Looking for Frank Walford’s Cave – 26 May 2015

Bob and myself travelled up the mountains and headed out the road at Medlow Bath past Katoomba Airport and parked at the lookout at Point Pilcher. Our object was to find an obscure old cave used as a retreat by the former bushwalking mayor of the Blue Mountains – Frank Walford.

Frank Walford (1882 – 1969), was a journalist and author. Some of his novels are still in print. He lived at Katoomba from 1919 and edited the local newspaper. He was an expert bushman and spent a lot of time exploring the local area. He was friends with Eric Dark and Eric Lowe, two other local identities involved with the outdoors.

I can remember Dr Eric Dark from my younger days. He was the local school doctor. When I went to school, there was a government doctor that regularly visited schools and conducted routine medical examinations of the students to look out for problems. This was in the 1960’s and in those days, Dr Dark seemed to me a very old man. I didn’t know he was a well known identity. He was married to the famous author Eleanor Dark and he was an early supporter of socialised medicine – that was why he worked as a doctor for the state. He was also a pioneer rock climber in the Blue Mountains and beyond. During the run up to the Second World War, Eric and his wife had located a cave near Arethusa Canyon, just off the Fortress Ridge, which they used as a retreat. This cave is now referred to as Dr Darks Cave and is well known to bushwalkers. Dr Dark’s friend, Eric Lowe, also established a cave close to Arethusa Canyon, just above Alpheus Canyon known as the “Rookery Nook”. Both these caves were suitable for sleeping in and fitted out with a fireplace and pots, pans and other items.

Frank Walford had set up his cave much earlier – in the 1920’s. It seems to be not that well known by bushwalkers. Andy Macqueen mentions the cave in his book on the history of the Grose Valley – “Back From the Brink”. He limits his description to saying the cave is located near Mt Carne and overlooks the creek above Arethusa Canyon. It seemed to both Bob and myself that it would be a challenge to try and locate the cave.

So we set off from the carpark, following an old overgrown road for a while and then heading off into the scrub. We crossed another track, used by locals for dog walking, and continued down to the steep slopes above the creek. It was both scrubby and slippery going – we had to be careful. We scouted about following dodgy ledges looking for likely spots. It is steep country – not easy to explore.

We were lucky. At one point I can remember almost giving up on one area we were searching, and then deciding to go down to a ledge and look down for one last look. From that ledge I spotted a bit of constructed platform a fair way below. We scrambled down and found our way into the cave.

As caves go – it was not too impressive. Only big enough for a few people to sleep in and not too sheltered. It would be hard to find firewood on the small ledge it was on. But a lot of work had been done in the cave. A fireplace had been constructed and rocks concreted together to make platforms. There were several shelves and a lot of junk. Rubbish or relics? Some of the stuff in the cave was certainly old – pots and pans, an old jaffle iron, cups, bottles, lanterns etc. An earlier visitor had placed a pile of newspapers and magazines into a plastic bag, not a good idea, as they were now going mouldy. We found one magazine that dated back to 1928. An old ladder led up to a higher level where food was stored. This ladder has now been badly burnt by a bushfire and can no longer be used.

If you followed the ledge that the cave was on, you would eventually come to a small creek that could have provided a water supply. But not far past the cave, were two areas that had been constructed out of rocks. They looked like they may have been used to collect and store water at some earlier time.

We then left the cave and scrambled back up towards the ridge above and regained the dog walking track, which we followed back to the Point Pilcher Road. We then headed back down to the lookout for lunch.

After lunch, we headed into Blackheath and out along Evans Lookout Road. Both of us had visited Walls Cave many years before (in the late 1970’s?) – it was time for another look. The track to the cave is certainly different. A set of well constructed steps lead down to a small canyon and tunnel and then you follow blocks down the creekbed to arrive at the cave. In the cave itself is a platform and visitors are asked to not venture past it as the cave has a lot of significant as an aboriginal site.

More photos of both these interesting caves are on my website here. Please do not ask for the grid reference of Frank Walford’s Cave – as I would not like to see a track to it or all the old relics souvenired. If you are keen then the cave is not too hard to find.