Speakers’ Corner

Three wise men said it loud and they said it clear: “You’ve got to fight for your right to party.” Substitute ‘party’ for the preferred blow-off activity of all who read this tome and the saying is no less true.

Now you’ve probably never heard of Rushworth. That’s OK – this small Victorian town’s name was dreamt up by a good mate of Charles Dickens and its other main claim to fame is the fact is was one of the state’s most productive gold fields during the Gold Rush in the mid 1800s. Not a lot on the world-changing front has happened there since.

For a small but growing group of local mountain bikers, though, it’s where we go to blow off steam. Right on the town’s doorstep is the biggest iron-bark forest in the world, zig-zagged with hundreds of kilometres of dirt roads and fire trails. It’s also home to what we affectionately call the Telecom Line, a shared walking/cycling/horse-riding trail that stretches more than 20km into the forest, following the path of an old telecom cable maintenance track (hence the name).

For much of its length, the Telecom Line awfully resembles a good piece of singletrack. It’s not about to host a downhill World Cup round any time soon but its hard-packed, often rocky surface, pinch climbs, gully crossings and other technical aspects mean it serves up a solid, year-round cross-country challenge.

Not so much now, though. In early February, a local mountain biker, John Salter, discovered the Telecom Line had been wrecked, with trees deliberately cut down over the trail or pushed over by heavy machinery every few meters. The destruction goes on for 7km and many of the mutilated trees are protected ironbark species.

Salter didn’t just finish his ride, go home and forget about it though. He went back into town and asked around. He was pointed to the local office of the Department of Environment, Land, Water & Planning (DELWP) and asked them what they knew about it. The answer he got was surprising. The destruction was not the work of vandals but a deliberate DELWP strategy to combat illegal motorbike use of the trail.

This is where the fight comes in. Salter went home, thought about it and something didn’t sit right. The authority charged with protecting the forest and its infrastructure could rip up hundreds of trees and stop all legal use of an established trail just to discourage a few dirt-bikers? Really?

They say you can’t fight city hall - but social media can now make them listen. Salter went back to the damaged trail, filmed it with his Go Pro, threw in a fiery piece-to-camera, and uploaded the video to Facebook. For whatever reason – the environmental destruction, the contempt shown for legal trail users – the issue resonated with a lot of people. The video went viral, attracting more than 50,000 views and thousands of shares within 24 hours. Local mountain bikers, walkers and other forest users, environmental groups, media and even state and federal MPs beat a path to Salter’s door to either talk about it or join the resistance. DELWP powers-that-be were suddenly asked by a lot of people – some higher up the food chain – to explain their actions.

Within two days of the issue hitting the media, it had been raised in Victorian parliament and Environment Minister Lily D’Ambrosio had ordered an urgent review of the state’s track-blocking policies. Within a week of that government order, the DELWP had met with Salter, the local environmental group, mountain-bike association and other stakeholders to discuss the revitalisation of the trail and how it and the community could forge a more collaborative and positive approach to managing trails in Rushworth State Forest.

The battle isn’t over yet, not until the Telecom Line is restored to its previous condition. But locals – now banded together by their shared interest in the forest – are keeping the pressure on DELWP to fulfil its promise to reopen the trail. The future looks bright.

So remember Rushworth if you’re fighting trail-access issues and something doesn’t seem quite right. The little guy can win, but he needs to make some noise about it.