This part-bushwalk and part-exploration has a slightly different objective to my usual outdoor adventures: we’re searching for a remote cave where the remains of Audrey Mountford had been found over forty years ago. Fellow bushwalker “Yowie Dan” had stumbled up this sad story of Audrey, described as a”tragic Miss Havisham figure” who retreated to a Blue Mountains cave in Warrimoo where she was thought to have lived for a couple of years, before dying of exposure in 1971.
Audrey Mountford, an artist, had been due to marry a Canadian; she had even converted to Catholicism for him. But, like the character in Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, she had been jilted before reaching the altar. When she disappeared, her family assumed she had gone overseas to get over the upset and humiliation.
Instead, she had retreated to the cave, where it is believed she spent two years before dying, probably of exposure.
NZ Herald, 9 July 2009
Audrey Mountford’s body was discovered by David, a 14 year old local boy, on 5 January 1981 when he noticed what appeared to be human bones on the remains of a banana lounge at at the mouth of a cave. He ran home and told his older brother, Michael, who then reported the discovery to Springwood police. Constable Mark Appleton and Graham Hoffman attended the scene, and following a post-mortem examination and analysis of the personal items left in the cave, were able to establish that the deceased was a “Miss A Mountford” who had died in 1971. However, despite extensive enquiries, the police could not match Miss A Mountford to any reports of a missing women.
Audrey’s remains were buried in an unmarked grave at Emu Plains General Cemetery, and the unsolved case was kept open in the Missing Persons Unit. It was not until 2009 that Constable Adam Marsh reviewed the “cold case”, and made a breakthrough when he discovered an arrest card for a Miss Audrey Mountford for the heinous crime of “acting queerly”, a breach of the Lunacy Act (1848). This provided her date of birth, and enabled Constable Marsh to track down down her birth certificate and eventually her family – some of who had continued looking for her for many years after her disappearance.
This rather long preamble is the background to an interesting bushwalk through the Fitzgerald Creek Gorge in Warrimoo, in an attempt to find Audrey Mountford’s cave – which had most likely not been visited since the discovery of her body 1981. Dan has a number of clues from an article in the Australian Police Journal which he managed to track down, which includes a map with a rough location. To avoid crossing private property, we head down the Rickard Trail towards Warrimoo Lookout, and then veer left onto a bushwalking track that continues under Warrimoo Lookout.
Our plan was to find a way down to the creek near the end of the ridge, and then follow Fitzgeralds Creek upstream, hopefully identifying the Audrey Mountford Cave along the way. It wasn’t the most pleasant scramble down to the bottom of the valley, but we eventually navigated a route through some minor cliff-lines down to the creek.
For the next hour or so we followed the creek up through Fitzgeralds Creek Gorge, initially avoiding wet feet.
We soon gave up on keeping our feet dry, as we criss-crossed the creek to find the easiest path.
The “easiest path” is at times subjective: at one point I opted to climb above the creek, while Dan squeezed himself between two boulders and scrambled along the creek bed through a mass of fallen trees.
Despite some at-times challenging terrain and constant obstacles that makes progress fairly slow, it’s a beautiful, rainforest-like landscape.
Fitzgeralds Creek Gorge gradually widens, and there are now some still, deep sections of creek.
It’s starting to get a little easier to follow the bank next to the creek, although there’s no shortage of obstacles to keep us amused. We spot a few overhangs and caves, but none of them is the one we are looking for.
Where the creek becomes shallow and sandy, you would think the easiest route is along the creek bed (especially since we already have wet feet!) – but we quickly discover the sand is more like quicksand. After sinking to to our thighs, we retreat back up the dense ferns above the creek.
We’re now approaching a property, and getting close to where we believe the Audrey Mountford Cave might be. We’re sticking to the northern side of the creek, as that’s where the cave will be – and we want to avoid private property. (I later discover that the creek is not in fact the property boundary, and this part of our route does in fact traverse private property.)
Despite pushing through dense scrub and ferns, following the base of the most likely cliff line and exploring a few overhangs, we fail to find the cave that matches the description in the police report.
Long Angle Fire Trail
Not quite ready to give up, we re-join the firetrail, which connects to the Long Angle Fire Trail.
The Long Angle Fire Trail follows Long Angle Creek (originally known as Long Angle Gully), ascending (or descending) gently through the valley. There are a few more shelters above the trail, bur still nothing that matches what we’re looking for.
While we fail to find our cave, it’s a very pleasant walk, through tall eucalypt forest; we only encounter a couple of other bushwalkers on the 3km (one-way) stretch of fire trail.
A locked gate at the Long Angle Fire Trail (where it meets Long Angle Road) is the end of the trail; we-trace our steps from here back to Fitzgeralds Creek. Serendipity strikes on the way back: we encounter a small group of people who are part of the Fitzgerald Creek Bushcare Group. One of those people is Karleen, who lives in one of the rural properties along the creek. And she knows all about the story of Audrey Mountford, and the long-forgotten cave. She also knows the location of the cave, and generously offers for us to come back to visit it.
Sun Valley Fire Trail
The return to our cars (parked at the end of Rickard Road) is much easier than the route out along Fitzgeralds Creek; we initially follow the Sun Valley Firetrail, another lesser known fire trail.
A narrow bushwalking track on the left takes us back up to the top of the ridge, where we join the Rickard Ttail for the last 0.6km back to Rickard Road.
Postscript: Finding the Audrey Mountford Cave
A few weeks later we are back, with Karleen offering to come with us to have a look at the cave. Even with her help, it takes us a solid hour pushing through some thick scrub before we locate the infamous cave.
The banana lounge confirms we are at the right place: partly buried and scorched by the many fires over the last four decades, multiple pieces of the plastic sling have survived, as have parts of the steel frame.
What is a little disconcerting is the size of the shelter; over forty year of weathering and erosion has perhaps reduced its size, for the cave now seems barely big enough to shelter someone comfortably.
Yowie Dan’s video also tells the story of Audrey Mountford and the hidden cave in Warrimoo…
Getting to Fitzgeralds Creek
This exploratory bushwalk starts and finishes at the end Rickard Road, just past Warrimoo Oval. Most of the route along the remote Fitzgeralds Creek is through private land, so permission should be sought. The walk was about 15km and took just over six hours, with some challenging terrain along the creek.
There are some easier and more pleasant (and dog-friendly) bushwalks you can do along firetrails which are all on Crown Land through this area of Warrimoo:
- Continue along the ridge to Warrimoo Lookout (4km return)
- Descend (via an unmarked bushwalking track or the signposted Cripple Creek Fire Trail) to the Sun Valley Fire Trail, which takes you Rosenthal Lane (approx 4.5km one-way with car shuffle or 9km return).
- Descend (via an unmarked bushwalking track or the signposted Cripple Creek Fire Trail) to the Long Angle Fire Trail which takes you Long Angle Road (also about 4.5km one-way with car shuffle or 9km return).
0 Comments