GRAEME ‘Padge’ Padgett gets emotional when talking about the end of his horse-riding business taking schoolkids into the Barmah Forest on horseback.
He and his partner, Debbie Jackson, of Murray River Horse Trails, have impacted the lives of thousands of kids, some troubled and some from the city, some sick with cancer, who have ridden and camped with the pair in the stunning national park over the last 35 years.
Last year however, the pair was informed by Parks Victoria that their tour operator licence will not be renewed beyond July 1 this year. He’s a tough bloke, Padge, a true bushman, but talking about it makes him cry.
“Thousands of school kids, beautiful people, mates around the world…and they’re kicking us out of there,” he said, speaking last week on the edge of the forest he loves.
“I’ve put out dozens of campfires, picked up tonnes of rubbish, handed out hundreds of camping guidelines helping people all my career up here, and they’re kicking me out at the end of June.”
Padge, a member of the Barmah Forest Preservation League, said Parks Victoria has not provided him with an explanation behind the decision. Horse riding is permitted in several national parks in Victoria, including the Alpine National Park.
“It’s my passion, this place up here,” he said.
“It’s about educating the kids in the bush…there’s amazing history.
“There’s Aboriginal scar trees along the river, there’s ring trees, canoe trees, and you have kids saying, ‘Wow what’s that?’, and they can see a bit of history, hundreds of years old, hundreds and hundreds of years old!
“So, we’d like to keep going if we can, if we can’t, I guess we’ll just…I don’t know. I don’t know. No answer.”
