Mt Gillen, Alice Springs

Seems the contagion of banning experiences of the Natural World due to irrational beliefs is spreading in Australia. Following the ban on climbing Ayers Rock (despite clear evidence that past owners who were born at the rock had no problems with it) and on rock climbing in the Grampians, ABC report a ban on climbing the summit of Mt Gillen that provides wonderful views over Alice Springs.

This is another magical experience of central Australia now taken from the public. Why bother going there? The ban is completely irrational and it is an absolute travesty that it has been allowed to occur without any consultation of the people it will affect. 

If anyone knows anything more about the photo below from NT Archives please get in touch. It seems that once again there is more to the story than has been reported by unsceptical reporters...

From a reliable source in Alice Springs.... 

"The attached photos taken in 1926 came into the hands of the Adelaide House volunteers a couple of weeks ago.

The caption says John Flynn is in the photo but it does not look like Flynn and the writing on back of one of the photos says:  “Black Tracker, Colin Kramer  Mrs Herbert, Sister Nell Small, Mr Herbert, Mavis Stott” (Colin’s father was Swiss missionary Ernie Kramer and Mrs Stott is wife of Sgt Stott).  We dont know who Mr and Mrs Herbert were, but Sister Small was one of the first 2 nurses at Adelaide House.  Sister Pope probably took the photo.

The interesting part is that the ‘Black Tracker’ was Charlie Cooper who worked with Sgt Stott.  He was the senior traditional owner of Mt Gillen and he guided the party to the top."

It seems the ‘no climbing’ policy is a recent invention!

Photo caption from NT Archives: Cairn on Mount Gillen. Six climbers rest nearby (3 women, a man, a young boy and an Aborigine) 

What's been stolen....

From the summit of Mount Gillen,

1,500 ft. above sea level, can be seen

what is probably the grandest pano

rama in our continent. During the

winter season, visibility is only limit

ed by the earth's curvature, and one

may look over the heart of Australia

with feelings that compel silence;

for here one feels the dearth of

words and speech to describe. The

rolling red plains of sand, the great

beaped-up coppery mountains, the

far-off blue skyline, 70 miles away,

and beyond a fainter blue merging

into the sky-one may be lost in con

templation until the evening sun

burnishes the peaks and obliterates

all details with purple haze. He

pauses for a moment over the edge

of the world like a gleaming ruby,

then sets, flaring the dome of heaven

with iridescent tints of mother-of

pearl.

Cairn on Mt Gillen, MacDonnell Ranges, near Alice Springs. from XNATMAP