Graziers lament the passing of a tradition that sparked a legend
They are one of the nation's most enduring emblems, but the cattlemen of the Australian Alps fear their distinctive way of life is heading for extinction.
Renowned for their expert horsemanship and gritty stoicism, the mountain cattlemen have grazed their herds in the rugged hills and valleys in the state of Victoria for more than 170 years.
A century ago they inspired one of Australia's most cherished poems, The Man From Snowy River, an epic tale of riders pursuing a herd of wild horses down precipitous slopes and through 'gorges deep and black'.
But the farmers' traditional summer pastures include the meadows and bushland of the 660,000 hectare Alpine National Park.
Last week the Victoria government announced a total ban on grazing within the park's boundaries, on the grounds that cattle trample delicate vegetation, eat alpine flowers and cause erosion.
The government cited a report released this year which found that one small area of the national park was covered in no less than 1.7 million cow pats, each of which can take five years to decompose in the chilly alpine environment.
The decision has caused uproar among the cattlemen, who say they are the real-life inheritors of the rugged lifestyle portrayed in the poem by Australia's unofficial poet laureate, Banjo Paterson. The head of the Mountain Cattlemen's Association of Victoria, Simon Turner, accused the state government of 'plunging a knife deep into the heart of our history'.
Paul Weller, the president of the Victorian Farmers' Federation, said yesterday: 'The farmers have been taking their cattle up into the high country each summer for 170 years. The ban on grazing will bury The Man From Snowy River. No one cares more for the alpine areas than the farmers, and they have managed the grazing in a sustainable way.'
But the cattlemen are up against a united front of scientists and conservationists who say grazing is doing irreparable damage.
The Australian Academy of Science called for an end to grazing as far back as 1957, and cattle were banned from the high country of neighbouring New South Wales more than 30 years ago.
A spokesman for Victoria's environment minister, John Thwaites, said the cattlemen's way of life would live on because despite the fact that 8,000 cattle would be banned from grazing in the Alpine National Park, 10,000 would still be permitted in other upland areas.
