Right to Climb

With the death knell rattling louding at Mt Warning in NSW, across the border Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service have shut the gate "temporarily" (ed - where have we heard that before?) at Mt Beerwah in the Glasshouse Mountains. Mt Beerwah is one of the most spectacular and challenging walks on the east coast and frequented by 10,000s of visitors each year. By Bidgee - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9812428 Last week some idiot(s), highly improbable it was a bushwalker or a Christian, clumsily carved the words 'Jesus Saves Just Ask Him" into the rock face with an angle grinder low down on the mountain. Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service today announced the Mountain would be closed for "cultural Healing". It's frustrating that QPWS have not attempted to speak with the climbing and bushwalking community who are outraged at this act of wanton vandalism before closing the mountain to visitors. There would have...

 Press coverage in today's The Australian Newspaper. NPWS have banned individuals from corresponding with them over the closure of Mt Warning, they have taken to issuing meaningless form letters in response to serious questions leaving them unanswered. They have never attempted any form of broad community consultation or consultation with local businesses affected by the closure. They even denied traditional custodians a working bee so they could access memorials left in the park. They are truly incompetent.  The absence of constructive dialogue with NPWS leaves little options left other than a mass trespass akin to the Mass Trespass of Kinder Scout.  Page 6 Page 12

Australian Cultural Heritage gathering dust in Parks Australia garage. A recent photo from a reader of a trio at the cairn in 1975 provided a trigger to check with Parks Australia on their plans for the Ayers Rock Summit Cairn - a wonderful piece of Australian Cultural Heritage. The cairn was installed in 1970 by NT Park Rangers, lead by Derek Rolf in 1970. It was visited by well over 6 million visitors until Parks Australia destroyed it and clumsily reassembled it and left it n a shed in 2019. The important Geodetic survey marker that was installed beneath the cairn was also destroyed by Parks Australia when the cairn was removed. This would normally result in a large fine but we are not aware if one was issued.  Australian cultural heritage, clumsily re-assembled (inside out) and collecting dust in a PA garage. (photo Nov, 2019) There were some bizarre plans to display the cairn and fragments of the chain at the base of the rock but these have not come to fruition.  I checke...

 Mt Warning Protest Australia Day 2023 In the true spirit of reconciliation and looking towards a brighter future for all Australians, a small group of 7 walkers from Re-Open Mt Warning braved the darkness, heat, humidity and the leeches to be the first to see the sunrise on Australia Day this morning from the top of Mt Warning (wish I could have been among them). This small protest was intended to highlight continued management problems, delays and intransigence by NPWS in working with all stakeholders to re-open the park to all Australians. The group were there with the blessing of Ngarkwal custodian Eelemarni Elizabeth Davis Boyd. At her request they played a song from the summit about the mountains west of Mount Warning sung by her grandmother, Millie Boyd in the hope that this magical song would influence the Aboriginal men responsible for the closure, and help them support the women in sharing the mountain with everyone. A speech was read from the summit and its contents appe...

 The Murwillumbah Address Copy of my speech given at the Community Gathering held at Knox Park Murwillumbah, January 14 2023. Links to press coverage below. Re-Open Mt Warning, Murwillumbah 14 January 2023 Thank you all for coming today. You can all be proud of standing up and coming here in support of continued public access to this remarkable 20 million year old Natural Wonde.This grand volcanic edifice, that looks over this wonderful town and country. The underlying principle of park management should be that we are all able to enjoy the natural world on our own terms without interference from petty bureaucracy and the ideological beliefs of others. Long established trails and walks in our parks deserve to be appropriately maintained and open to all. Those that do not want to climb or visit the park are free to do so, but they have absolutely no right to impose their views on others seeking the awe, wonder and serenity of this outstanding natural place. I have a shortish speech ...

Here's hoping this view will once again be open to all this year! Happy New Year. Thanks to Darryl Donttrythisathome

Representative of the Ngarakbal - Githubal Women, Elizabeth Boyd, daughter of Marlene Boyd, has provided a statement and press release about the closure of the Mt Warning National Park and provided permission to share it. This statement once and for all confirms NPWS have failed in their obligations under the Act to properly consult the rightful Aboriginal Custodians for over 20 years. It confirms the Minister and Public have been misled about Aboriginal Heritage in the Park by NPWS. Based on this extraordinary statement the Minister must act immediately to suspend those involved and initiate a far-ranging independent inquiry into management failures in the Mount Warning National Park. Please send your questions to Minister Griffin and Premier Perrottet! Statement text below: Press Release Statement of Elizabeth Davis Boyd  regarding the closure of the Mount Warning National Park My name is  Elizabeth Davis Boyd — Tribal name "Eelemarni I am an authorised representative of the...

Recent article in the Courier Mail ( Wollumbin scientist questions sacred nature of mountain , 18/12/2022) raises a question as to whether there are any sacred sites on the Mountain. The massif itself features in various mythologies but it seems it's possible that there are no actual sites on the mountain itself. This lines up with Ngarakwaal stories about the mountain being an increase site for brush turkeys where no hunting, and hence no visitation took place. Early ascents (eg Cudgen Guilfoyle 1871 ) make no mention of pre-existing trails to the summit which would have been present if the summit area was used as a male initiation site as recently claimed.  "A scientist who spent years studying Mount Warning Wollumbin has questioned just how “sacred” the site is after a committee recommended closing it to the public forever. Dr Peter Solomon wrote a thesis for the University of Queensland on his findings from years of study during the 1950s, focusing mostly on the area’s uni...

Coming Next year: A Guide to Climbing Mt Warning. Let's hope it has a happy ending!

We have been reporting on NPWS deliberate misrepresentation of Aboriginal views and cultural stories about Mt Warning for some time. In an article in today's Daily Telegraph Ngarakbal Githabul elder Elizabeth Boyd ( daughter of Marlene Boyd ) confirms NPWS did not properly consult Aboriginal groups in preparing its Aboriginal Place Management Plan for the park, released by the Minister in October .  Daily Telegraph 25/11/2022 p.38 In the article Ms Boyd states: “The Ngarakbal Githabul women have not been included in any of the consultative process in regards to the management or closure of Mount Warning. The State Government’s administrative decision to permanently close Mount Warning not only contravenes my customary law rights and women’s rights and human rights – but also my cultural responsibilities to the Gulgan (a Ngarakbal Githabul word for pathway keeper) memorial.” NPWS have known about Ngarakbal Githabul claims since the late 1990s. The d eclaration of Aborigina...