"This claim is a modern day invention."
Wijabul elder Fletcher Roberts
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. Yesterday we posted the wonderful positive message about the summit walk by Ngaraakwal Elder Marlene Boyd RIP:
"I do not oppose the public climbing of Mt Warning - how can the public experience the spiritual significance of this land if they do not climb the summit and witness creation!"
We have asked NSW NPWS why this wonderful statement is not posted at the start of the walk and at the summit to provide inspiration to visitors. No response so far.
James McKenzie who lives on the true Mt Wollumbin NE of Mt Warning has been waging a war on the bureaucracy for many years to correct misinformation about the naming of Mount Warning. His facebook page provides evidence of a long-running disinformation campaign by authorities. In 2016 James ran for Tweed Shire Council alleging the council "misused funds and stolen Wollumbin as the heritage and name of my family's mountain and applied it as a fake Aboriginal name to Mt Warning”.
James provided me with a copy of the statement below by Wijabul elder Fletcher Roberts. Similar tot Marlene Boyd Fletcher Roberts' statement further demonstrates that the views about the climb are contested. He claims the view the summit is off-limits to climbers is a modern day invention. Why has NSW NPWS ignored the views of Fletcher Roberts and Marlene Boyd?
Statement by Wijabul elder Fletcher Roberts Jan 4, 2000 (Text below)
PRESS RELEASE
Cultural boundaries, responsibilities have been ignored in Mt Warning issue, Elder says.
Wijabul elder Fletcher Roberts has criticised moves by a section of the Aboriginal community to claim that Mt Warning is a sacred site and to prevent people from climbing the mountain.
"They have had walking tracks up the mountain for decades, but no one has tried to stop people from climbing it before," Mr Roberts said.
"This claim is a modern day invention.
"This claim is being perpetuated by someone who is overstepping his cultural responsibilities and he will have to face the consequences of Aboriginal lore for what he is doing.
"Claims are being made that this knowledge came from the very elder who raised me and gave me my own knowledge but he never told me not to go to Mt Warning.
"The people who are stepping into this from outside these boundaries will have to face the cultural consequences.
"They should remember the boundaries of their own clan area and the cultural lore.
"These people should be mindful of the destruction they are causing to true Aboriginal culture.
"The white community needs to wise up to the Aboriginal sectors that try to use their lack of understanding of Aboriginal culture for their own purposes.
"The white community needs to make sure it identifies the true elders of an area.
"They should realise that elders' responsibilities apply to their own tribal areas and they have no jurisdiction over another area.
"It is not unusual for clans to have disputes over boundaries and this still happens today as it did in the past... but for people from Mullabugilmah (near Grafton) to claim that they have some jurisdiction over Mt Warning id too far a stretch of the imagination.
"If they still believe in the culture they should stick to their own areas.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE signed F Roberts January 4, 2000.
We have asked NPWS the following questions:
Why does NPWS promote the Bundjalung views over the views of the group that had traditional ownership of the summit area?
Why has NPWS suppressed this in its information about the park?
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