Origins
Bill Orme, in his forties and in the midst of a busy career as a lawyer and NSW Privacy Commissioner, discovered the pleasure and recuperative benefits of long-distance walking, especially in Europe. In early 2000, however, he turned his attention closer to home in North Sydney when he set out with his grandson to circumnavigate the municipal boundaries on foot. Eventually, with the help of North Sydney Council and a group of helpers, the route he devised, that threaded its way through foreshore reserves, parks and pockets of bushland, became six linked walks publicised in brochures and maps.
Encouraged, Bill and his group went further afield to the harbour and its tributaries developing the 415 km Harbour and Coast Walk. Each new area explored revealed existing walking routes and other keen walkers locally promoting such walks. By 2004 the combination of these groups and individuals became known as the Walking Volunteers and, with the help of The Coastal Councils Group, the NSW Department of Planning and various land managers, paper brochures with maps and walks descriptions were printed and distributed by the contributing Councils.
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