The Victorian Alps, also known locally as the High Country, is a large mountain system in the southeastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n state of Victoria. Occupying the majority of eastern Victoria, it is the southwestern half of the

Australian Alps The Australian Alps are a mountain range in southeast Australia. The range comprises an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion,

(the other half being the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...

), the tallest portion of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...

. The Yarra and

Dandenong Ranges The Dandenong Ranges (commonly just the Dandenongs) are a set of low mountain ranges in Victoria, Australia, approximately east of the state capital Melbourne. A minor branch of the Great Dividing Range, the Dandenongs consist mostly of rol ...

, both sources of

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

s and

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

s for

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

(Victoria's

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

, largest city and home to three quarters of the state's population), are branches of the Victorian Alps. The promise of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in the mid-1800s, during the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

, led to the European settlement of the area. The region's rich natural resources brought a second wave of agricultural settlers; the

foothill Foothills or piedmont are geographically defined as gradual increases in elevation at the base of a mountain range, higher hill range or an upland area. They are a transition zone between plains and low relief hills and the adjacent topograp ...

s around the Victorian Alps today has a large agrarian sector, with significant

cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...

s being sold recently for over thirty million dollars. The Victorian Alps is also the source of many of Victoria's water ways, including Murray and Yarra Rivers and the

Gippsland Lakes The Gippsland Lakes are a network of coastal lakes, marshes and lagoons in East Gippsland, Victoria, Australia covering an overall area of about between the rural towns of Lakes Entrance, Bairnsdale and Sale. The largest of the lakes are ...

. The valleys beneath the high plains are surrounded by

wineries A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the cultivation and production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feat ...

and

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit tree, fruit- or nut (fruit), nut-producing trees that are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also so ...

s because of this abundance of water. The region is also home to Victoria's largest

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

, the Alpine National Park, which covers over . The establishment of the Alpine National Park has meant that economic activities such as

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, trucks

Tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

within the region centres around snow sports in winter and various outdoor activities during the summer months. The Australian Alps is an

Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia The Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia (IBRA) is a biogeography, biogeographic regionalisation of Australia developed by the Australian government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities ( ...

sub-

bioregion A bioregion is a geographical area, on land or at sea, defined not by administrative boundaries, but by distinct characteristics such as plant and animal species, ecological systems, soils and landforms, Human settlement, human settlements, and ...

of approximately , and an administrative

sub-region A subregion is a part of a larger geographical region or continent. Cardinal directions are commonly used to define subregions. There are many criteria for creating systems of subregions; this article is focusing on the United Nations geoscheme ...

of Victoria bordering the

Gippsland Gippsland () is a rural region in the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains south of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers an elongated area of east of th ...

and Hume regions.

History

Indigenous heritage

The Victorian Alps were a significant meeting place for multiple Indigenous tribes from all-over South-east Australia. Seasonally

Indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

from many tribes would meet at the highest peaks for trade, settling of disputes, marriage and initiation ceremonies. Whilst on the high plains the tribes would feast upon the

Bogong moth The bogong moth (''Agrotis infusa'') is a temperate species of Nocturnal, night-flying moth, notable for its biannual long-distance seasonal Lepidoptera migration, migrations towards and from the Australian Alps, similar to the diurnal monarch ...

, a moth that migrates from breeding grounds in Queensland to the Victorian Alps during the summer months.

European exploration and settlement

Baron Ferdinand von Mueller,

Angus McMillan Angus McMillan (14 August 1810 – 18 May 1865) was a Scottish-born explorer, pioneer pastoralism, pastoralist, and perpetrator of several of the Gippsland massacres of Gunai people. Arriving first in New South Wales in 1838, McMillan rose sw ...

and Alfred Howitt were some of the first Victorian settlers to explore the Victorian Alps in the early 1850s. Gold was found in the region in 1852 and brought thousands to the high plains. In search of grazing pastures men such as John Mitchell, George Gray, James Brown and John Wells travelled from central Victoria in what is now the Hume region to the Bogong high plains, settling in the area because of its abundance of natural grass fields. These early settlements were often seasonal as the harsh winter made grazing and mining impractical. The communities in the Victorian Alps were disconnected from Australian civilisation, which bred a distinctive way of life epitomised in the famed poem by Banjo Patterson, " The Man from Snowy River". After the Second World War a growing population increased the demand for timber from the Victorian Alps. This added growth to the economy of the area with the building of a series of roads, train-lines and bridges, the most prominent of these being the

Great Alpine Road The Great Alpine Road is a country tourist road in Victoria, Australia, running from Wangaratta in the north to Bairnsdale in the east, passing through the Victorian Alps. The road was given its current name because it was considered the mounta ...

, a 308 km fully paved mountain pass that connects

Bairnsdale Bairnsdale (locally ) (Gunai language, Ganai: ''Wy-yung'') is a city in East Gippsland, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, situated in a region traditionally inhabited by the Tatungalung clan of the Gunaikurnai people. The estimated popu ...

in East Gippsland, to

Wangaratta Wangaratta ( ) is a city in the northeast of Victoria, Australia, from Melbourne along the Hume Highway. The city had a population of 29,808 per the 2021 Australian Census. The city is located at the confluence, junction of the Ovens River, ...

in Central Victoria. The road reaches an altitude of AHD at a site called the cross, which is the highest section of sealed road in Australia; the site was a popular tourist destination with motorists in the 1920s and 1930s. The introduction of snow-sports to Victoria began in the 1910s, with the government-funded building of the Mount Buffalo chalet. The chalet is the largest wooden building in Australia and was for many years the only ski field in the Victorian Alps. In the decades following skiing in the Alps grew slowly, predominantly centred around ski clubs such as the University Ski club which was founded in 1929 under the name Melbourne University Ski Club. In the early 1960s skiing began to evolve as ski fields started to install tow ropes and Austrian immigrants like Hans Grimus at

Mount Buller Mount Buller is primarily a resort town on the slopes of Mount Buller (Victoria), Mount Buller, within Mount Buller Alpine Resort, an unincorporated area of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located approximately n ...

and Peter Zirknisker at Mount Hotham, opened ski rental businesses and lodges at their respected mountains.

Location and features

Comprising the Bogong High Plains, Bowen Range, Cathedral Range, Cobberas Range, and numerous other smaller ranges, the Victorian Alps include the Alpine Shire, parts of the

East Gippsland Shire The Shire of East Gippsland is a local government area in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia, located in the eastern part of the state. It covers an area of and as of the had a population of 48,715. It includes the towns of Bairnsdale, Benambr ...

, and some parts of the Mansfield Shire

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The ph ...

. The Alps are sometimes called the High Plains or High Country. The 2016 Australian Bureau of Statistics census showed that the Alpine Shire had 12,337 permanent residents with 49.2% male and 50.8% female, and a median age of 49. The highest peak in the range is

Mount Bogong Mount Bogong, located in the Alpine National Park and part of the Victorian Alps of the Great Dividing Range, is the highest mountain in Victoria, Australia, at above sea level. The Big River separates the massif of the mountain from t ...

at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of AHD, which is also the highest peak in Victoria. Other prominent peaks within the region are as follows;

Mount Feathertop Mount Feathertop is the second-highest mountain in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is part of the Australian Alps, and located within the Alpine National Park. It rises to and is usually covered in snow from June to ...

at an elevation of AHD, Mount Hotham at an elevation of AHD and

Mount Buffalo Mount Buffalo is a mountain plateau of the Australian Alps and is within the Mount Buffalo National Park in Victoria, Australia. It is located approximately northeast of Melbourne. It is noted for its dramatic scenery. The summit of the h ...

at an elevation of AHD,. Mount Buffalo

Flora and fauna

Flora

The majority of unique flora is found above the timberline at AHD, the region above the forest of ''

Eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

'' (ADH). The unique flora includes the largest range of Tussock Grasses (''Poa'' spp.), Herbaceous Daisies, Eyebrights and Carexes (small sedges) in Australia. Many other small vegetation ecosystems appear on the High Plains, including but not limited to Tussock grassland, Alpine shrubby heathland, Subalpine woodland and Tall Alpine herb field. Important or notable species within the Victorian alps include: * Snow gum (''Eucalyptus pauciflora'') * Snow daisies (''Celmisia spp'') * Pineapple grass (''Astelia alpina'') * Alpine trachymene (''Trachymene humilis'') * Billy buttons (Craspedia spp.) * Leafy bossiaea (''Bossiaea foliosa'') *

Grevillea ''Grevillea'' (), commonly known as spider flowers, is a genus of about 360 species of evergreen flowering plants in the family Proteaceae. Plants in the genus ''Grevillea'' are shrubs, rarely trees, with the leaves arranged alternately along the ...

(''Grevillea australis'')

Fauna

Mammals

The Victorian alps is home to a variety of small

marsupial Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a r ...

s and

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, many of which are found nowhere else on earth. The Mountain pygmy possum is a prime example of this as it can only be found within the alpine regions of Victoria and

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

. Thought to be extinct until they were rediscovered in the 1960s at Mount Hotham, the Mountain pygmy possum is now on the critically endangered species list due to introduced predators like the fox, reduction in habitat and lowering number of the

. The region is also home to echidna, common

wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials of the family Vombatidae that are native to Australia. Living species are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . They are adaptable and habitat tolerant, and are ...

, wallaby, kangaroo and bush rat.

Other vertebrates

Other vertebrates found within the region include common native woodland bird species such as Robins, Sparrows, Rosellas, Fantails, Currawongs and

Honeyeater The honeyeaters are a large and diverse family, Meliphagidae, of small to medium-sized birds. The family includes the Australian chats, myzomelas, friarbirds, wattlebirds, miners and melidectes. They are most common in Australia and New Gui ...

s; as well as six species of frog and several variants of skink. The Alpine she oak Skink is on the endangered species list due to the severe fires in the region over the past decades. The Baw Baw frog is critically endangered with estimated number being below 1,000, the major threat to this species is a disease from the

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

Amphibian Chytrid called Chytridiomycosis. Mountain streams are also populated by species of small fish such as the Mountain Galaxia. There is very limited fauna diversity within the Victorian alps, due to the climate, and exposed conditions.

Introduced species

Introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived ther ...

are considerably dangerous to the delicate ecosystem that is the Victorian Alps. Red foxes are the fourth most common species found in the area due to the abundance of other introduced species such as rabbit and hare. Brumbies/wild Australian

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

s are also a major pest in the Victorian High Plains. The horse's hard hooves trample the local flora, because of this the

Victorian Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as the Victorian Government, is the executive government of the Australian state of Victoria. As a parliamentary constitutional monarchy, the State Government was first formed in 1851 when Vic ...

has extended efforts to cull the wild horses from the national park. However initiatives to block the culling of Brumbies, claiming they are “national icon”, gained traction in May 2020, leading to the 2020 seasonal cull being put on hold. A supreme-court injunction led by Phillip Maguire has caused this halting of the cull, since petitions on Change.org, led by OCEAN LEGAL, have gathered more than 100,000 signatures in support of preventing the cull. Other introduced species within the region include deer, pigs, goats, cats, trout and dogs. The Victorian Government's response to these “pests” in the national park involves extensive trapping and baiting schemes run by the Parks managers. As well as wild pests, domesticated animals such as cattle and sheep were previously also found in the Victorian Alps. Cattle grazing can cause major disturbances to the natural flora and rare grass species found above the tree line, AHD. The effect the cattle have on the environment is amplified through the short growing season for alpine flora, which means that once they are disturbed it can take a long time to recover. Because of the severity of damage to the Alpine national park flora the Victorian government banned cattle grazing in the park in 2015 as a part of ''the National Parks Amendment (Prohibiting Cattle Grazing) Bill 2015''. Cobungra station, however, continues the tradition of alpine cattle grazing, without damaging the flora above the tree line as it is located between 1500m and 1000m in the foothills below Mount Hotham. Cobungra station is a significant staple of the Victorian alpine region since it boasts the largest

wagyu Wagyu (, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''wagyū'', ) is the collective name for the four principal List of Japanese cattle breeds, Japanese breeds of beef cattle. All wagyū cattle originate from early twentieth-century cross-breeding between ...

station in the state.

Geology

In the Victorian Alps,

bedrock In geology, bedrock is solid rock that lies under loose material ( regolith) within the crust of Earth or another terrestrial planet. Definition Bedrock is the solid rock that underlies looser surface material. An exposed portion of bed ...

is exposed along the entire range. Because of the exposed bedrock, Geologists have been able to determine that the rock types at surface of the range today were formed in an ancient ocean, between 530 and 400 million years ago. The Mountains in the range are flat and round when compared other prominent ranges around the world, this is due to two main factors. Firstly the Victorian Alps originated through continental splitting; secondly the Victorian Alps were never tall enough to develop large glaciers, and it is the erosion from ice that produces jagged peaks. The Victorian Alps are still being influenced by

plate tectonics Plate tectonics (, ) is the scientific theory that the Earth's lithosphere comprises a number of large tectonic plates, which have been slowly moving since 3–4 billion years ago. The model builds on the concept of , an idea developed durin ...

today, as continental collision with

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

drives the range up each year. This contradicts earlier theories about the range, which assumed the mountains size was due to years of erosion, in fact it is now believed that the Australian Alps are a relatively young range, forming their current peaks in the last 10 million years.

Water catchment

The Victorian Alps receive some of the most rainfall in Victoria with locations such as Falls Creek elevation AHD receiving an average of annually from 1990 to 2020. The high volumes of water that fall within the region, feed waterways such as the Yarra river, and Gippsland lakes. The

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray; Ngarrindjeri language, Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta language, Yorta Yorta: ''Dhungala'' or ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is List of rivers of Australia, Aust ...

is also fed by the Victorian Alps, and although the region only accounts for 1% of the Murray's catchment area it is estimated to provide over 29% to the annual flow. This is due to the high amounts of snow, and the unique alpine vegetation which has the ability to hold water and regulate its release throughout the year. Water from the Victorian Alps is also used for power generation at the Kiewa Hydroelectric scheme, although not as extensive as the

Snowy Mountains Scheme The Snowy Mountains Scheme, also known as the Snowy Hydro or the Snowy scheme, is a hydroelectricity and irrigation in Australia, irrigation complex in south-east Australia. Near the border of New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

, the Kiewa scheme still provides Victoria with 241MW.

Recreation

Winter recreation

In the winter the main attraction in the Victorian Alps is the ski fields, the largest of which by number of lifts is

and the largest of which by skiable terrain is Mount Hotham. Other Victorian ski fields include

Mount Baw Baw Mount Baw Baw () is a mountain summit on the Baw-Baw Plateau of the Great Dividing Range, located in Gippsland, Victoria, Australia. The name is from the Yarra-Yallou, Gunna-Kurnai people of Gippsland. It is of uncertain meaning, but possibly ...

, Mount Stirling, Lake Mountain, Falls Creek and previously

Ski touring Ski touring is skiing in the backcountry on unmarked or unpatrolled areas. Touring is typically done off-piste and outside of ski resorts, and may extend over a period of more than one day. It is similar to backcountry skiing but excludes the ...

within the Victorian Alps is also very popular with famed routes such as the Twin Valleys, Mount Bogong, Feathertop Ridge and other Mount Hotham side country routes. There are many converted cattleman's huts that litter the alpine landscape to accommodate such activities. On the whole the snow-sports industry brought over $911 million of gross state profit to the Victorian economy in the 2016/2017 financial year. Over the same period the region saw over 762,981 visitors across ski season which produced almost 1.4 million visitor nights.

Summer recreation

Summer recreation brings in lower annual visitor numbers as seen over the summer months in 2016/2017, when the region received 348,366 tourist for a total of 485,722 visitor days. Large events such as the Peaks Challenge which sees cyclists ride 235 km through the High Plains, contribute to these numbers. The Dinner Plain Polo is another yearly event that sees a rise in tourist numbers in the area. Founded 31 years ago, the Dinner Plain Polo is the longest, and highest in altitude running polo competition in Australia. Bushwalking is also a large part of summer recreation in the Victorian Alps. The recently finished Mount Hotham to Falls Creek overnight walking track spans some of the highest regions of the Victorian Alps, with overnight stops at both Cope and Dibbins hut; the walk is 37 kilometres in total. Other summer activities that draw visitors to the Victorian Alps include mountain biking (at Lake Mountain, Mount Baw Baw, Mount Beauty, Mount Buller, Bright, Falls Creek, Dinner Plain amongst others),

rock climbing Rock climbing is a climbing sports discipline that involves ascending climbing routes, routes consisting of natural rock in an outdoor environment, or on artificial resin climbing walls in a mostly indoor environment. Routes are documented in c ...

(particularly at Mount Buffalo), trout fishing and

horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding ( Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

References

{{Victoria Great Dividing Range East Gippsland Mountains of Hume (region) IBRA subregions