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I remember attending a public meeting called at the time to discuss the implications of this policy in so far as they would affect the Bogong High Plains. One speaker introduced himself as having been involved in grazing Mount Feathertop until the permit had been revoked a couple of years previously.
He said that, for old times' sake, he had recently attempted to ride back up there, but had been prevented because much of the country, including the tracks, had become impassible with new-grown scrub and blackberry. He added that during the years when the country was being grazed in summer, the practice had been, when the cattle were being brought down each autumn, for the riders to drop a few lighted matches behind them as they rode. This resulted in a "cool burn", that reduced the scrub, but from which the country quickly recovered.
He predicted that, under the new government policies of no grazing and
no burning, the whole mountain would soon become choked with flammable
material through which there would be no access - and that the next bad
fire season would see an uncontrollable conflagration involving the entire
area . . .
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