The conquest of Barrington
Barrington Tops National Park is a rugged wilderness, the highest point being Brumlow Top (1586m, 5203 feet). A record low temperature of - 17ºC has been recorded at the summit. Because of the altitude, low cloud and dense fog, numerous aircraft crashes have occurred since 1945.
Many OBA readers will be familiar with the firm of A.P. North – NSW Matchless distributors located at 62-64 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney. The company’s founder, ‘Percy’ North was an adventurous rider in his younger days, and in 1925 created history by scaling the rugged Barrington Tops, 200 km north of Sydney in the Hunter Valley. The Sunday Times of October 4th, 1925 reported, “On Monday, Barrington Tops was climbed from the Dungog side, a feat which has never been equaled in the history of motorcycling. The machine was a 2.7 hp standard side valve AJS and the rider was Mr. Percy North, of Dungog. Barrington Tops has been reached from the Scone side by two cars and a motor cycle, but never has this range been attempted from the Dungog side. The local residents considered it absolutely impossible, and when North spoke of his intended attempt, he was scoffed at, and a number of people even went so far as to say that there was a large streak of insanity in his family.” Beginning at noon, Percy crossed several creeks, then camped for the night. His first major obstacle came early the next morning, when “a root 18 inches high blocked the only possible track”. For two hours he tried to get his machine over the root, but the effort exhausted him and with darkness descending he was forced to seek water and again bunk down. “He secured his bike with a rope to prevent him sliding down the mountain, and made himself as comfortable as possible by making a bed out of tree ferns. The next morning he again attempted the root, and after two hours’ struggle got across. This meant that it had taken him six hours to go five yards. The track was 18 inches to 2 feet wide in places, with a sheer drop of several hundreds of feet on the lower side, but he kept on and at last came to the Tops.” Eventually he reached Carey’s Peak, about two miles from the summit, but a fierce blizzard closed in, flooding the swamps and forcing him to ferry the bike across by cutting branches from trees. The sanctuary of Edward’s Hut, on the Scone Side, was reached just in time. North told the media, “The standard AJS behaved in a manner which defied description… and had not been touched by a spanner… not a spoke was broken or bent. The next morning I decided to go on, but the cold had locked the wheels of the machine together, and I was forced to walk to the nearest phone, a distance of 18 miles.” NSW AJS distributors P&R Williams made much of the remarkable feat, and of the performance of the motorcycle, which used just 1½ gallons of petrol and 2 pints of oil. His friendship with the Williams brothers later enable him, with their recommendation, to secure the Matchless agency for NSW and go on to become a very successful trader in post-war years.
Thanks to Peter North, Percy’s son, for supplying this information.