Murray-Sunset National Park, NW Victoria
Murray-Sunset National Park begins only about eight kilometres east of where I grew up. My father’s farm was just over the border in South Australia. From the slight rise near the house we could see the tree line in the distance which was the Victorian border. In fact, Dad called his farm “Border View.”
In those days, the 1950s, this scrub land was a sheep station called Sunset Station. We rarely visited the area, despite it being so close. Because it was privately run public access was limited. I remember visiting several spots a few times for Sunday School picnics.
Murray-Sunset National Park, NW Victoria
In the 1990s this station was changed to national park status. The sheep were rounded up and taken away elsewhere. The national parks people established several campsites and took over the maintenance of the few dirt tracks through the park. Today it is popular with four wheel drive enthusiasts, campers and birders. The range of birds in this park is amazing, with several significant threatened species found here.
Murray-Sunset National Park, NW Victoria
As we were leaving the park to drive home we saw several large flocks of feral goats. This is rather disturbing as they can do a great deal of environmental damage. The flocks looked very healthy and included many kids, so they are breeding well. We must have seen several hundred in a ten kilometre stretch. How many more are hidden in the thick scrub away from the track is a disturbing thought.
