Brian Fox and Michael Keats ‘Gardens of Stone National Park’

Brian and Michael will describe their forays into the Greater Blue Mountains region using experiences of bushwalking, historic map makers, and origins of Blue Mountains geographical names.

Brian Fox and Michael Keats jointly published “The Gardens of Stone National Park and beyond”, Books 1 to 6, 2011 to 2015.

Brian Fox

As a young man, Brian Fox developed a love of the bush, particularly the Greater Blue Mountains region, initially during his professional career as a cartographer with the NSW Central Mapping Authority. With expertise in topographical mapping and a passion for bushwalking, Brian turned his mind to the origin of Blue Mountains names. To date, he has documented over 3,000 geographical place names in the course of completing more than 1,000 day walks. He has also written four books, the latest being ‘Isaac Barrow, Blue Mountains Map Maker’ (2015), and contributed over 60 short articles to various publications. Brian is a member of the Bathurst and Blue Mountains Historical Societies and a Sydney based bushwalking club.

Michael Keats, OAM

Michael is an inveterate bushwalker who grew up at Balmoral in Sydney during the Second World War in the days when young boys could walk, climb and swim around their local patches of heathland and seashore observing rocks, plants, insects, reptiles and sea life. Michael still regularly ventures into the wilder parts of the Greater Blue Mountains National Parks. He has authored several books on bushwalking, contributed to journals and in 2016 was honoured with an OAM “For service to bushwalking, and as an author.” He has also presented a film on the history of the Wolgan Valley Railway, an engineering feat almost the equal to the nearby Lithgow Zig Zag railway.

Brian and Michael will describe their forays into the wilder parts of the Greater Blue Mountains National Parks. Along with learning about historic map makers and the origins of geographical names, abseiling, pack walking and canyoning add to the diversity of places to be visited and experiences to enjoy.