For traditional owners of Taungurang country, Victoria's Goulburn River was the lifeblood of communities and provided social order and community connection to the clans who depended on it for survival.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But now this same river is the battleground between fishers and farmers over a controversial policy allowing camping on land licenced for grazing cattle, with both parties arguing over access rights.
- Listen to the full story on the podcast Voice of Real Australia.
"The Waring, the Goulburn River, is the major river and the lifeblood of Taungurung," Taungurung Land and Water Council natural resource manager Matt Shanks said.
"It provides rich soils for hunting game, growing medicinal foods, and those nutrient-rich floodplains are predominantly under grazing and cropping land uses."
As part of an election promise, the Victorian government amended the Land Act in November 2020 to allow camping on more than 8000 Crown land river frontages licensed to adjoining landholders for grazing cattle, spanning nearly 18,000 kilometres of the riverbank.
That number has been revised down since 2018, and after hundreds of assessments so far 23 sites on the Goulburn and Ovens Rivers have be opened up to camping.
Mr Shanks thinks the move could engage more people with country.
"How we make that happen is a tricky one but ultimately we are all reliant on country and what it provides for us - food, water and recreation - and we need to be more connected to that," he said.
"Society is disconnected from that and that disconnect can skew perceptions of healthy landscapes and country, so we are supportive of more people having access.
"Traditional owners will be the first group to say we don't want anybody harmed or pushed out for that. We have experienced that and we don't wish that on anybody."
Victoria's First Nations groups undertook cultural heritage reports on these sites. A process which Mr Shanks said was expedited because of "pressure placed on Taungurung" due to the Goulburn River's high recreational value.
"We had to perform a lot of assessments relatively quickly to some of the other rivers in the state," he said.
"I think we've absolutely stepped up and met those obligations."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Farmers like Bryan Meredith have been fighting the law since day one, worried about bio-security, thieves and liability issues.
"People jump into rivers when they're drunk and become paraplegic - so who do they sue?" he said.
"If it gets to that point, the farmer is going to be the one financially hurt."
Mr Meredith manages weeds and pests on the grazing licence, and removes dangerous tree branches.
It is this work that makes the land attractive to campers, he says this new policy feels like punishment for his hard work.
"No, it's not fair," he said.
"The majority of farmers that I know are environmentalists in their own way.
"We've spent thousands of dollars killing the blackberries ... we've been doing that for 17 years."
Furious about the lack of consultation with farmers, Kiewa Valley farmer Belinda Pearce and Mitta North farmer Judy Cardwell organised a rally in Melbourne protesting the camping rules last May.
This backlash led to camping regulations with most sites walk-in only, campfires restricted and dogs prohibited. There are also strict rules on how to get rid of waste.
The Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning received more than 1200 submissions which helped refine the regulations.
"I really do wonder if this is a back-door way to force people to hand in their grazing licence," Ms Pearce said.
"The fishing lobby makes a big deal that licences are not that expensive but there are responsibilities that come with that.
"We're actually providing a public service by looking after that land. You look after the land, you can graze it."
Ms Pearce said farmers were giving up their grazing licences over the issue and that this will be detrimental to the stretches of the river they manage.
"You revoke those licences then don't have anybody looking after that land," she said.
"If the public land managed by Parks Victoria and DELWP is anything to go by, then they can't keep up with the pests and weeds.
"They are incredibly under-resourced to manage what they already have got."
She said just because it was public land doesn't mean it was suitable for camping.
"Cemeteries are public land, botanic gardens are public land, parks and gardens are public land," she said.
"Would we camp there? No, because it's not fit for purpose. Just because it's public land doesn't mean that it's suitable for camping."
Victorian Farmers Federation head of policy, Charles Everest, said the move raised questions about the political power of recreational fishers.
"There's obviously a lot of votes in Melbourne for recreational fishers," Mr Everest said.
"Farmers and the agricultural industry pour millions of dollars into this state and provide over 80,000 jobs.
"It feels like farmers have been forgotten, disrespected and devalued for the work they do and the important role they have in looking after and caring for the environment as well."
The VFF is pushing for a registration system at the sites.
"If farmers are being forced to be the police of this land, how do they know who's coming onto the land?" he said.
"How do they deal with people who are aggravated? That's the role of the police, that's the role of the public land managers."
There are more than one million fishers in Victoria, including adults and children, with the hobby generating $7.5 billion annually.
Victoria's peak fishing lobby was influential in opening many sites up for camping, which VR Fish chief executive Ben Scullin said had triggered a fight for control of the land.
"It's a cop-out from certain landowners who don't want to see the urban poor recreating on their estate," Mr Scullin said.
"This is public land... it's not private land. It's licensed for an absolute pittance compared to what the market rent would really be.
"There is no one forcing farmers to take up a license. They don't have to take it, fence your land off and don't take it and let the state manage it."
The rollout of the site openings has caused hostility between farmers and fishers leading to reduced access to some Crown land, he said, and accused farmers of illegally blocking off public land.
"You want to know what we are asking for at the next election? fix that," Mr Scullin said.
"We have some collateral damage here that we are seeing much more access being restricted. illegally than benefits gained from six camping sites - we want that fixed as it is really unfair.
"You revoke the grazing licences, that's how you do it. Ultimately it is an enforcement issue. Some landowners believe this is their land."
Listen to the full story on the podcast search Voice of Real Australia, on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred platform. You can also listen on the webplayer above.