Wild, Wild Horses
Written by Ben Boyang
September 2023
Of course the most contentious feral animals in the country are the alpine brumbies, a touchstone for.
For conservatives these ponies represent freedom and the pioneering spirit, Colonialism at it’s zenith. For Greenies they embody the destructive power of large hard hooved herbivores trampling on the most fragile of environments.
Up in the high country the culture wars can get quite nasty, with sabotage of horse traps and even death threats to rangers.
Conservatives are passionate to save the brumbies because it shows the rest of us that they too have feelings. Feelings not stirred by the threats to native animals, it seems. Ride through Toorak and you will see that every second Range Rover (Toorak Tractor) has a sticker stating, ‘Mountain Cattlemen Care for the High Country’ or ‘Grazing stops Blazing.’
Brumbies and mountain cattlemen are the archaic, anachronistic shibboleths of the colonial mindset. Ironically, their pin-up hero is Banjo Paterson and his iconic poem, The Man From Snowy River. But it is rarely mentioned that the eponymous man from Snowy River was in the high country to participate in a cull of wild brumbies that were already seen as a big problem way back when. But I don’t exactly know why. It wasn’t due to the threat to the Growling Grass Frog, that’s for sure!
The old colonials seem unable to see how contemporary attitudes to ‘country’ have grown and developed over the years. Nowadays we ponder the complexities of nature, how everything fits in with everything else, or doesn’t, and those beautiful brumbies just don’t fit! They are too big, even for this vast empty land. The rabbits were bad enough with their soft, furry feet, but these awesome beasts are just too much!
No one is talking about eradicating the brumbies altogether. We have to leave a few. There is nothing more magnificent than a herd of wild brumbies running free. Ironically, it is said that this country is the only place left on earth where they still run wild. Scientists come from far and wide to study them in their ‘natural’ habitat. Hopefully, there is room for all the creatures of the ark, except the poor unicorns, who missed the boat. We can cope with a few pigs, a few donkeys, camels, deer, brumbies, water buffalo, foxes, rabbits, even a few cats, but only a few. But now we have to manage them all. We have to play God, and he did a lousy job himself. That is an enormous task, made so much more difficult because we like to live in cities, and these creatures don’t. The only wild animals we encounter are outside the pub on a Friday night, having a bit of biffo. But fortunately some of the original caretakers of this land have survived the invasion of human ferals, who dealt with the original inhabitants much like the Tasmanians dealt with the Thialacine. The blackfellas who know this countryc like the back of their hand. They know just about everything we need to know about how to run this place ‘like a well oiled machine’ (if you will pardon the expression) from the beginning of time, until the end.
– Ben Laycock
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