The Strzelecki Ranges, also known as the Southern Uplands, consists of layers of marine and non-marine sediments laid down in Cretaceous Times about 100 million years ago.
The ranges rise between 300 and 500 metres and are formed of sandstone in a triangular shape with the Princes Highway between Drouin and Sale at the base and Wilsons Promontory at the apex.
Two main groups of Aboriginal people were associated with the Gippsland area in general, the Kulin and the Kurnai. The Kulin people occupied the areas around Port Phillip and Westernport bays and were further divided into subgroups: the Wowurung, Bunerong and possibly the Bonkoolawool. Of these three groups, the Bunerong and possibly the Bonkoolawool were most closely tied to the Strzelecki ranges.
The Kurnai occupied the southern slopes of the Great Dividing Range and into far East Gippsland. One of the numerous sub groups, the Brataualung, occupied the southern slopes of the Strzelecki Ranges down towards the coast.
The Aboriginal people of the Strzelecki Ranges sustainably managed their country for many thousands of years. They were nomadic and moved between the coast, plains and mountain ranges according to seasonal changes in the abundance of resources and to follow a cycle of spiritual ceremonies and rituals.
The forests of the Strzeleckis provided them with a diverse range of natural resources including plant and animal foods, possum skin cloaks, wood and plant fibres for making tools, baskets and other implements and medicinal plants.
Certain valuable items, such as the wood of the Austral Mulberry (Hedycarya angustifolia) that was used to make drills for starting fires, could only be obtained from the damp mountain forests. Each group appears to have been of optimal size for their land and supported the conservation of food resources.
The lifestyle and culture of the Aboriginal peoples of Gippsland were severely disrupted by the arrival of Europeans. Large numbers of Aboriginal people died through smallpox, influenza and other diseases introduced from overseas, as well as direct violence from white settlers. With the ecosystems that once sustained them cleared and fragmented the surviving Aboriginal people were forced onto missions and settlements.
Angus McMillan arrived in East Gippsland in the late 1830s, having approached from the north from New South Wales. He established a station, 'Nublamungee', on the Tambo River. As part of his exploration in search of grazing land, he travelled through South Gippsland.
In 1838 James McArthur had seen South Gippsland from the sea and was sure that there was good land along the coast line. He met up with the Polish adventurer Count Strzelecki in Sydney and on 5 February 1840, the pair set out from NSW led by their Aboriginal guide, Charlie Tarra. After exploring the high country, including climbing and naming Mt Kosciusko, they travelled through Benambra to Omeo. Here they continued along the Tambo River, and after turning west, crossed the La Trobe River, heading for Corner Inlet.
Before long, steep terrain and dense vegetation blocked their way. There was no food for their horses, which were abandoned near Boolarra. With rations short and thinking now of their survival, the party decided to head due west, aiming to reach the settlement in Westernport. This misguided navigation took them through some of the harshest terrain the Strzelecki Ranges had to offer. It was 50 miles to Corinella on the Westernport Bay, and it took the adventurers 22 days. The bush was so thick at times that they felled tall straight saplings and scrambled along the fallen trunks above the tangled mass of vegetation. Undoubtedly the group's survival was due in a large part to the skill of their guide, Charlie Tarra. In acknowledgement, the Tarra-Bulga National Park and the Tarra River were named in his honour (Bulga is the local Aboriginal name for mountain).
Upon his return to Melbourne, Count Strzelecki published a glowing report of his journey. He renamed many of the places named by McMillan and cemented his place in Australian history as a great explorer.
Wholesale clearing of the forests of the Strzelecki Ranges began in earnest in the 1870s on three fronts. Graziers pushed south from Monaro on the heels of Count Strzelecki. From the North East settlers pushed into the foothills of the Ranges. From the South, settlers arrived by boat. By 1880 most of the western ranges and coastal flats were occupied by prosperous dairy and grazing farms. Prospective settlers turned to the central and eastern ranges, where they assumed large forests meant good soils.
In order to clear the land, for a year the settlers ringbarked trees with axes. After incessant toiling with the axe, they would have had anything between 20 and 100 acres of forest ringbarked, and the undergrowth hacked as best they could. Towards the end of summer, after months of the hot sun bearing down upon the dead and dying forest, the settlers would contemplate the burn. The timing of the burn was critical. The undergrowth would still be damp and just the right conditions were needed to successfully ignite the whole lot. If the right day didn't come they would wait another year, having to reclear the undergrowth again. After the burn, the smouldering logs would be dragged and stacked into piles to further facilitate the burning. In this way much of the ranges was cleared, pasture grasses planted and cattle moved in.
The Strzelecki Ranges remain largely cleared. Farmers are beginning to realise that the land was over-cleared, particularly on the steeper slopes where there are problems with erosion. Much of this land is no longer productive. In 1999, Greening Australia launched the steep slopes project. This project encouraged farmers to retire some of their steeper land and revegetate it with local indigenous plants. By the time the project was completed in 2001, over 500ha of steep terrain had been replanted.
The rich soils and high rainfall of the area enable the hills to support a large amount of plant biomass, as Count Strzelecki found out the hard way. Today only 2% of the remaining Great Forest of Southern Gippsland enjoys any sort of protection. These tiny, fragmented reserves support echidnas, platypus, an endemic variety of koala, two species of antichinuses, black wallabies, two species of bandicoot, gliders, possums, native rats, bats, potoroos and the rare tiger quoll. There are over 1000 species of vascular plants - 10 listed as rare and threatened - 80 species of bird - including four threatened species - native fish and the endemic giant earthworm, growing over 2 metres in length.
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