Mountain high
On 5 December of last year, the grave of pioneering mountaineer Freda Du Faur was finally marked in Manly Cemetery with a memorial stone and an official ceremony attended by a number of dignitaries.
It was an honourable end to a sad story of neglect for Du Faur, whose remains had lain in an unmarked grave for 70 years, far away from her partner Muriel Madogan and with no recognition of the climbing achievements Du Faur had last century.
Du Faur was the first person to climb the 3,754 metres of Mt Cook, New Zealand’s highest mountain. Her numerous other achievements included being the first person to climb Mt Dampier and Mt Sefton, and the second person to climb Mt Tasman.
But after Du Faur battled bipolar disorder and her grief for the death of Madogan, she took her own life in 1935.
It was in 1990 that writer Sally Irwin first learned of Du Faur and became so intrigued by her tale she wrote the book, Between Heaven And Earth, which was published in 2000.
Irwin was one of the people in attendance when Du Faur’s grave was finally marked with the memorial stone on 5 December, the date that Du Faur had climbed Mt Cook.
Rather than feeling the story has had its final closure, Irwin thinks it is only now just taking flight.
This story is opening up as it is no longer only me digging through her past. There are now all these other people who have discovered Freda and really want to know more about her, Sally Irwin says.
Du Faur was born in Croydon in 1882 and was educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School for Girls. She developed her passion for mountaineering growing up near the Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park in northern Sydney.
She met Muriel Madogan around 1910 and the two soon became companions, but their relationship was not accepted by their families, and they moved to England.
Both women battled with mental health issues and underwent deep sleep therapy. They were then separated when Muriel was claimed by her family and taken away from Du Faur’s persuasion.
Muriel died of a heart attack in 1930 while on her way home by ship to Australia. Freda’s broken heart never recovered and she killed herself by turning on the gas in her Dee Why home in 1935.
It really is the saddest story, and the more I learnt about her, the more I thought it was important to mark the person she was, Irwin says. Her brothers tried to prove she was mad to contest her will after she died and, because she had killed herself, she was buried without a gravestone. She is not near Muriel, who is buried in Waverley, and not even near her own parents.
Irwin, who has written TV scripts for series including A Country Practice and is married to TV producer Roger Simpson, is now near completing a movie script telling the life of Georgina Beyer, the transsexual New Zealand parliamentarian.
While Irwin agrees that Du Faur’s story would also make a great movie, she says she will not be writing it.
After spending almost 10 years working on the book, no, thank you, she says. If someone else wants to do it, then fine and I will help, but it is now up to someone to take it to the next stage. And they should -“ Freda deserves it.
Between Heaven And Earth is available to purchase from [email protected].
