A new book by Barry Golding (with Clive Willman) tells the unique stories and legacies of six iconic peaks in central Victoria – Mounts Kooroocheang, Beckworth, Greenock, Tarrengower, Alexander and Franklin.
Created in 2023 as part of Golding’s State Library Victoria Creative Fellowship, Six Peaks Speak: Unsettling Legacies in Southern Dja Dja Wurrung Country accesses seldom-visited archives to tell stories about our buried past.
“Every public reserve has a Crown Reserve file and anything that has happened to that reserve, whether it be rabbits, fire, pests, people wanting to buy a bit, or dumping rubbish there, all of the correspondence from when the reserve was created to the present day, goes into that file,” he said.
Wading through red tape, Golding accessed the files for five of the reserves in central Victoria, finding forgotten histories and answers to questions like, ‘Why are there pine trees covering Mount Franklin?’
“I call it a death by a thousand cuts,” Golding said.
“Pre-1838 it was a special place for people to conduct ceremonies. By the 1860s and 1870s, the squatters and the goldminers also came to regard the mountain as special, namely because of the amazing views from the volcanic rim and the incredible crater in the centre filled with ancient trees.
“Over the years and for many reasons, the reserve grew smaller and smaller until there were only about 80 acres of reserve left.
“In 1944 a wildfire went through the area and wiped out all of the large trees. Despite the fact they would have regrown, the Soil Conversation Department and the Forest Commission decided to experiment with planting non-native trees,” he said.
“That was what the file note said, ‘as an experiment’ and there was a list of species they said would be nice and exotic, including the pine trees and all the species that sit within the crater. The local community objected and petitioned the government, ‘Don’t plant up to the rim, we want to keep the view. The forest commission said, ‘Okay, we’ll plant close to the rim, but we’ll remove the trees, as Christmas trees, so the view will be preserved.
“Fast forward to the present day, the pine trees have a covenant on them as part of the Hepburn Heritage Register. The pine trees are now obscuring the view, not only from the rim but also from the fire tower. As I say in the book, ‘If you were to design a story for the Australian TV series Utopia you’d actually put this story of Mount Franklin in it!'”
Golding, who has spent all of his life living on Dja Dja Wurrung Country, said he had become acutely aware that we were living on a landscape that was taken by force from people who lived complex and rich lives.
His research was done with access to the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register via a Cultural Heritage Permit and assistance from Uncle Rick Nelson, Harley Dunolly-Lee and Rodney Carter for the Dja Dja Wurrung traditional owners (DJAARA).
“When I was born, no one talked about First Nation’s people. We always assumed that Dja Dja Wurrung people were gone and extinct and it’s taken me a lifetime to realise that Dja Dja Wurrung people have survived and a lifetime to realise that what happened in this landscape was genocide,” he said.
“I turn 75 next month, I think it’s time to tell the truth. It’s the acknowledgment of living in a landscape that was taken by force, that’s what motivates me.”
Six Peaks Speak is available for order online as a hard cover book or pdf at: cgscholar.com/bookstore/works/six-peaks-speak
Purchase in-store at Stoneman’s Bookroom, Castlemaine, Paradise Bookshop, Daylesford, Daylesford Tourist Information Centre, or Collins on Lydiard Ballarat.
Golding will be speaking at the upcoming Clunes Booktown Festival on Sunday March 23 at Esmond Gallery.
Visit clunesbooktown.org.au for more information.
