Right to Climb

Received this letter yesterday (Below) from the latest Stooge in the conga line of trough wallowers to hold the title of NSW Minister of Environment. According to the letter the Aboriginal Management Plan for Mt Warning is completed. Under the Act absolutely no consultation with the public is required. And as any consultations NPWS have with Aboriginal groups are confidential we will not be permitted to know the reasons why. "A public version of the APMP is being developed that removes any culturally sensitive information. Once this is finalised, we will be able to provide you with a copy." Perhaps there will be a surprise and walking to the summit will be permitted? Or will we be forced to just exercise our rights and climb anyway? Watch this space.... I asked Russell some questions, his response in bold:  Hi Russell, Can you provide a short synopsis for what the plan says about public access to the summit?  Hi Marc   The local Aboriginal community has expressed a view that

 Millie Boyd was a highly respected Aboriginal elder in Northern NSW. She is widely recognised as the last "Gulgan" or keeper of the mountain and its tribal folklore. In this recording from 1977 she talks to NPWS anthropologist Howard (Harry) Creamer about the mythology around Mt Warning.  Millie Boyd calls Mt Warning "Wulambiny Momoli". This has the meaning of 'scrub turkey nest', a `djurebil' or increase site where hunting is forbidden so that Brush-turkeys may replenish their numbers. If you look at the profile of Mt Warning from the north, you can see the Turkey sitting on its nest. The profile is a dead ringer for the turkey distinctive shape- head, back and tail! There it is sitting on its nest; the caldera. It is plain as day. No wonder this view inspired the story. In the foreground lies Wollumbin the warrior lying on his back looking at the stars. It is  the Mountain on James McKenzie's property. It's name stolen by NSW Lands and incorre

  BREAKING: NPWS EXTEND MT WARNING CLOSURE TILL 30 JUNE From Russell Madeley NPWS Director - Park Operations, North Coast "The temporary closure of Wollumbin has been extended until 30 June due to the impacts of COVID and widespread flooding on the consultation process." Sad that NPWS is using recent events as excuses for inaction. In the meantime the track which has received virtually no maintenance in the last 10 years has been subject to a number of high-intensity rainfall events and is only getting worse. The photo below from January 2021 shows how poorly NPWS are managing our park. Any repairs etc will now cost more and require more time to complete. The park closed as a temporary measure on the BS excuse of covid risk in March 2020 has been closed for 2 years with more to come. When will this gross incompetence and neglect of a National treasure end? How NPWS look after Mt Warning.

Dear Minister (of Environment) The "Guidelines for Developing Management Plans for Declared Aboriginal Places" developed by your department (attached) list the following recreational activities as damaging to an Aboriginal Place (P10-11):  • bushwalking • motorbike riding • rock climbing • four-wheel driving. In providing management options for Mt Warning National Park, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) are proposing to ban bushwalkers access to the summit, and indeed the public from the entirety of the park on the grounds that bushwalking will damage the Aboriginal place declared at Mt Warning. This is abject nonsense, as on existing tracks and trails no damage is possible, especially if these tracks and trails are properly maintained. If these activities are banned at Mount Warning it will result in similar bans being imposed on other walking trails, and tracks in the state.  The Minister should know the following facts and direct NPWS to reopen and maintain th

Local land holder, James McKenzie is running as an ungrouped candidate running in the upcoming Tweed Council election and is from Eungella. His primary position is based on calling out what he says are ‘fake Wollumbin, Arakwal and Bundjalung National Parks’. He also aims to enter State and Federal politics. James has been exposing lies about Mt Warning for many years and deserves your support. For more read the article at The Echo.... LINK  

NPWS have issued a statement about Mt Warning. It seems it will now be until March 2022 till we find out whether the public can once again walk that well-worn trail... Wollumbin (Mount Warning) National Park The temporary closure of the Wollumbin Summit track and Wollumbin National Park has been extended until 31 March 2022 due to public safety risks associated with the track and to allow further consultation with the Aboriginal community and other key stakeholders about the future management of the site. Travel restrictions imposed by COVID-19 Public Health Orders have impacted the ability to effectively engage with key stakeholders. The extension will provide sufficient time for this engagement to occur. While this consultation takes place, the NSW Government is investing in a range of visitor infrastructure across the region as part of the largest capital investment program ever undertaken in our national parks. By way of example, the $7.35 million Tweed Byron Hinterland Trails proj

This post provides an excellent summation of some of the issues about the ban on the summit walk and the coming closure of the entire Mt Warning National Park.... Follow the link to read the whole thing... https://www.ozpolitic.com/articles/Gladys-Berejiklian-stoking-fires-racism-Northern-NSW.html Gladys Berejiklian stoking the fires of racism in Northern NSW Gladys Berejiklian and the ruling Liberal party in NSW are pushing an absurdly Machiavellian ‘public consultation’ process over the future of public access to Mount Warning (Wollumbin). The process appears designed to create frustration and turn it into racial tension, which they will no doubt invent another program to address. They have achieved this by: Excluding people who would be directly impacted by a permanent closure (ie those who want to climb the mountain) from the “public consultation” process on the basis that they are not “key stakeholders.” They will be “consulted” after all of the decisions have been made. The gover

NPWS commissioned an engineering consultancy to provide costings for various options to restore access to the summit of Mt Warning. I obtained a copy through a GIPA (Freedom of Information) request. A link to the full report is provided below.  GHD Wollumbin risk and engineering assessment report 2021 I'll add a number of comments on the report, but it essentially concurs with my assessment that a new chain could be installed at a very small cost. In fact it could be easily redeemed through a gold coin donation from walkers in the first six months of operation. Key findings of the report are outlined in the table below: Comments The report mentions the Chain was removed in March 2020. In fact it was removed secretly by NPWS in November 2019.  The number of incidents on the track (44 in 10 years or around 5 a year) is similar to other Grade 5 walks in the state. The risk context at 1 in 50000 for an incident requiring rescue is very low - 2 per year. The Great North Walk near Sydne

The Australian edition of the DAILY MAIL reported yesterday that a group of three backpackers climbed Mt Warning and when they got back down they found their car had been vandalised. The Daily Mail story did not dig that deeply into the background and so I sent them the following letter.... Dear Editor, I read with interest your story about backpackers having their car vandalised after climbing Mt Warning in northern News South Wales, Australia.  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9824239/Backpackers-car-windows-SMASHED-hiking-sacred-Indigenous-mountain.html You might be interested to know that there is much more to this story if you take a few moments to chase down some facts that NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service officers would rather remain hidden.  The official story in regard to Aboriginal beliefs is that the Bundjalung prefer you not to climb and claim the mountain is a sacred men's area. However, (and it's a big however!) the Bundjalung claims have no basis i