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Mountain Journal

Environment, news, culture from the Australian Alps

Author

Cam Walker

I work with Friends of the Earth, and live in Castlemaine in Central Victoria, Australia. Activist, mountain enthusiast, telemark skier, volunteer firefighter.

Alpine Traditional Owners re-asserting their rights

If you walk into the town square in the Victorian ski village of Mt Buller, you will be greeted by a sculpture of a mountain cattleman on his horse. In all of the ‘high country’ towns of south eastern Australia and throughout the ski resorts, there is a pre-occupation with the history of the cattle families that, for generations, drove their stock into the mountains.

Clouds over Rocky Ridge, Taungurung country, VIC

There are roads, buildings, and events all named after these pioneers, stickers on cars, photos and sculptures, and endless homage to these tough people and their way of life.

But where are the images or mention of the Indigenous people who lived in this country for perhaps 1,000 generations?

The Australian Alps have been inhabited by indigenous nations for millennia. But as Taungurung man Mick Harding said recently “we were removed from our lands” by the invaders and “scattered to the four winds”. But over the past decade or so, a growing number of people and communities have been re-establishing connection to their country.

There is a story of this process here.

review – Winter Dreaming

Graham Hammond trips through a self-induced fantasy. Stephen Curtain collection

Winter Dreaming: an Australian Alps freeheel film’ (released in 2008) is both a telemark ski film and a celebration of the fleeting miracle of cold and snow on our old, flat continent. As was noted by Barry Park, in the Age newspaper, it is “part documentary and part eye-candy”.

What makes Winter Dreaming stand-out for me is Stephen’s eye for detail and the often fleeting beauty in the landscape, rather than simply going for the ‘rush’ shots of people ripping down big slopes.

You can find a review of the film here.

You can find a profile on Stephen here.

Hotham re-development quietly shelved

The much lauded but controversial major re-development of the Mount Hotham alpine village was quietly shelved last month. This long awaited $500 million major restructure of the village would have seen the Great Alpine Road re-routed through the village and was predicated on the major ‘Bale’ re development proceeding. Bale was expected to deliver another 1,414 beds to the village. The global financial crisis was billed as being the main reason the project is not proceeding.

Hotham Village

This marks the end of a long running and concerted plan by big business to damage the mountain resort, and the lapse of the current proposal is good news for any one who wants to see our alpine resorts remain (relatively) diverse and accessible to a range of people.

This is most welcome news. For a full report check here.

Melbourne, 10 June, 2010.  Protect Our Winters (POW), the global environmental foundation founded in 2007 by legendary pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones, is broadening their reach this winter by opening a local chapter in Australia.
Protect Our Winters (POW) is a US-based non-profit organisation dedicated to reversing the global warming crisis by uniting and mobilising the global winter sports community. Jeremy has witnessed first-hand the impact of climate change on our mountains.

“POW was founded on the idea that if we harness our collective energy and put forth a focused effort, the winter sports community can have a direct influence on minimizing the damage that’s been done and ensure that winters are here for generations behind us”, said Jones.

Full report here.

the Monaro tablelands

Image: Andrew Stanger

Andrew Stanger lives on the Monaro tablelands in south eastern NSW.

As a recent arrival to the region, he is, as he puts it “taking some time to acclimatise” because of the often harse nature of the environment. But equally, “there is something distinctive about this place and the landscape and the people” that has him captivated and intrigued.

You can find his writing on adapting to life on the Monaro here.

Elizabeth MacPhee, Tumut, NSW

Liz at Deep Creek, a rehab site near the Tooma dam in Kosciuszko National Park

Elizabeth MacPhee has been working across the Australian Alps for two decades, and has a life long commitment to helping repair degraded ecosystems in the Alps. She is Rehabilitation Officer with the Department of Environment, Climate Change & Water, in NSW.

The Parks Service are doing great work on rehabilitation in the Kosciuszko National Park, and her work has been pivotal in this. For the past 5 years she has been working on the former construction sites of the Snowy Hydro-electric scheme.

Check here for a profile and interview on her work

call out for mountain poetry and songs

Young Alpine Ash, near Dinner Plain, VIC

Andy Kimber lives on the Warby Ranges near Glenrowan. He has a life long connection with the valleys and mountains of north east Victoria, and has written extensively abut the area, in various forms including songs, as well as helping engender a sense of place for many people in the region, especially students he has taught over the years.

He would be interested in any poems or songs about the mountain valleys of the North East. If you have some, or know where to find some, please email him: andykimber@netc.net.au

And stay tuned for a review of his daughters album ‘Sounds like Thunder’ soon, featuring some fine tracks, including about the Victorian high country.

Vale Robyn Rodd

Many people will have heard the tragic news that Robyn Rodd, a well-known, and much loved champion skier from Jindera  was killed in a cycling accident last  Wednesday.

She was a rider and swimmer, and probably best known as a national cross country skiing champion, who ranked in the women’s top 10 for the Kangaroo Hoppet race in Victoria more than 10 times. Robyn died after colliding with a logging truck while on a steep descent on the Great Alpine Road near Harrietville. Tributes have been pouring in. She is survived by her husband Richard, sons Lachlan and Cameron, and daughter Nicola.

There is a tribute and story on her death from the Border Mail here.

Buffalo skways final “Open House” Information & Feed Back Session

This will be held on Wednesday June 16, 2010 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Alpine Visitor Information Centre, Bright, Victoria.

It is hosted by Council and billed as being a Public open house session.

This is your last opportunity to voice your support or concerns. Everyone is welcome to visit and comment. If you can’t attend, please send your thoughts to the Alpine Shire (the proponents for this proposed project) via their contacts page.

For details on some of the environmental problems of this project and how to voice your concerns, please check here.

review: Seven Summits

What’s not to like about this album? Climbing mountains, dying on mountains, falling off mountains, frostbite, hallucinations, listening to trees, and surviving ‘normal’ life.

Seven summits is, of course, named after the practise of attempting the highest peak on each continent. What Milagres, an Indie / Rock / Pop outfit from Brooklyn, NY, brings to this album is an atmospheric journey through some of the many things that go through your mind on a big peak, the things that can happen up there, and then the sometimes hard path of going back to the normalness of life when you’re back down, living far below ‘amongst the tiny trees’.

Full review here.

Have your say on the future of the alpine resorts

The Department of Sustainability and Environment and the Alpine Resorts Co-ordinating Council are reviewing the Alpine resorts 2020 Strategy. The strategy was created to guide the the long term planning and management of Victoria’s six alpine resorts.

Mount Buller, VIC

DSE and ARCC will be hosting a series of workshops in June to identify key trends and issues for the future of resorts and look at how the new strategy can address these issues.

Workshops will be held in Melbourne and at or near the six resorts from June 1 until June 23. You need to rsvp for the events.
hayley.hollis@dse.vic.gov.au

For details on the workshops, check here.

For details on the existing Resorts 2020 strategy, check here.

Some musings on Country: Mount Wills.

When it comes to the High Country, why are we so obsessed with cattlemen and loggers and miners? Being proud of our heritage is great.  But as the fires of 1998, 2003 and 2006/7 showed, once the undergrowth has been cleared out, there is a massive wealth of pre invasion artifacts, signifying an incredibly long and rich history. Camp sites, tools, all manner of things, speaking of habitation lasting perhaps 1,000 generations.

Finding objects is one thing. It is harder to uncover the stories and human presence behind these things.

Mount Wills sits as an extension of Mount Bogong, Victoria’s highest mountain, and looks south to the valley of the Mitta Mitta and across to the Main Range of the Snowies. The following are some snow gum inspired musings about whose country it is …

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