Life On The Land - Connors Hill Lookout, Vic, Australia - Australian Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The sign is near a tubular stainless steel sculpture, titled "Hillscape", and elaborates on the life in the rural countryside of this region. [And how damage caused is being turned around.] It reads:

"DISEASE AND DROUGHT AROUND 1836 PROMPTED THE SOUTHERLY PUSH OF SQUATTERS from the Monaro Plains of New South Wales onto the land around Omeo. On the other side of the mountains, squatters moved south of the Murray River into the Kiewa and Ovens Valleys. In just ten years the valleys were divided into squatting runs, some covering thousands of hectares.

"In the 1860s, immigrants and failed gold miners demanded a share of the large holdings. Under the Land Settlement Acts the land was divided into smaller lots. By the late 1870s the rush of selectors was crowding out the valley grazing country and many 'lifted their eyes' to the mountains.

"The movement of stock into the high country between spring and autumn enabled home pastures to recover, allowing farmers to run up to 50% more cattle. By the 1880s the annual migration to the high plains at Mt Bogong, Mt Feathertop, Mt Hotham, Mt Buffalo and Dargo was established. The high country was divided into blocks and annual grazing leases were issued.

"Simple huts were built from timber, stone and iron to provide shelter and storage during the muster; a fireplace at one end, with a sleeping platform at the other. Many can still be seen in the high country and are on the Historic Places Register.

"The field work of a young Melbourne University botanist, Masie Fawcett, during the early 1940s helped to convince authorities of the damage to the high country being caused by cattle and sheep.

"First, sheep were banned, then from 1945 controls on cattle numbers and seasons were negotiated with the farmers. Some of the most sensitive areas were closed to grazing altogether.

"For the next 40 years farmers clung to their licensed areas in the face of mounting pressure to remove cattle from the high plains.

"Consultation with the grazing families and others of the high country paved the way for the proclamation of the Alpine National Park in December 1989. Controlled grazing is still allowed in some areas, but licences exclude grazing from host high altitude sensitive areas.

"Cattlemen and women have an outstanding knowledge of the high country and often assist in search and rescue operations. Their unique huts stand as sentinels to a very colourful past."

It also has a drawing of 'High country mustering', a typical 'Cattlemen's hut', and a photo of a "Cattle sale, Omeo circa 1920s". With a simple map of the Great Alpine Road between Bairnsdale and Wangaratta - showing where You Are, south of Swifts Creek.

Visited: 1017, Monday, 16 May, 2016

Age/Event Date: 1839 - 1989 Type of Historic Marker: Plaque only Type of Historic Marker if other: Drawings, map, and photo Related Website: Not listed Historic Resources.: Not listed

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