I appeared on Michael Gray Griffith's Cafe Locked Out show on April 23, 2024.
Link to video HERE.
Some notes I made for the show...
Re-Open Mt Warning
The distinctive peak of Mt Warning in northern NSW was named on 16th May 1770 by Captain James Cook as a warning for dangerous shoals along the coast further north. The first recorded ascent was in 1868 by Frank, Lou and Arthur Nixon with Aboriginal men Nelson and Maloney.
Mt Warning and shield – peak on left, photo by Steven Gibbs
Locals in the nearly town of Murwillumbah saw the potential
of the mountain to attract visitors owing to the awe inspiring views of the
north coast available from the summit, and in 1909 volunteers completed a 4.4km
track to the summit. The last 200m or so involved an adventurous scramble up a
steep rock slope. Construction included numerous drystone walls and steps
worthy of heritage listing but ignored by its current managers, the NSW
National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
On August 3, 1929 the mountain and surrounding subtropical
rainforest were declared a National Park. It was opened for all Australians by
NSW Attorney General Francis Boyce. Boyce and his wife rode horses to an area
below the rock scramble testifying to the excellent condition of the trail at
the time.
The track became very popular. In the late 1970s annual visitor
numbers were estimated to be about 20000. This put some pressure on the small
summit plateau and in 1989 NPWS erected four lookouts at the summit, one at
each cardinal point of the compass to address problems with erosion. In the
mid-1990s an informal post and chain along the rock scramble was replaced with
better made steel posts and stronger chain. In 1993 NPWS published a glossy
tourist guide featuring the summit walk which
it deemed “Staircase to the Sky” and encouraged people as young as 5 and as old
as 80 to climb the mountain. Visitor numbers were estimated to be about 60,000
per year.
Rigorous anthropological surveys conducted by NPWS in the
1970s and 1980s did not find any problems with public access to the mountain’s
summit from the Aboriginal elders they interviewed. These elders included highly
respected elder Millie Boyd.
The first time climbing the mountain was raised as being a
problem with Aboriginal groups was on the cusp of the 1999-2000 millennium
event, a NPWS organised walk to celebrate the New millennium. A lone Aboriginal man from outside the area
raised objections to the public climbing the mountain, claiming that as the
tribe that had responsibility for the mountain had died, his group had the
right to take ownership of the mountain. These claims were derided by other
senior Aboriginal elders at the time as being a “modern day invention”.
Somehow the views of this lone individual gained traction amongst
NPWS bureaucrats and in 2006 a sign was erected at the start of the walk on
behalf of the “Bundjalung Nation”, asking visitors not to climb to the summit.
The sign was objected to by the Aboriginal group NPWS had previously consulted
with, but the sign was not removed.
In 2007 shortly before she died Ngarakwal Elder Marlene Boyd
(daughter of Millie) stated about Mt Warning: "How can the public experience the spiritual significance of this
land if they do not climb the summit and witness creation." She said: "We are the Wollumbin tribe who are
traditionally the Ngarakwal/Nganduwal Aboriginal Moiety - we are the original
custodians of Mt Warning. We are not Bunjalung." Sadly she was ignored
by NPWS.
From this point NPWS developed a long term plan to close
public access to the summit. Visitation following the millennium event and
tourist marketing of the summit as the first place on the Australian mainland
to see the sunrise saw visitation soar to around 100000 per year from the early
2000s (figures provided by NPWS range up to 170,000). With high maintenance
costs, lack of rangers on site and lack of imagination by NPWS in looking at
management options (eg a small entry fee), the die was cast on the future of
the summit trail. As a means of trying to downscale the popularity of the
summit experience NPWS even engaged university academics to try and “demarket”
the mountain. These efforts failed and prior to March 2020 the summit track
remained one of the most popular bushwalks in NSW.
In March 2020 NPWS acted on its long term plans to close the
trail. Under the cover of covid paranoia it launched a series of rolling “temporary”
closures of the park. When other similar tracks in the state were re-opened Mt
Warning remained closed. The game was given away when documents released
through an FOI application showed NPWS intended to close the summit in late
2022. In August 2020 NPWS removed the chain and posts in secret claiming safety
issues, leaving the posts and chain stacked roughly below the rock scramble.
These claims were contested but NPWS did not conduct an independent third party
review. A campaign to save the mountain was launched in March 2021 with the
launch of the re-open Mt Warning Facebook group. Despite vocal opposition from
locals and across the country the closure came about in October 2022 as
planned, with the release of an Aboriginal Place Management Plan for the park.
This saw the park closed due to concerns about the “cultural safety“ of
visitors.
In response on Australia Day 2023 a small group from the Reopen Mt Warning group staged a protest at the summit. With the approval of Ngarakwal custodians they played a recording of Millie Boyd singing about the mountains. A repeat was staged on Australia Day 2024 with members of the Reopen Mt Warning Group joined by the newly formed Save our Summits Association and Sturt Boyd; Millie’s grandson. This protest climb appears to be turning into an annual event.
A book “A guide to climbing Mt Warning” by geologist Marc
Hendrickx was published in October 2023. It outlined history and facts about the
mountain not provided by NPWS in its official pronouncements providing evidence
to counter NPWS claims about environmental damage, safety and Aboriginal
claims.
Following a community meeting and the Australia Day 2024 climb, a NSW parliamentary petition was launched in February 2024, sponsored by Libertarian MLC John Ruddick. The petition (still open as this is written) has attracted over 10000 signatures and has triggered a future debate on the issue in the NSW upper house.
Mt Warning Summit Protest Australia Day 2024
Protest Rally in Uki on Australia Day 2024. Photo Steven Gibbs.
As April 23rd the mountain remains officially
closed and those entering threatened with fines as high as $550,000. The cost
of the four year closure is mounting with estimates of over $50 million lost to
the economy from over 500,000 missed visits. Local businesses are closing as a
result. The closure has also caused considerable mental anguish among regular
climbers and bushwalking enthusiasts locked out of nature on the basis of
someone else’s religious beliefs.
The NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe while seeming to
be more engaged than her predecessors, having staged meetings with Reopen
supporters, has not provided a timeframe for reopening.
Mt Warning remains in limbo.
Petition link: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lc/pages/epetition-details.aspx?q=mIh4VlYuV3MWXOB3MBXJYQ
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