John Blay releases book Back Country: Trek through the Deua and Wadbilliga

Travelling alone – except for a pack mule  – he explored this rugged section of the South East ranges, starting west of Moruya before working his way down to the mountains outside Cobargo and into Brogo before finishing at Bemboka. 

“As I walked I talked to a lot of the old time people there,” Mr Blay said. 

“A lot in their 70s or 80s lived there from before there was television. They knew the country and could tell me stories like you don’t get these days.

“Everybody talked about dingos, seen in all sorts of colours, and they all had dingo skins next to their fires.” 

Writing about his expedition into this area, followed up by several more trips over the next few years, formed the basis of his re-released book Back Country: Trek through the Deua and Wadbilliga.  

“I found it to be amazing,” he said.

“The more you know about the bush, the more you want to know about it.

“I became familiar with all the plants, I knew what should be there and what was unusual which helped me find a lot of plants unknown to science.”

One such discovery only grows in the Brogo River catchment and is called the acacia blayana – or Brogo wattle – named after Mr Blay. 

He survived off supplies carried by his mule, named Zac, but did occasionally forage along the way. For instance, he said stinging nettles with rice tasted like “the sweetest beetroot you’ve ever had”. 

Mr Blay, who now lives in Eden, stills loves walking in the bush, but these days he tries not to use maps and instead lets the country tell him where to go.

“When your feet tell you where to go, you tend to find the old Aboriginal places. Like campsites, those places they used to go for some reason or other, or you find the best way to walk between different areas,” he said.

Originally published in 1987, this much-revised edition of Back Country has been brought up to date with additional information, including a preface, illustrations, afterword and index.

It led to the publication of On Track, a book about the Bundian Way, and Mr Blay plans to release another book on the South East Forests in the future. 

He will launch Back Country at the Log Cabin, on the corner Bass and Maling Streets in Eden, on December 10 at 3pm. 

It can be purchased in Candelo Books, Bega or at various newsagencies around the Bega Valley.