We are lucky in this country to have sensible gun laws, so we don’t normally have to worry about being shot while in the great outdoors. Well, not normally, I was canoeing on a tributary of the Colo one day when shots rang out accompanied by some unintelligible shouting far away, from the ridge above. Apparently, someone thought I was trespassing in “his” river. He was just firing his gun in the air, so we ignored him.
More serious was an incident described in the Gazette 9 July 1986. On Sunday 6 July, at about 12.30pm, people near Scenic World and on the Scenic Skyway reported hearing between 30 and 40 shots being fired from the floor of the valley. It’s thought that two or three persons were involved, though none of the shots were at the Skyway carriage.
Police were called, and Sgt Robert Kelso boarded the Skyway, hearing two shots being fired from somewhere near the base of Orphan Rock. The Police Tactical Response Group was called in, and a large contingent of police searched the valley and nearby walking tracks. They heard another shot fired sounding towards the Three Sisters. Pol-Air 1 arrived about 2pm and flew low over the bush to assist with the search for the offenders.
Nobody was found, nor were any used bullets or cartridges, and the search was called off late in the afternoon.
There are several other stories about mishaps with firearms in “Mountains Mishaps”, including one where a bushwalker shot himself after tripping over a guy rope, and another where a previously lost boy mysteriously got shot in the neck near Blackheath.