The Sydney Bush Walkers Club is a bushwalking club in Australia.
Formed in 1927 by Myles Dunphy at the behest of the Mountain Trails Club, the group was originally called the Waratah Walking Club, but was renamed early on. Unlike its predecessor, the club was open to the general public, and this allowed it to increase its membership substantially; a petition presented in the same year (signed by members of both clubs) contained over 5,000 signatures.
A hike is a long, vigorous walk, usually on trails or footpaths in the countryside. Walking for pleasure developed in Europe during the eighteenth century. Long hikes as part of a religious pilgrimage have existed for a much longer time. "Hiking" is the preferred term in Canada and the United States; the term "walking" is used in these regions for shorter, particularly urban walks. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, the word "walking" describes all forms of walking, whether it is a walk in the park or backpacking in the Alps. The word hiking is also often used in the UK, along with rambling, hillwalking, and fell walking (a term mostly used for hillwalking in northern England). The term bushwalking is endemic to Australia, having been adopted by the Sydney Bush Walkers Club in 1927. In New Zealand a long, vigorous walk or hike is called tramping. It is a popular activity with numerous hiking organizations worldwide, and studies suggest that all forms of walking have health benefits.
The Mountain Trails Club of New South Wales was an Australian conservation and bushwalking group.
The club was founded in 1914 by Myles Dunphy, Roy Rudder and Herbert Gallop Membership was by invitation only, and women were not permitted to join; the club espoused "a doctrine [of] manly and wholesome recreation". The Mountain Trails Club's work resulted in the formation of other bushwalking groups, such as the Sydney Bush Walkers Club, also founded by Dunphy.