Uluru should be open for all to share the experience

My comment piece in The Australian today...

Uluru should be open for all to share the experience

The board of the Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park has announced it will close the climb up Ayers Rock in October 2019. This may be the death of the national park as if you haven’t climbed it, you haven’t really visited it; and if you can’t climb it, I don’t believe it is worth going.

Phillip Adams wrote in The Weekend Australian Magazine that white Australians liked “clambering over it, seeming to confuse this sacred site with a Gold Coast-style theme park”, and welcomed the climb’s closure.

But there are many reasons the climb might be kept open. It is an exhilarating, extremely satisfying physical and mental experience. I have climbed the rock twice, the first time in the company of the science director of the Mars Pathfinder mission, enjoying the camaraderie, exertion, spiritual and mental exhilaration, and the spectacular views from the summit. The climb leaves you with a sense of connection to this unique natural wonder. I want to share this experience again with my family and friends.

Read the rest via the link. Subscription required, but worth it! (I'll post a longer version soon.).

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Mount Warning: Aboriginal claims about summit climb are contested

"How can the public experience the spiritual significance of this land if they do not climb the summit and witness creation." Ngaraakwal Elder Marlene Boyd RIP NSW NPWS have the following description about Aboriginal attitudes to people climbing to the summit of Mt Warning on their webpage about the walking track: Wollumbin, which means ‘cloud catcher’ to some Aboriginal People, is a traditional place of cultural law, initiation and spiritual education for the people of the Bundjalung Nation. Under Bundjalung law, only certain people can climb the summit. Out of respect for their law and culture, consider not climbing the summit. These claims, including the very name applied to the mountain, are contested and it seems there is another story that NSW NPWS have not properly acknowledged and have long kept from public attention. We came across this article from the Daily News February 24 2007 about Ngaraakwal Elder Marlene Boyd that makes for interesting reading. It seems

Mt Warning - Summit signing, time capsule

A Mt Warning Visit, summit signing Drove up the long road from Sydney, leaving early to grab a beer at the Mt Warning Hotel at Uki in the afternoon. There's a nice view of the summit from the smoker's deck. The tip of the mountain was catching clouds and then letting them go. I met Roger, a one-legged ex- navy seal and former security guard to Gloria Estafan. He was an interesting bloke, sucking a large Cuban cigar and slamming spiced rum on ice. He had one eye, apparently, he had lost the other blue pearl in a firefight with Somali terrorists in the Persian Gulf. We had a brief discussion of current affairs and the insanity of public parks being closed for no good reason, and vandalism of the tourism industry by a woke broken Bureaucracy - just light conversation. I mentioned I had a mission that might suit him and he agreed to join in. We headed to the Mt Warning Rainforest Caravan Park. Mt Warning from the Mt Warning Hotel Roads around the area are still not repaired from la

Chain and post removed at Mount Warning Summit Walk

The current situation is a disgrace and an insult to Park users and all Australians. The Minister must instigate an independent audit and review of NSW NPWS management of the Park and develop a brighter vision of the Park's future. The walk to the summit of Mt Warning in northern NSW is an iconic experience of the natural world. Views from the summit on a clear day provide an unrivaled vista over the Tweed River Valley, lush rainforests, eroded volcanic landscape and beaches on the coast. They fill visitors with a sense of awe and wonder. From a geological perspective, it is arguably the best-preserved erosion caldera in the world. The 4.4km (8.8km return) track was completed in 1909 but the hike was firmly established as a popular tourist attraction in 1929 with the declaration of the area around the mountain as a National Park. The opening ceremony was attended at the summit by 200 people, some rode horses up the trail. The standard of the early track construction is extreme

Right to Climb

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