St Kilda man’s ‘expose’ on the 1000 Steps lights up social media

DOES the 1000 Steps in the foothills of the Dandenongs actually have 1000 steps? It is the question no one has bothered to answer, until now.

ARE there actually 1000 steps at the 1000 steps?

A St Kilda entertainer didn’t think so, and his “expose” has set social media alight.

Tommy Jackett’s video “The REAL number of steps at the 1000 Steps” has been viewed more than 300,000 times on his Facebook page.

Jackett filmed himself doing the popular Upper Ferntree Gully fitness route and discovered the actual number of steps was 776.

He filmed himself going up each step, only stepping on each individual step once to make sure he was accurate.

He said “technically steps make up a staircase” so he measured the steps he took up the stairs, not the flat sections of track in between.

“It’s a bit tongue in check, I know it’s a memorial track, and I’m not trying to work out they’re lying, but what inspired me was curiosity to work out exactly (how many steps there were),” Jackett said.

Entertainer Tommy Jackett’s tongue in cheek You Tube video has been viewed more than 300,000 times.

“Every time I’ve been there I actually think to myself ‘Is there 1000 steps?’ And I knew other people thought the same thing.”

In the video a little boy says “Do you know there are only 870 steps” and another man says there are 770 steps.

Parks Victoria spokesman Jarred Parsons said rangers believed Jackett was accurate in his counting of how many steps there were.

But Mr Parsons said the 1000 steps name was not actually about the number of steps at the site, but in recognition of the soldiers who served on the Kokoda Track.

According to the Parks Victoria website, the 1000 steps represent the “Golden Staircase” a name given by Australian soldiers to the 2000 steps cut by the Australian Army Engineers and others into the track between Uberi and Imita Ridge in Papua New Guinea.

The Victorian veterans of the Kokoda campaign adopted the park as their memorial site in 1998.

The similarity of the walk to the first 100m of the Kokoda Track in Papua New Guinea resulted in the establishment of the 14 plaques along the walk, dedicated to those Australian Military Forces who fought and died on Kokoda.