Bushwalk Australia

Wondering if anybody knows the origins of all the dog references used to identify the ridges etc in the blue mountains? I did a quick google but didn't really give me any history on it.

Dunphy named them IIRC.

Thanks climberman, any idea why?

There are many on the board with better knowledge than I, but I think he wanted to give things names to clarify for himself and other walkers, and for the maps, and so named em. There's a good wild dog population in parts of there too. Other themes get a workout elsewhere in the blueys too.

I really like his naming series.

I find his naming interesting too but hard to find any history on it. With the dog theme I thought maybe the fact that Blaxland and Co took 5 dogs with them on THEIR maiden crossing of the mountains might of had something to do with it?

Blaxland and Co didn't go anywhere near the Wild Dog Mountains on their crossing. As climberman said, Dunphy often went with a theme. His preference was for existing names, and in many areas he used aboriginal words to invent names for places (many of the aboriginal place names in the mountains aren't even in the local languages). There's some good mythological references elsewhere, along with just amazingly colourful places names (Like "Temple of the shining orb"). I can't recall if there's anything in his 'selected writings' book that explains the inspiration for the wild dogs.

Reading through Jim Barrett's "Place Names of the Blue Mountains and Burragorang Valley" it is suggested that the naming system came from a 1917 trip by Dunphy and his mate Herb Gallop which involved descending Mt Cookem and walking through the Black Dog Canyon. On this trip they also passed Black Dog Ridge and Black Dog Rock. Apparently 'Black Dog' was the term used at the time to describe the 'big bend' of the Coxs and most of what we now call the Wild Dog Mountains.

The Black Dog route had been shown to a local by the name of Robert O'Reilly by the Aboriginals in the late 1800s and interestingly it is said to originate from O'Reilly describing the ascent as a 'black dog of a mountain', and the due to the presents of wild dogs.

Next came Norbert Carlon of Megalong in the early 1900s naming the ridge which he tracked out along along White Dog Ridge to complement the existing Black Dog.

When Dunphy came through the area, he apparently was inspired by the Black Dog and White Dog names and so the Wild Dog Mountains and Dog / Pup ridge nomenclature theme was born.

Allchin09 wrote:Reading through Jim Barrett's "Place Names of the Blue Mountains and Burragorang Valley" it is suggested that the naming system came from a 1917 trip by Dunphy and his mate Herb Gallop which involved descending Mt Cookem and walking through the Black Dog Canyon. On this trip they also passed Black Dog Ridge and Black Dog Rock. Apparently 'Black Dog' was the term used at the time to describe the 'big bend' of the Coxs and most of what we now call the Wild Dog Mountains.

The Black Dog route had been shown to a local by the name of Robert O'Reilly by the Aboriginals in the late 1800s and interestingly it is said to originate from O'Reilly describing the ascent as a 'black dog of a mountain', and the due to the presents of wild dogs.

Next came Norbert Carlon of Megalong in the early 1900s naming the ridge which he tracked out along along White Dog Ridge to complement the existing Black Dog.

When Dunphy came through the area, he apparently was inspired by the Black Dog and White Dog names and so the Wild Dog Mountains and Dog / Pup ridge nomenclature theme was born.

Lovely info Allchin09, much appreciated.

Yep, agree...Great piece of info you provided there Alchin09, thanks for your effort.

I don't think the claim that O'Reilly called it a "black dog of a mountain" bears out. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't, but the original Black Dog was Black Dog Rock, a rocky outcrop on the river opposite the foot of the Black Dog Ridge at the start of what Dunphy later called the Black Dog Canyon. Whether the ridge took its name from the rock or the rock from the ridge is uncertain, though I think the former more likely. The rock was said by some to resemble the outline of a dog from a certain angle, if you use your imagination. The old Black Dog Track was a popular route for bushwalkers in the early days, though tricky to find from the top. When the water levels are low you can still walk up the Cox from the base of the Black Dog Ridge, but when the water is up you'll have a devil of a job doing it.