This article from Quadrant....
The Ominous Warning of Mount Warning
https://quadrant.org.au/opinion/qed/2022/10/the-grim-warning-of-mount-warning/
Mt Warning: Ambit
claims deserve to be ignored.
Sunrise view from the
top
ambit claim: An
extravagant initial demand made in expectation of an eventual counter-offer and
compromise.
Since the early 2000s NSW National Parks and Wildlife
Service (NPWS) have been working to shut down the stunning bushwalk to the
summit of the best preserved eroded shield volcano in the southern hemisphere
known as Mount Warning or in the local Aboriginal dialect the Scrub Turkey -
Wulambiny Momoli. The walk attracts well over 100000 visitors annually and
properly managed could sustain many more. The real reasons behind the closure are
more likely due to NPWS laziness than falsehoods about safety, environment or
contested demands of so called Aboriginal custodians.
With the rise of authoritarianism brought about by
Governments shambolic management of the Covid 19 pandemic it seems in March
2020 the door opened for NPWS to finally get its warped wish.
Under the guise of false proclamations about safety related
to the rock scramble below the summit and a complete lack of understanding of
the nature of transmission of corona viruses in outdoor settings NPWS closed
the entire national park in March 2020. A locked gate was placed 3km from the
base carpark to deter visitors from entering, though a few brave souls did and
reported on the deteriorating condition of the trail and secret removal of the
summit chain. Despite protests the “Temporary” closure was extended again and
again. Over the years of the Covid pandemic the claims moved away from safety
and settled on the need for NPWS bureaucrats to consult with the officially
authorised Wollumbin Consultative Group (WCG) – a group of mixed race
Aboriginal men with highly contested claims on the mountain – to produce an
Aboriginal Place Management Plan for the park. This arises from the 2014
declaration of everything above the 600m topographic contour in the Mount
Warning National Park being an “Aboriginal Place”. This declaration published
in the NSW government gazette indicated there are at least eight separate Aboriginal
stories about the mountain and its cultural meaning, with each story being equally valid and with no one story taking
precedence[1].
As a side note in June this year the NSW “Liberal”
Government announced plans[2]
to hand over control of all (yes ALL) our NSW National Parks to Aboriginal
Groups that live nearby. This includes the title to the land not just
management rights. Bizarrely future management of NSW National Parks will be
based on a Memorandum of Understanding between NPWS and as yet undetermined
Aboriginal Groups. The agreement would involve rent being paid and management
plans and access for the public being at the whim of local officially authorised
Aboriginal Groups.
Last week we saw just how these plans and agreements will
play out in the real world. For Mount Warning National Park listed as such in
1929 and “dedicated to the people forever[3]”,
the new Aboriginal Place Management Plan[4]
approved by the WCG is devastating news for reasonable people.
In short the plan:
·
ignores dissenting Aboriginal voices (some
groups encourage visitors to climb and challenge the rights of the WCG to be
the sole negotiating agent with NPWS). The wonderful message of Late Ngaraakwal
Elder Marlene Boyd left on the cutting room floor "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!" [5] What
happened to “each story being equally valid and with no
one story taking precedence”
·
allows for closure of the entire park,
·
bans all public access under the threat of
$550000 fines,
·
provides for the removal the summit lookouts,
helipads and presumably the important geodetic survey markers – all trace of
Western culture to be stripped though it’s hard to see how the well-constructed
drystone walls built by volunteers from Murwillumbah in 1909 near the summit
will be removed. Ironically all these structures described in the plan as being
in “good condition”.
·
allows for copyrighting the image of Mt Warning,
and without the plan even being in force woke corporations are already falling
over themselves to give away valued corporate capital – Stone and Wood’s Cloud
Catcher Pale Ale will be discontinued to assuage the wishes of the WCG[6].
·
Extends Aboriginal management outside the
designated Aboriginal Place to adjacent spurs and ridges and provides for
“removal of infrastructure” in those areas that “could affect intervisibility to important cultural sites”. How many local residents with views of Mount
Warning will need to relocate? How many power lines and communication towers
will need to be demolished so a few are not offended?
·
allows for ongoing access to the mountain for a
select group of the WCG mixed race men, with access presumably to be provided
at the tax payers expense.
What was once billed internationally as a magnificent walk
to witness the first sunrise in Australia will soon be the exclusive property
of a small group disgruntled extremists who like Tolkien’s Golem want to keep
the precious for themselves. If this is a taste of things to come the public
will no longer have any National Parks in NSW to enjoy.
Oddly the NSW Minister for the Environment James Griffin has
simply accepted the WCG plan without question and his NPWS minions are now
using it as a basis for developing a Memorandum of Understanding to manage the
park. Though with no public access the question of why arises. The farce alongside
Yes Minister’s Hospitals without patients[7].
Times past a politician would be able to recognise an Ambit
claim as blatant and this and treat it accordingly. Credit to the savvy members
of the WCG in recognising the NSW Liberal Government as the spineless,
unprincipled twits they are and asking for everything. How surprised they must
have been that their exaggerated claims would be met with a meek “yes” from our
mouse like government. Little wonder unions are making hay in other areas with
very little push back as the government simply caves in to the demands of any
extremist left wing group.
If our Minister was governing for the majority the starting
point for any negotiation would be to maintain the status quo perhaps with
including options for further development in the Park to increase economic
activity in the area including Via feratta routes on the magnificent northern
rock face of the mountain, a circuit walk around the base, hang gliding from
the summit and perhaps a café serving local treats in a car park patrolled by
rangers to prevent angry locals slashing tyres[8].
Given a bit of to and fro perhaps the end point of this
negotiation would be for continued public access with some better toilets and
bins and regular maintenance by NPWS, and perhaps a week long “Cloud Catcher” festival
where the mountain could be closed to celebrate those eight indigenous stories, including the one
encouraging visitors to the summit.
What is certain is that without push back from the public
this decision will stand and will set the precedence for management in all our national
parks. Please lend your angry voice to object to this nonsense and write to
your local, state and federal government member. Better still jump the gate and
exercise your own cultural rights.
[1] https://gazette.legislation.nsw.gov.au/so/download.w3p?id=Gazette_2014_2014-66.pdf
P.2830
[2] https://spectator.com.au/2022/09/paying-the-rent-with-our-national-parks/
[3] http://righttoclimb.blogspot.com/2022/06/mt-warning-in-limbo.html
[4] https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/parks-reserves-and-protected-areas/park-management/community-engagement/walking-tracks-and-trails-in-national-parks/wollumbin-national-park
[5] http://righttoclimb.blogspot.com/2021/01/mount-warning-aboriginal-claims-about.html
[6] https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/beer-maker-moves-after-wollumbin-verdict/news-story/c1bdf9ae1977257b42168e965f801666
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAk448volww
[8] http://www.tweedvalleyweekly.net.au/mt-warning-tyre-slasher-strikes-50-cars/
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