Victoria’s Expanding Aboriginal Empire

Victorians are becoming angry, some very angry, about what’s happening in their state, be it wind and solar farms, new transmission lines, tyre-wrecking pot-holed roads, and ever-rising fees, costs and charges to cover the massive state debt. Now much of this disquiet is coalescing around a flash-point in central Victoria — the long-running proposal for a so-called Great Forest National Park (GFNP). Two protest rallies have already been held, one in Drouin, another in Mansfield. More are planned.

This new national park will take in all of the Victorian High Country, from Tallarook in the west all the way to Licola in the east, and from Jamieson in the north to Traralgon in the south. This huge area, once home to a now defunct timber industry, is Melbourne’s closest and most popular mountainous recreational destination. Any weekend will find this vast state forest area — roughly the area in yellow below — providing for the activities of four-wheel-drivers, trail bike riders,…