Australia has many great bushwalks. However, in recent years, it appears some walks are greater than others. Governments of both persuasions appear to have their favourite ‘Great Walks’. These walks, targeting high-yield tourists, seem to attract large, disproportionate amounts of public funding while less-favoured walks have their modest budgets continually squeezed. Ultimately, it means that national parks like the Grampians NP get huge funding to ‘upgrade’ tracks and build high-end infrastructure, whereas other national parks get their maintenance funding reduced. The result is the less-favoured tracks become degraded, which not only causes unnecessary environmental damage but the tracks also become less enjoyable and less safe.
Take, for instance, the Mitchell River Walking Track in Victoria. Last year, I was involved in an outdoor-education camp that took school students along this track; my science background, teaching qualification, and love of the outdoors, means I get
