Australian National Parks: Black Only - Whites Not Allowed

[Rev.Cambeul]

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

Pravnav Harish | Daily Mail (UK) | 20 December 2024

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14208787/Mount-Warning-closure-extended.html

Excerpt: One of Australia's most scenic mountains once visited by thousands of hikers and tourists each year will remain closed.

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

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

More backlash is expected after the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service announced on Thursday that the summit track will remain closed.

Mount Warning (pictured) will remain closed to Whites

Black Only - No Whites Allowed!

'NPWS acknowledges the uncertainty the process has caused the community and businesses,' the statement read.

'For Aboriginal people there is a deep cultural and spiritual significance of Wollumbin, which is a declared Aboriginal place.'

Once visited by 120,000 visitors visitors every year, Mount Warning is the highest peak at Australia's most easterly point and is the first part of the nation each day to get sunlight.

The summit trail was shut down 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 organisations, stated the trail has cultural and spiritual significance to the Bundjalung men.

The group also claimed allowing females on the site would ruin its cultural significance.

The NSW Department of National Parks recommended handing the management of the area over to the group completely.

Australia for the White Man
Myponga, SA

White Fight!

Prominent activist and author Marc  Hendrickx, who authored A Guide to Climbing Mt Warning, was among dozens of protestors who climbed the mountain on Australia Day this year.

Three months later, the prominent White activist became the first person to be fined for climbing the mountain since the hiking ban was enacted.

Mr Hendrickx copped a $300 fine for [being White and] breaching the National Parks and Wildlife Regulation 2019 for entering 'a park that is closed to the public White Australians'.

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

'Access to these wonderful natural places is part of what really underlies and builds our Australian character; and if we were unable to access these places, then really it's like an attack on being Australian,' Mr Hendricx said.

'I don't believe it is the Aboriginal version of Jerusalem or Mecca or St Peters,' he said.