trees for timber had a huge impact on the biodiversity of Munibung Hill.” We reassure Graham that a few trees survived and local Landcarers are doing what they can to protect this isolated stand.
Graham, in addition to his creative woodworking skills, has another string to his creative bow, composing poetry as a means of capturing the events he has come across over the years. ‘Munibung Ridge’ is one of these. It chronicles the clearing of Blackbutt and Turpentine trees and its associated habitat primarily on the north western side of the Hill.
It was early on in Graham’s visits to Munibung Hill that he had one of those life changing events, by his own admission, brought on by brazenly intruding into the world of small native birds.
“I became an environmentalist up on Munibung Hill. I killed a small blue wren for fun, I guess you’d say. I had taken a rifle on this particular walk and when we came across this unsuspecting little bird, I took its life. When I got home, I was so embarrassed with myself that I penned a few lines about my act of aggression towards this innocent creature. The words of regret in: ‘The Last Blue Wren’, I suppose you could say, was my way of setting the record straight.” Read here.
“One of my clearest memories was the sheer diversity and abundance of wildlife. There was an area we called Possum Valley, so called because possibly 15 to 20 possums nested there,” says Graham. “But not anymore, it’s not as friendly for wildlife these days with so much development and disturbance.”
Mature trees with spreading canopies in the Owl Creek* catchment, on the north side of Munibung Hill. From Graham’s description, we understand Possum Valley was situated in this area. Photo: Stuart Carter
* the MHCS colloquial name in recognition of the Powerful Owl that lives in the catchment.
We talk about the fact that Munibung Hill is a trapped ‘island’ landscape with no green corridors through which native animals can travel or can escape from feral animals such as foxes and feral cats … and roaming domestic cats.
Graham continues: “There was a large orchard at the end of Fairfax Road, but the fallout from Pasminco killed all the trees and put an end to that.”
“You know Munibung Hill is comprised of conglomerate rock, it’s not a solid mass.”
“There had been a lot of clearing on the south east end. There was nothing holding the top soil and one night the side of the Hill just gave way. It just slid down and blocked Thompson Road. It was the late 1950s. The road was closed for about a year. But it wasn’t the through road it is today. It was just serving a small number of local residents,” Graham tells us.
Graham’s vision for Munibung Hill as a tourist destination was intended to attract a cross section of the community for a variety of purposes.
“I was on friendly terms with all the main stakeholders at Munibung Hill. I had negotiated with the Hawkins for access across fence lines and the Bowmore family to cross their property. I had the idea of establishing an annual photographic competition. It was to be part of the Speers Point Skytrail. You could call it a marketing name for a walking track. It would follow the ridge lines around Munibung Hill,” Graham notes.
“It started from an access point on the south east – just up from where Rani Close is now – to ascend onto the main ridge and then create a circuit.”
“The idea was, in one or another, to attract every member of the family”
“There was to be opportunities for children’s education and school excursions; naming of all the trees along the route to teach basic plant identification and bush appreciation; places to rest and relax and have a picnic; running stations for orienteering and fitness training; explanation boards that would suggest points of interest for photography; a direction finder noting all of the distant locations on and over the horizon.”
“It was intended to take advantage of all the great natural attractions at Munibung Hill. And you can understand that by doing this, it would be obvious that the Hill was worth protecting and worthy of conservation. It was to be a win-win for everyone,” says Graham.
But it wasn’t to be. The Council of the day and, as Graham puts it: ” … the recently formed Lake Macquarie Tourist Association of that time, was in disarray and unable to grasp the need for the adoption of such projects. It was yet another tourism possibility gone begging.”
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GRAHAM BURGESS was number three in the family sibling order. He had two brothers and two sisters, making a household of seven all up.
He attended school at Mereweather High School (known as Newcastle Technical High School back in those days) until age 15. Then it was an apprenticeship with Andrew Cook & Son, a joinery business in Cooks Hill.
“I’ve always been an innovator,” says Graham. He went out on his own installing kitchens under the Unibuild Kitchens brand.
“They were unique in those days, arriving as a pack of components ready for assembly. They were ahead of their time – an IKEA flat pack would be today’s version.”
Graham’s next venture was to establish a joinery business of his own, located in York Street, Teralba. Not resting on his laurels, “… at that time I designed and built a 36 foot seven berth cruiser in partnership with Ian Craig at Marmong Point. We set up a hire business called Navigator Hire Cruises. It included six aluminium 14 foot long outboard motor boats all based out of Marmong Point.”
“This demonstrated quite clearly that there were more opportunities for anyone willing to take a calculated risk.”
So on top of his joinery business and the marine hire business, Graham bought a 246 person passenger ferry in Sydney, to be relocated to Lake Macquarie.
“This purchase of the ‘Profound’, that had for years operated on Sydney Harbour turned out to be a sound business proposition.”
Wangi Queen Showboat. Photo credit: Teresa Charchalis.
“By now we had nine employees in the joinery shop, and they were put to work on restoring the ferry in preparation for relaunching under a new name, the Wangi Queen.”
The inspiration for the purchase was Graham having people say ‘We remember going down the lake on a ferry’ and on board ‘There was music, a piano.’
“When it was operating, the Azile, as it was called, had a piano on board, and I thought there’s no reason why we can’t do the same,” recalls Graham.
“This was 1974 and the piano prompt came on the very first cruise when a customer said, ‘Where’s the piano?’ and so from then on we had a piano on board.”
The ferry had to be refitted for the tourist trade. It was while the vessel was being fitted out that Graham took their first wedding booking.
It was at this time that Graham was confronted by the Shire President of the day, with the remark: “We don’t want tourists on the lake.” But Graham did it anyway. “All up, during our operation of the Wangi Queen, we did 16 shy of a thousand weddings. That’s a testament to it’s success.”
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FAST FORWARD TO 2024 and we find that after all these years, when it comes to visitor attractions, Munibung Hill is on the cusp of being one of the jewels in the crown for Lake Mac City.
Even without appearing in any official tourist brochures, Munibung Hill rates as being one of the must see locations listed on many social media platforms. From the top ridge the views are stunning; with a ‘wow’ factor that is locally unmatched.
When the Munibung Hill Management Plan is implemented, the vision that adventurer Graham Burgess had for Munibung Hill – much of which closely aligns with many people in the community – will become a reality.
… From MMM Issue #46, Oct-Nov. 2024
