About Us

Camping

This year camping again we will be in the Barmah Racecourse Reserve ( Pony Club) . You MUST follow the Camping Guidelines set by the committee. Antisocial behaviour will not be tolerated and offenders will be asked to leave or removed at their expense. 

Please take all rubbish home. NO GLASS PLEASE.

Dogs

NO DOGS WANTED. 

Horses

Your horse MUST be cared for and contained as muster yards are NOT available. Your horse yards MUST be no larger than 16m sq. (4m x 4m) per horse set up behind your camp so the access is not limited to other camps. There are designated taps to access water for horses ONLY. NOT for human consumption.

History of the Muster

The first muster would possibly have commenced soon after selection, with some of the earliest selectors being William Schier Snr and Henry Lubke Snr. in late 1874. Ormond’s Hugh Snr. and Jnr. both selected around 1876, along with many others.

Not only were cattle put out in the bush but also horses were put out on the Common after harvest and during dry times. Sheep were put out to graze as well as milking cows that were milked by Adelaide Pearce. That location is still known today as Pearce’s Point. The separator was set up beside the river bank and the cream cans would have been loaded onto paddle steamers and taken up the Murray River. Other families to milk cows in the forest were Trickey's, Peter Vale and Moor's.

Sam Baxter (Allan’s father) agisted his horses and cattle out in the forest as did the Ormond family. Ormond’s Gully became one part of the forest, named after our family and a place where horses were often seen.

Source: J Ormond (2008)

Caring for the Forest

Over the 156 year history of the Barmah Muster the people involved have been the eyes and ears of the forest, with their intimate knowledge of the workings of the bush, the seasonal changes and the flow of the flood waters, and the many changes that have taken place over time.

The constant monitoring that takes place when running stock on the Barmah Forest and the need to get off the tracks and access all parts of the bush the cattlemen and timber workers have a unique insight into how the forest works.

If anything needs to be known about these changes or something that is happening in the forest these local graziers or timber workers are the people that are usually called upon, their role in monitoring bird nesting’s or weed invasion or blockages in waterways, the best access to control of bush fires or what gullies in the forest have water in them are all part of the knowledge carried by these people of the forest.

The involvement of the Barmah forest community in all the submissions, land management, flood control, feral animal, weed, fire, resource use, recreation, sustainability is all part of the privilege that we see as our responsibility in guaranteeing the future of the magnificent Barmah Forest.