The Yarra and Dandenong Ranges, both sources of rivers and drinking waters for Melbourne (Victoria's capital, largest city and home to three quarters of the state's population), are branches of the Victorian Alps.

[5] The region's rich natural resources brought a second wave of agricultural settlers; the foothills around the Victorian Alps today has a large agrarian sector, with significant cattle stations being sold recently for over thirty million dollars.

[6] The Victorian Alps is also the source of many of Victoria's water ways, including Murray and Yarra Rivers and the Gippsland Lakes.

[8][5] The establishment of the Alpine National Park has meant that economic activities such as mining, logging and agriculture are limited, to preserve the natural ecosystem for visitors.

[7] The Australian Alps is an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia sub-bioregion of approximately 519,866 hectares (1,284,620 acres),[3] and an administrative sub-region of Victoria bordering the Gippsland and Hume regions.

[5] Seasonally Indigenous peoples from many tribes would meet at the highest peaks for trade, settling of disputes, marriage and initiation ceremonies.

[5] 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".

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.

[19] 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 Bogong moth.

[18] Cattle grazing can cause major disturbances to the natural flora and rare grass species found above the tree line 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) AHD.

[23]  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.

[24] Cobungra station however continues the heritage of alpine cattle grazing, without damaging the flora above the tree line as it nestled between 1500m and 1000m in the foothills below Mount Hotham.

[27] 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.

[5] The Victorian Alps are still being influenced by plate tectonics today, as continental collision with New Zealand drives the range up each year.

[5]  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.

[32] Large events such as the Peaks Challenge which sees cyclists ride 235 km through the High Plains, contribute to these numbers.