The gruesome tactic locals have resorted to as influencers flock to scenic hilltop lookout

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.