The area round Mansfield named as Banbury was also the location of the novel The Far Country by Nevil Shute . It was about logging on Mount Buller and previous forest fires , which having burnt through Howqua , removed almost all evidence of an older settlement . The area round Mansfield named as Banbury was also the location of the novel The Far Country by Nevil Shute which featured logging on Mount Buller and previous forest fires , which having swept through Howqua obliterated almost all traces of a former settlement .