Australia Day: Hikers defy Indigenous ban on climbing Mount Warning by making early morning ascent
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Protesters have climbed to the top of ‘stunningly beautiful’ Mount Warning, defying a ban imposed out of respect for Aboriginal custodians.
The Reopen Mount Warning (RMW) group said it had the blessing of another indigenous elder to do the controversial trek.
In October, the entry of visitors was prohibited the Tweed Shire Walking Trail in northern New South Wales, while the Wollumbin Advisory Group and the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service have prepared a management plan outlining their decision to close the site for good.
This followed ‘temporary’ closures dating back to the early days of the Covid pandemic in 2020 and later counting flood damage and safety as a reason for the ban.
Known as Wollumbin to the traditional owners, the Instagram hotspot, popular with locals and tourists alike, drew more than 127,000 visitors each year before it closed in March 2020.
But in the early morning darkness of Australia Day, RMW members ignored the ban to send a direct message to the NSW government.
A group of protesters (pictured) scaled Mount Warning on Australia Day, defying a ban imposed out of respect for Aboriginal custodians.
The group’s spokesman, Adrian Hoffman, said their climb was blessed by local indigenous woman Elizabeth Davis Boyd.
“Sitting on top of this incredibly beautiful and sacred site, we have just witnessed the first rays of sunshine hitting our Australian continent and we feel so humbled and blessed,” he said.
“But we are not here for personal satisfaction or emotions, but to strongly protest against the permanent closure of the Mount Warning summit trail.
“We are friends with Mt Warning and we seek to preserve this natural wonder for future generations.”
In November, Ms Boyd, the authorized representative of the Ngarakbal Githabul women, said she feared that she and others would be denied access to their ancestral sites on the northern slopes of Mount Warning.
Mr Hoffman told the climbers that they would lobby the New South Wales government to reopen the trail to the public.
He said the group’s climb flouted the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service’s claim that one of the reasons for the trail’s closure was because it was unsafe.
The decision to close a popular walking trail out of respect for the original Aboriginal custodians has sparked backlash. Pictured: Hikers at the top of the trail before the ban was introduced.
Pictured is the view from ‘stunningly beautiful’ Mount Warning in northern New South Wales.
“Within our group is a 71-year-old man who had a total hip replacement just five months ago and managed to hobble here in the dark,” he said.
Ms Boyd’s mother, Marlene Boyd, who died in 2007, was recognized as the ‘Keeper of the Seven Sisters Creation Site’, one of two women’s lore sites.
There is also a memorial dedicated to his mother on the Lyrebird Track at the base of the park.
“Mount Warning and the closure process is being reported internationally as a Bundjalung men’s site,” Ms Boyd said.
Elder Elizabeth Davis Boyd, authorized representative of the women of Ngarakbal Githabul, says the Wollumbin Consultative Group’s proposal has caused great damage to their culture, tradition and ancestral traditions.
Indigenous elders say the group appears to be wiping out the women’s ancestral sites on Mount Warning
‘This is not correct and it is doing great damage to my ancestral culture, tradition and knowledge. My ancestors were already here.
‘The women of Ngarakbal Githabul have not been included in any of the consultative processes regarding the management or closure of Mount Warning.
“The state government’s administrative decision to permanently close Mount Warning not only contravenes my common law and women’s rights and human rights, but also my cultural responsibilities to the Gulgan Monument.”
Representatives for Yoocum Yoocum and Ngarakbal Githabul expressed their concerns to NSW Environment Minister James Griffin in a letter obtained by Daily Mail Australia.
The track from Wollumbin National Park to Mt Warning-Wollumbin has been closed since March 2020 due to Covid-19, public safety risks due to recent flooding and additional consultation with the Aboriginal community.
“The Bundjalung People are endorsing the ‘one tribe policy’ by extinguishing the many tribes within the Yoocum Yoocum moiety that have not been given a voice in this matter,” the letter said.
‘The Wollumbin Advisory Group has discriminated against women and our traditions.
‘The Wollumbin Advisory Group has sought to exterminate the Matristic Grandmother’s Rainbow Serpent and the Seven Sisters Lore Traditions of my half.
‘The oldest continuous culture on earth.’
Indigenous leaders fear being ‘dispossessed’ of their ancestors’ sacred female sites at Mount Warning
The NSW government said the current ban is not permanent, but with the NSW state election in two months, nothing is likely to change anytime soon.
There have been proposals to limit the number of visitors, rather than have a blanket ban, and to introduce fees or permits to use the trail.
The climbers have called for an independent public inquiry into the situation.