High Plains
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- This article is about the High Plains of North-Eastern Victoria and South-Eastern New South Wales, Australia. For the High Plains of the United States and Canada, see Great Plains.
The High Plains of South-Eastern Australia are a region, or rather a string of adjacent areas, in and adjacent to the Great Dividing Range which were used for summer grazing since the 1830s in some cases. Much of it is now National Park.
Consisting as it does of a weathered plateau divided by deep gorges, the High Plains provided natural paddocks. The higher areas were natural grassed pastures, and lower areas were cleared of the native forest by settlers, some of them having grazing licenses and others merely squatters. Fences were necessary only for stockyards, as during summer the cattle had no incentive to wander into the forests or down the steep gorges. However it was essential to muster the cattle in autumn before colder weather, and even snowfalls, drove them down into the gorges. When this happened, owing to unseasonably early snow or other factors, the cattle might be lost or might go feral.
Droving cattle to and from these summer pastures presented enormous challenges of horsemanship. In this part of the world, the easiest trails normally follow the ridges, not the valleys. Attempts by early explorers to follow the valleys ended in sheer cliffs. However, persuading cattle to climb a narrow spur in order to follow a ridge route required skill and courage. Such routes were also unsuitable for all but the strongest wheeled vehicles, and slow and risky even for bullock drays, so pack horses were the more common way of transporting freight.
Many of Australia's favourite stories and poems originated in this area, notably The Man from Snowy River.
References
- Cattlemen and Huts of the High Plains, by Harry Stephenson. ISBN 0670900737