Tony Mckenny

I'm the archetypal Tasmanian multi-dabbler: paddler, diver, a terrible skier, rafter, caver, and have even jumped out of planes. But it has always been climbing I have returned to. I started climbing in the late 1950s and really don't know how to stop.

Originally from London, I spent my early years in Africa, then back to UK, and later the Channel Islands before my partner Heather and I and our kids, upped sticks in 1977and settled in our new Island home on the other side of the world.  I had originally trained as a teacher, then added a research degree in ecology and another in administration. I worked in schools as a secondary teacher in UK, Jersey and then Tasmania, mainly as a principal, as well as working in outdoor education centres (including running the Marine Discovery Centre in Woodbridge), colleges, as a consultant, a climbing guide, and as a field guide in Antarctica. I feel very, very fortunate to have rock climbed and mountaineered extensively in many mountain areas around the world. Heather, my partner of more than fifty years, and I have also travelled (often with our kids and more recently, grandkids) to over 40 countries trekking, climbing, snorkelling or diving. I have authored a number of climbing guides and related articles and now in my late 70s, I have been actively involved in developing a new area for sport climbing close to Hobart. But most of my time is now spent with our big tribe of grandkids: the fun goes on…Tasmania is such a great place to live!