As we returned from our foray to the Upper Yarra Track on Xmas Day we cut down through a long sub-continental-shaped ‘tongue’ of forest which hangs down East of Noojee pointing towards Trafalgar along the Upper Latrobe River (Note to self to investigate canoeing that particular stretch of river). We passed through/by the ‘Hawthorn Bridge Camping Area’ which had recently been laid waste by our (DSE/ParksVic) lords and mistresses using excavators to turn the previously beautiful camp grounds on the river flats into something resembling the surface of the moon (so there is now no level spot to erect a tent or drive a car) and now designated with signs as a ‘Revegetation’ area, (presumably largely by blackberries) etc.
It still shocks and saddens me to see further evidence of this green totalitarianism. I know it began immediately emerald folks gained control (c 1983) of what were (then) Depts of Lands, Forestry, Mining etc and morphed them into Depts of Conservation, Environment, Sustainability etc. I recall (eg) areas along the Mitta (between the ‘Blue Duck’ (Anglers’ Rest) & Glen Valley) where thousands could placidly camp in almost solitary bliss) which were closed off with bulldozers by these eager ‘saviours’ of nature back then.
Since then they have laboured mightily to exclude the public from their own lands, declaring them to be the provenance (only) of ‘future generation,’ (there being clearly something inherently unworthy in the current one) as regards the enjoyment of such natural wonders. We have since seen thousands of kilometres of closed tracks (and the consequent hapless destruction by wildfire of millions of hectares), a plethora of rules banning hunting, fishing, camping, fossicking, gem & wildflower collection, etc…
There is as yet no end to this tyranny, though it must as a duty to freedom be decried, resisted, disobeyed, overturned…Once there were only ten ‘laws’, then we had The Eleventh Commandment, ‘Thou Shalt Not Get Caught’!
One such place where I have ventured since – and the view out my side window:
PS; This is the Tyers River.
