To high country cattleman the mountain has always been called Mt Jack according to Mr Stapleton. “Back in 1851 Cobungra stockmen, Jim Brown and Jack Wells, were the very first recorded Europeans to make their way up onto the remote Bogong High Plains,” he said.
“As they went they named many of the major peaks including Feathertop, Fainter and the Razorback Ridge, all pivotal features of our maps to this day. “They also named Rocky Valley and Pretty Valley, and finished up by naming a pair of adjacent peaks after themselves, Mt Jim and Mt Jack.”
Mr Stapleton said both Mt Jim and Mt Jack were in daily use for the next 50 years until Mt Jack was hijacked in the early 1900s following the death of Judge Cope about a decade earlier. It also eventually led to Cope Hunt being named in his honour and when the Kiewa Hydro Scheme was built in the 1940s Cope Creek, Cope Saddle, Cope Saddle Hut, and Cope Aqueduct being derived.
“He passed away in Melbourne in 1891, and the fine fellow that he apparently was, he almost certainly never went anywhere near the Bogong High Plains,” he said.
“From there the new name for Mt Jack just started appearing on more and more government maps. “The old High Plains
cattlemen weren’t at all impressed, they couldn’t do much about it at the time but all stuck grimly to the original name of Mt Jack to their last dying breath.
“Many of the older cattleman raised this subject during interviews for my books, strongly suggesting that I should try righting this wrong if I ever got the chance.”
Mr Stapleton said the renaming process is a complicated one involving approval from Parks Victoria, the Alpine and East Gippsland Shires (as Mt Jack is on the boundary of both), the Geographical Place Names Advisory Committee, Aboriginal Affairs Victoria and numerous other interest groups.
“I’ll begin by presenting a petition to the Alpine Shire in early September, asking for their support, and then running with it from there,” Mr Stapleton said. “The aim is to get as many signatures as possible, before the end of August as well as letters of support from individuals or interest groups.”
Petitions can be found at the Bright Library, Harrietville Post Office, Tawonga South Store and Old Tawonga Store as well as the Omeo Post Office and Dargo Store. Letters of support can be emailed to o.i.stapleton@iinet.net.au or posted to the Harrietville Post Office.
Bushwalk
