Mt Warning to reopen - THANKYOU!
Speech at SOS meeting Mt Warning Hotel 25 January 2026
It’s nearly
6 years since this beloved mountain walk was closed. The fight to have this magnificent mountain
reopened has been a long one, fought on multiple fronts across the community. This
closure should never have happened and I put the whole saga down to gross
mismanagement by our National Parks and Wildlife Service. There should be mass
sackings and a complete change in direction across the board. We wait and see if there will be any
repercussions for those responsible. Don’t hold your breath!
Just before
New Year I got a text from Jeremy Pierceof the Courier Mail. “Have you heard the news?” he asked. “No”, I responded. He texted “I hope you’re sitting down.” “Am now”, I wrote.
“They’re going to reopen the trail!”
Jeremy
pointed me to a press release from environment Minister Penny Sharpe. The crux
of it in the first sentence:
“The NSW
Government has extended the closure of the Wollumbin Summit and Track until 30
June 2027, with a view to reopening the summit once practical safety and
culturally appropriate options are resolved.”
The
reopening was assured by Premier Chirs Minns in an interview with Ben Fordham
on January 20, 2026. Ben Fordham: “Mt Warning is going to reopen next year?”.
Chris Minns “Yeah, we want it opened in mid 2027…” It will be seven and a half
years closed with over $100M in economic damage and around 750,000 visitors who
missed an opportunity to stretch their legs and enjoy the awe and wonder of the rainforest
and summit views. All this damage for nothing!
While it’s still a little vague I thank the
Minister and Premier for finally seeing common sense on this and listening to
the majority of Australians who wanted to see access restored. Somewhat ironic
that a Liberal Government closed it and the ALP are re-opening it. We have
concerns about the nature of reopening, and I have offered the services of SOS
and community to work with the Minister and the Department to achieve the best
possible outcome for park visitors. I have not heard back though.
Now, I’m
more than a little sceptical and suspicious of how this will happen. Government
actions over the last decade on so many issues have turned me into something of
a cynic. I don’t want to celebrate too early. But after this long battle I
think with this news we have something to celebrate this evening.
WE DID IT!
THANKYOU to everyone who contributed to this fight.
This has not
been a solo effort! I want to thank the many many people who have had a hand in
making this possible.
Firstly to
Sturt Davies-Boyd. The Ngarakwal custodian of the mountain, following in the
footsteps of his grandmother Millie Boyd – the last Gulgan of the Mountain, and
his mother Marlene. I had the pleasure of climbing with Sturt and sharing his
company at the summit on Australia Day 2024. I look forward to seeing Marlene’s
statement about the mountain placed on a prominent sign at the summit: "How
can the public experience the spiritual significance of this land if they do
not climb the summit and witness creation." No other statement
captures what we all feel when we look over our wonderful country from the
summit of Mt Warning and other places. Sturt’s “Tear Down this Wall” video with Adrian
Hoffman filmed on the eve of his attendance at a Parliamentary debate is a
classic! Thankyou so much Sturt! Thanks also to Sturt’s sister Elizabeth Boyd and
Jen Gale for their efforts in getting us here.
I want to
thank the other members of the dedicated Save Our Summits team who have put so
much time and effort into preserving access to our summits. With our wins in the
Glass House Mountains I see this announcement is another notch on our belt.
Which mountain do we save next? Thankyou
founding President Craig Evans and the late Ben Heaton who would be wearing a
wide grin today, Donna Muller and Alan Keen, and Tom Grindley who has recently
joined our committee. To Andrew Flanagan, Tessa Stafford our current treasurer
and Secretary, I can’t thankyou both enough for everything you have done to
make this happen, especially for your tenacity in seeing this through to where
we are today. Thankyou to our SOS facebook members, all 4500 of you, for your
posts and support. I want to also especially thank Anna Power for her most
generous donation to SOS that helped make this happen.
On a local
level- Thanks to the other Craig – Craig Murphy for setting up the Reopen MtWarning Facebook group in 2021 – it now has over 7000 members. Photographer
extraordinaire Steven Gibbs for assisting with that page and for his many
photos of the mountain and of our many meetings. Adrian Hoffman for climbing,
the banners, helping with logistics and much more. Thankyou James MacKenzie for
sharing local knowledge and key documents that expose the truth about Mt
Warning. I’m sorry James that we will not get everything you would have wanted.
Thanks to Sharon Van Den Broek, Amanda Noonan – and other members of the 2023Oz day 7 - Andrew Flanagan, Adrian Hoffman and then 71 year old Colesy for
starting an Australia Day tradition. They climbed with the blessings of Elizabeth
Boyd and played a recording of Millie Boyd at the summit and were pestered for
months by NPWS lawyers over the walk. Thanks to Garry and Chris Eccleston,
Peter Ronan, Andrew Broeder and Trevor Mullins for local knowledge, climbing
stories and history. Thankyou Mark
Osburg for your impromptu local protests.
Thankyou to Brett and Kim Watson, proprietors of this fine establishment (Mt Warning Hotel) for
your support. Thanks to Carole Franke and members of the Uki Historical Society
Michelle, Esma, Kathryn and the gang for your assistance. Thanks to Mark
Bourchier at the Mt Warning Rainforest Park for accommodation and support. Thanks to Simon
Brown of Gecko productions for his outstanding video. Emma Vardy-Bragg for her
tenacity in taking a complaint about access to the NSW Anti-discrimination
commission. Thanks to like minded Facebook Groups Trail Hikes Adventures and 52
peaks for sharing our posts in the face of irrational criticism.
Thank you to
Anthropologist Harry Creamer for standing up for scientific truths and diligent
research. For those that do not know Harry played a key role in researching
sites of Aboriginal Significance in northern NSW for NPWS in the 1970s and
1980s. He interviewed Millie Boyd and recorded her stories about the mountain. Despite
tremendous pressure he stood up publicly and called out the misinformation in
the defective Aboriginal Place Management Plan – this will presumably be
withdrawn and a better plan put in place.
Thanks to
former Ranger Max Murphy for sharing memories and photos of the park at a
better time. Max, you give me hope that our parks can be managed properly for
everyone.
Thanks to
brave politicians for assisting with this fight – Nationals Councillor
Kimberley Hone, Mark Latham, Jacinta Price, Geoff Provest and especially Libertarian
MLC John Ruddick. John I won’t forget our summit trip, your public questioning
of the government in Parliament, help with the petition that triggered a
parliamentary debate and also your assistance with FOI requests that exposed
the lies and hypocrisy. You and the Libertarian Party helped make this happen!
Thankyou!
To the
media. Thankyou to Jeremy Pierce and Mike O’Connor at the Courier Mail, Roger
Franklin at Quadrant Magazine, BenFordham at 2GB (you are a legend Ben!), Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin and JamesMacpherson at SkyNews, Rowan Dean at theSpectator, Matthew Condon and Joseph Humphreys at The Australian for bringing
this issue to wider public attention. Thanks also to Bronwyn Herbert for the
only fair interview I received on the issue from the ABC way back in early 2021.
WCG/NPWS minutes show the ABC worked with the WCG and NPWS to perversely
de-market the summit climb – shame on them. My thanks to Anthony Cappello of
Connor Court publishing for publishing the book.
Sorry I’ve probably left a few names off that
list.
Lastly
Thankyou to all of you, to everyone who has risked a fine by climbing over the
last 6 years, posted photos and your stories online and helped keep us
motivated. You shared in our vision that
our places of natural wonder belong to all of us and we all have a
responsibility to look after to them.
For me it’s
involved writing a book – six months of research that took me way from my job,
cataloguing facts and forgotten stories so that they were in writing and
available to everyone. I wrote copious letters and emails to three Ministers
and two Premiers – at one point in this long saga I was banned from writing to
the Department on the issue for over 12 months. There have been a number of FOI
disclosures where we saw NPWS had planned a complete closure of the mountain on
the 25th of November 2022 and were planning on removing all trace of
the lookouts and other historic infrastructure. Release of minutes of meetings
between the WCG and NPWS demonstrated NPWS had completely abrogated management
responsibility to this secretive group and a host of other bizarre actions. I
wrote numerous articles and took part numerous media interviews. I put
complaints about management to the Ombudsman’s office and the ICAC – neither
chose to investigate the allegations I raised. Prior to the closure in 2018, I
complained to the NSW Anti-discrimination Commission about the racism inherent
in the sign at the base of the mountain. They chose not to investigate. In 2024
I ran as a Libertarian candidate for the State Hornsby by-election – my
election platform built around reopening Mt Warning. Last year with the help of
the Uki Historical Society I nominated the Summit Track as an item of state
significance to the NSW Heritage Office – they said it qualified on one
category only but said it was not a priority for them. I’ve been fined and gone
to court – I was issued a 12 month good behaviour bond for walking to the
summit in April 2024 – the fine issued 3 months later in an act of intimidation
just prior to walking to the summit with Libertarian MP John Ruddick to
celebrate the 95th anniversary of the opening of the park . We live
in a funny world – a 12 month good behaviour bond for walking in a park. But
with the news that the mountain will be reopened it’s been worth the pain,
angst and frustration, late nights and leech bites.
There is still much to be done to ensure the government keeps this promise. The fight will not be over until we can once again walk freely to the summit and witness the wonders of creation. I look forward to thanking you all again when that happens.
THANKYOU!
Marc Hendrickx
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