Premier of
NSW
Hon Gladys Berejiklian
MP
GPO Box 5341
Sydney NSW
2001
RE: BAN ON MT WARNING
SUMMIT WALK AND NATIONAL PARK
Dear Premier,
I draw your attention to the imminent ban on the Mt Warning
Summit Walk and closure of the Wollumbin National Park in northern NSW by the
NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). The ban is not justified by the
available evidence and NPWS have mislead the Government on issues of safety and
Aboriginal views about the climb for decades.
The summit trail is the main feature in the park and was
built by volunteers in 1909. It is about 4.4km long. The first 4km are a gentle
walk on a well graded track, the last several 100m involve a rock scramble that
NPWS described in 1998 as “a fantastic walk” with “dazzling views”. In 1929 the
area was listed as a National Park. Speaking at the opening ceremony at the
summit local Alderman A. B. Black dedicated the park to the people of NSW and
their children:
…the day was one upon
which they could all look back as a day on which good work had been done for
Australia. He urged the boys and girls to remember that the park was theirs,
and that each could be a trustee in his or her own little way. The park was a
memorial of the beauty of Nature and of the beautiful way in which God had
blessed the Tweed and the people of Australia.
Millions of visitors from NSW, interstate and overseas have completed
the summit walk. It is an iconic experience of the natural world and the
Australian environment. It is an outstanding tourist activity and drawcard to
the region and currently attracts over 100000 visitors a year. It could attract
more but for NSW NPWS practice of “demarketing”
the park that has impacted tourist numbers and businesses for over a decade.
NSW NPWS contend the summit walk needs to be closed as it
says it is dangerous and goes against the wishes of the Aboriginal group it
consults with to manage the park. However, evidence (links below) indicates the
walk is no more dangerous than other similar walks in NSW, and NPWS have for
many years failed to consult with the true Aboriginal custodians of Mt Warning (Wulambiny
Momoli) whose traditional stories are not incorporated in NPWS management plans
and who are not opposed to visitors respectfully using the trail to reach the summit. Nowhere in the park or in NPWS literature
will you find the inspirational words of Ngaraakwal elder and Mount Warning
custodian Marlene Boyd who stated before she died in 2007: ‘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!’
The failure of NPWS to consult with all interested
Aboriginal groups breaches the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 No 80
section 30K (2a): the conservation of
natural values, buildings, places, objects, features and landscapes of cultural
value to Aboriginal people in accordance with the cultural values of the
Aboriginal people to whose heritage
the buildings, places, objects, features or landscapes belong.
NPWS failure to consult with all relevant stakeholders has
resulted in the government and public being mislead about the diversity of
Aboriginal opinions about Mt Warning and the climb to its summit.
In managing access, the cultural wishes of those who oppose
climbing need to be balanced against the cultural wishes of the majority who
enjoy visiting mountaintops for the awe and wonder provided by the journey and
the view.
As an engineering geologist with 20 years experience in
landslide risk assessment I found NPWS’s assessment of an ‘extreme risk of
landslides and rock falls’ to walkers to be a gross exaggeration. The risk to
individuals from rockfall is in the order of one in a billion – similar or
lower than other Grade 4-5 walks in the state that are currently open.
The Minister responsible and NPWS have ignored my requests
for more information about the closure and refused access to relevant public reports
and I have no confidence they will provide you or the people of NSW with
impartial advice. NPWS have mismanaged the park, from basic maintenance to due
process in consulting with all relevant Aboriginal Groups. Long term actions by
NPWS that have impacted local businesses could result in claims for
compensation.
The park has the potential to be the jewel in the crown of
our north coast but will never realise its full potential if NPWS are permitted
to continue with the current plan to ban access. The ban is an insult to those
who constructed the trail, the boys and girls told in 1929 that the park was
theirs to look after and the millions of visitors who have climbed to the
mountain’s summit and experienced the joy, awe and wonder of those
extraordinary views.
Premier, NPWS are not capable of properly managing this wonderful natural attraction in the interests of all NSW. Please immediately suspend NPWS management of the Wollumbin National Park and commission an independent Park board made up of local stakeholders to oversee future management.
Signed
Marc Hendrickx
Attached documents
(copies sent by post)
·
Independent inspection report January 2021
·
2007 Newspaper article featuring interview with Marlene
Boyd
·
2000 Press release by Wijabul elder Fletcher
Roberts
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