Hikers were outraged after an iconic mountain was shut down due to its significance to Indigenous Australians. The latest decision about its closure has sparked a new wave of fury

One of Australia’s most beautiful mountains, once visited by thousands of hikers and tourists every year, will remain closed for at least another year.

Mount Warning (known among Indigenous people as Wollumbin) near Murwillumbah, in the NSW Northern Rivers, has been off limits to the public for almost five years after the popular walking trail was closed to protect the site’s Indigenous heritage.

The controversial ban angered many Australians and sparked protests from hikers, led by NSW Upper House MP John Ruddick and Marc Hendrickx of advocacy group Right to Climb.

More setbacks are expected after the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service announced on Thursday that the summit trail will remain closed until December 31, 2025, to allow additional time for careful consideration of the site’s future.

“NPWS recognizes the uncertainty the process has caused the community and business community,” the statement said.

‘For Aboriginal people there is deep cultural and spiritual significance of Wollumbin, which has been declared an Aboriginal place.

“Ensuring that all stakeholders, especially Aboriginal custodians, are meaningfully involved is critical to future decisions about the site.”

The department recognized the importance of the future of the site to the community, council and businesses.

Mount Warning is the highest peak at Australia’s easternmost point and is the first part of the country to get sunlight every day.

“NPWS will continue to maintain and develop visiting opportunities in the region to support local communities and their economies,” the statement continued.

The remainder of Wollumbin National Park remains open to the public.

Daily Mail Australia contacted NPWS for further comment.

Mr Hendrickx describes his bitter disappointment about the extended ban as an understatement.

“It appears that NPWS’s incompetence in managing the park for all Australians will continue into 2025 and it appears that there will be no resolution until 2026 or later,” he said.

‘The track will be closed for five years in March 2025 and there is more than enough time for the (NSW Government Environment Minister) to finalize discussions and make a decision that benefits the entire NSW community and not just a handful of activists.

“The economic damage caused by the unreasonable decision to close the circuit continues to affect the local community.

‘Mount Warning National Park should be shut down if the public is denied access to the summit based on ethnicity and gender.’

Once visited by 120,000 visitors a year, Mount Warning is the highest peak at Australia’s easternmost point and is the first part of the country to get sunlight every day.

Opposition to the ban began after the Wollumbin Consultative Group petitioned the former state government to ban non-Aboriginal Australians from visiting the area (photo visitors at Mount Warning)

The summit trail was closed in 2020 after the Wollumbin Consultative Group successfully petitioned the then Liberal state government to ban access to non-Aboriginal Australians.

The group, made up of indigenous families and community organizations, said the trail has cultural and spiritual significance for Bundjalung men.

The group also claimed that admitting women – including those of indigenous heritage – would ruin its cultural significance.

The NSW Department of National Parks recommended that management of the area be fully transferred to the group in 2022.

Prominent activist and author Marc Hendrickx (pictured) was among dozens of protesters who voiced their opposition to the trail ban

The group’s support for the ban was met with opposition from members of the local indigenous community.

Several indigenous elders have claimed that the group appears to be destroying ancestral women’s stories by claiming everything in the park as exclusively male and Bundjalung.

Mr Hendrickx, author of A Guide to Climbing Mt Warning, was one of dozens of protesters who climbed the mountain on Australia Day this year.

Three months later, the prominent activist became the first person to be fined for climbing the mountain since the hiking ban came into effect.

Mr Hendrickx was fined $300 for breaching the National Parks and Wildlife Regulation 2019 for entering ‘a park closed to the public’.

The engineering geologist previously told Daily Mail Australia that the decision to ban visitors to the site goes against the values ​​Australians uphold.

‘Access to these beautiful natural places is part of what truly underlies and builds our Australian character; and if we can’t get to these places then it’s actually an attack on being Australian,” Mr Hendricx said.

Mr Ruddick launched a petition in February in a bid to reopen the mountain to the public.

“I don’t think it’s the Aboriginal version of Jerusalem, Mecca or St. Peter’s,” he said.