Trail riders mark double celebration with bush ride
Warragul and District Trail Riding Club recently celebrated its 40th birthday with a bush ride at Jindivick.
The club, which currently has 33 members, is based at Jindivick and holds weekly bush rides.
The birthday bush ride last month was a chance for members to come together to celebrate both the anniversary as well as club patriarch Malcolm MacFarlane’s 80th birthday. About 15 riders joined the last ride of 2020.
Over the years, countless riders from many parts of Australia and as far away as Norway and Germany have enjoyed the Thursday rides of about 25 kilometres.
The aim of the club is to give experienced riders of all ages the chance to marvel at picturesque local bush and wildlife from a variety of tracks. Picnic lunch breaks are held throughout the rides, averaging about four hours, at elevated spots offering views to Baw Baw National Park and Westernport Bay.
Janet Chandler, after moving to Jindivick in 1976, continued her love of riding in the bushland north of Jindivick. She was soon joined by other locals.
For insurance and safety reasons, the Warragul club took over the ride and it moved base to MacFarlane’s property further down Jackson’s Track.
Malcolm MacFarlane is currently the club’s oldest rider at 80-years-old.
Club president Linda Backman said Malcolm rides his mare Jolie every Thursday. Generations of his family have lived in Jindivick and his knowledge of the area amazes fellow riders.
“He is a farmer, gentleman and local identity,” Linda said.
Rides conclude with a cuppa and plenty of laughs around a large picnic table with seating constructed by the late Jim Walker, a long-term rider.
A social media page boasts 513 interested followers who eagerly await the weekly ride reports and photographs.
Malcolm said highlights over the decades included members riding through the streets of Melbourne to protest the state government’s decision to end cattle grazing in the high country in 2005 and watching the rejuvenation of bushland following Black Saturday in 2009.
“Days later the riders found the fire, still widely smouldering, had travelled through their bush territory as far as the eye could see,” he said, reflecting on the devastation in parts of Labertouche, Drouin West and Jindivick.