Gippsland surprise!

Days 11-12 Metung to Lindenow to Stratford

I must admit I wasn’t particularly looking forward to this part of the trip. When I thought of the country between Bairnsdale and Sale I thought of fairly bleak landscapes along the Highway, cleared and degraded country, punctuated with tired country towns with hardly a hill to break up the monotony.

I stand corrected. Or rather, sit corrected, on my bike as we coasted along in glorious sunshine. And by moving at bicycle pace one has the time to appreciate the nuances of towns like Nicholson, Lindenow, Briagolong and Stratford, nuances of cafes and quirky signs, footy grounds and humble dwellings.

Hans, Julie, Leigh and I left Metung on Friday morning at 9, and we arrived in Lindenow just before 3, just in time before the Long Paddock cafe closed for the coffee drinkers to caffeinate. Not that they really needed more coffee! We had stopped for morning tea in Nicholson, and had had lunch at the Stables in Bairnsdale after picking up Leon and Michael in Bairnsdale who had arrived by the train replacement coach. The pot of tea and florentine at Nicholson and cauliflower fritters at the Stables were all excellent! And the Long Paddock was doing a roaring lunch trade still when we arrived with people who had come from far and wide for their meals made with love from local produce. 

It’s really lovely to have Leon join me, picking up from their brother John who headed home form Goongerah. Leon had been away when I rode to Canberra a decade ago so was determined to ride with me this time - despite compromising their exam swat vac for their Fine Arts exams. I’m sure you’ll be fine Leon! And I’m really going to enjoy having your photography and video of the week you are with me!

Leon, Michael and I stayed overnight at Pauline’s place, a friend of a friend who we bonded with immediately, whose Turkish lentil and rice soup absolutely hit the spot for us hungry cyclists . The northern view from her place took in wide open vistas and a glorious sunset and sunrise- we have been so lucky with the weather!

Similarly yesterday’s ride in warm sunshine - I was back to T-shirt and shorts for our 67km ride along quiet roads, through our lunch stop at Briagolong where we perused an artists run gallery, then heads down, getting into Stratford just on 3 - just before the Badger and Hare closed! 

It was the vegetation along today’s ride though that really surprised. This is GunaiKurnai country and before invasion was largely grassy woodland country, dominated by Forest Redgum. 

As the sign at the Briagolong Red Gum Reserve told us ‘due to widespread clearing for agriculture, it now occupies less than 1% of its pre-European distribution’.

Widespread clearing for Agriculture’ initiated by people like Angus McMillan who was responsible for massacres of First Nations peoples across central Gippsland throughout the 1940’s.

Gippsland squatter Henry Meyrick wrote in a letter home to his relatives in England in 1846:

The blacks are very quiet here now, poor wretches. No wild beast of the forest was ever hunted down with such unsparing perseverance as they are. Men, women and children are shot whenever they can be met with…I have protested against it at every station I have been in Gippsland, in the strongest language, but these things are kept very secret as the penalty would certainly be hanging… no consideration on earth would induce me to ride into a camp and fire on them indiscriminately, as is the custom whenever the smoke is seen… It is impossible to say how many have been shot, but I am convinced that not less than 450 have been murdered altogether.

The surprise to me knowing of this history was that we managed to find a bike route today that had lovely roadside and bigger patches of vegetation so I was able to imagine what this country was like pre- invasion. I could imagine the people living here, the animals, the birds, the diversity of the woodlands and grasslands. 

The Briagolong Red Gum Reserve is the biggest remaining remnant, protected by community campaigning in the 1900’s.

We met a few fellow, but much younger cyclists at the Forest Redgum Reserve 😊

When you see what the rest of the Gippsland Plains once would have looked like you can’t help but grieve for the loss. But then be inspired by the resilience of First Nations survivors in the two centuries since. And feel fired up about truth-telling, justice and treaty, and protecting, restoring and  holding onto country.  When we think of what we are losing with the extinction crisis, the climate crisis, we have to remember that its intimately integrated with the loss of First Nations culture and country, and how in so-called Australia it began with invasion.

One of the things I am doing on my ride is raising awareness about ongoing colonisation and invasion across the world where the peoples are oppressed and persecuted, in Tibet, West Papua and Palestine. I’ve been proud to be flying the Tibetan flag as I ride, wearing my Keffiyeh, wearing Handala around my neck as I have since 7 October. Anyone got a Morning Star flag I can fly on my remaining days too? I’ve got a small West Papua sticker on my little orange flag at the moment!

I’d love it if you were able to join me in supporting these causes by making a donation which will support the Australian Tibet Council, Australia West Papua Association and APAN, the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network.

It’s by working together in solidarity that we will make progress on overcoming injustice across the world. And drawing support from each other as we continue the ongoing fight.

I’ve been so heartened on my ride as to the power of doing this. Last night in Stratford we had a gorgeous dinner cooked by our host Beth Ripper, an inspirational local campaigner, bringing together a group of us some old friends some new, who exchanged stories and felt solidarity with each other as we talked and laughed and connected with each other. 

The joy of riding meeting the joy of eating and the joy of connection

You can still join my ride for the last day riding from Dandenong to Footscray on Thursday 30 May, or greet us as we arrive in Footscray. All details are here