source : the age
A scenic lookout north of Melbourne has gone so viral that locals have resorted to dumping roadkill to deter influencers from littering and trespassing on private land.
The Milky Way Point lookout, which sits on top of a hill that overlooks rolling slopes and green valleys stretching across central Victoria about 100 kilometres north of Melbourne, has long been recognised for its panoramic beauty but is suffering from an influx of visitors after going viral on social media.
Influencers sharing photos and videos of two picturesque spots located along the same, narrow one-way dirt road have lured hundreds of visitors to Strath Creek, a small rural farming town that borders the southern edge of the Tallarook State Forest.
The main attraction is Hangs Tree, a large dead stringybark on an organic farm overlooking the valley, about one hundred metres before the main lookout.
One tour operator is charging tourists more than $500 a day for “viral magic tree” photography tours near the property.
Some residents say they witnessed people defecating on private driveways, while other visitors left piles of garbage and toilet paper on cattle grazing land and outside people’s homes.
Alex Whitford, who grew up 15 minutes away in Broadford, has started organising local clean-ups two to three times a week with other concerned community members.
Last Tuesday, the group filled 13 bags with nappies, coffee cups, toilet paper and other rubbish left behind by visitors that day.
“People are coming here and having lunch, and they’re having a couple of wines, and then leaving, you know, smashed wine bottles everywhere and beer bottles. I’ve never seen so many Red Bull cans in my life,” Alex said.
Alex said people were getting hurt because the steep hillside was not meant to accommodate heavy traffic.
“It’s a very, very narrow road, and it’s very under cared for. It’s a dirt road that’s full of potholes. There are trees down on the way through and people don’t know how to drive to the conditions up here,” she says.
“There was a car that went off the edge maybe three weeks ago, and three people got hospitalised because it’s so busy and people don’t understand that this is not actually a publicly accessible space – it’s peoples homes and people’s backyards.”
Locals have starting placing dead kangaroos and wombats along the road to stop people from setting up bush camps and picnics on their properties.
They have also erected signs asking people to take their rubbish home when leaving the spot.
Melbourne resident Akhil Bollikonda and his wife, Sravani, made the day trip on Wednesday after discovering the location on YouTube.
“It’s even more beautiful in person,” Akhil said.
The pair also noticed the dumped roadkill and rubbish left by other visitors.
“I think it’s really sad to see animals like that,” Akhil said.
“As far as what I have seen, I saw some people littering and throwing some stuff – I don’t think that’s acceptable.”
David Francis Palmer, who helps install garden beds and water beds in nearby farming properties, thinks the government should hire a security presence to monitor the area.
“I can’t honestly see the police going and knocking on people’s doors because they might have seen them taking a poo on the side of the road,” he said. “But if they know that it’s monitored, it may well restrict their bad behaviour.”
Even more concerning than littering and trespassing was the issue of public safety. During the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires, the area was engulfed by flames that swept through townships in regional Victoria.
Local photographer Sara, who lives nearby and has photographed the lookout for years, says the situation could become “catastrophic” heading into the warmer summer months.
“It’s not a patrolled area, the grass isn’t mown. If people are lighting little barbecue fires up there, and something like a fire did break out, and all these people are just parked across this one-way road, you wouldn’t even be able to get out of there,” she said. “It’d just be a disaster.”
A Country Fire Authority spokesperson said the local commander had reported “no issue” with the crowds or emergency access at the site. Victoria Police and DEECA were contacted for comment.
While Alex ultimately welcomes visitors, the ongoing damage and lack of respect shown by tourists to the place she calls home has taken a toll.
“This is a place that I’ve come to every time that I’m in love, out of love, every major crossroads in my life,” she said.
“Every time that I just need to think and be somewhere beautiful, this is where I come. To have that then ruined consistently – it’s devastating.”
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