One of Australia’s most scenic mountains, visited by thousands of hikers and tourists each year, will remain closed for at least another year.
Mount Warning (known as Wollumbin among indigenous people) near Murwillumbah, in the northern rivers of New South Wales, has been off-limits to the public for almost five years after the popular hiking route was closed to protect indigenous heritage of the site.
The controversial ban outraged many Australians and sparked protests by hikers, led by New South Wales Upper House MP John Ruddick and Marc Hendrickx of the Right to Climb advocacy group.
More reaction is expected after the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service announced on Thursday that the summit route will remain closed until December 31, 2025, to allow additional time for careful consideration of the future of the place.
“The NPWS recognizes the uncertainty the process has caused the community and businesses,” the statement read.
‘For Aboriginal people, Wollumbin, which is a declared Aboriginal place, has deep cultural and spiritual significance.
“Ensuring all stakeholders, particularly Aboriginal custodians, are meaningfully involved is critical to any future decisions about the site.”
The department recognized the importance of the future of the site to the community, the council and businesses.
Mount Warning (pictured) will remain closed to hikers and tourists until at least December 31, 2025.
Mount Warning is the highest peak at the easternmost point of Australia and is the first part of the country each day to receive sunlight.
“The NPWS will continue to maintain and develop visitation opportunities in the region to support local communities and their economies,” the statement continued.
The rest of Wollumbin National Park remains accessible to the public.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted NPWS for further comment.
Hendrickx described his bitter disappointment at the ban’s extension as an understatement.
“NPWS’s incompetence in managing the park for all Australians appears to continue until 2025 and no resolution appears likely to occur until 2026 or later,” he said.
‘The track will have been closed for five years by March 2025 and there has been more than enough time for the Minister (for the Environment of the New South Wales Government) to complete discussions and make a decision that benefits the entire community of New South Wales and not just a handful of activists.
‘The economic damage caused by the unreasonable decision to close the road continues to impact the local community.
“Mount Warning National Park should be defunded if the public cannot access the summit due to their ancestry and gender.”
Once visited by 120,000 visitors each year, Mount Warning is the highest peak at Australia’s easternmost point and is the first part of the country to receive sunlight each day.
The backlash against the ban began after the Wollumbin Consultative Group petitioned the former state government to ban non-Aboriginal Australians from visiting the area (visitors pictured at Mount Warning).
The summit route 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 allowing women, including those of indigenous descent, into the site would ruin its cultural significance.
The New South Wales Department of National Parks recommended fully handing over management of the area to the group in 2022.
Prominent activist and author Marc Hendrickx (pictured) is among dozens of protesters who have voiced their opposition to the hiking trail ban.
Members of the local Indigenous community have opposed the group’s support for the ban.
Several indigenous elders have claimed that the group appears to be extinguishing women’s ancestral sites by claiming that everything in the park is exclusively male and Bundjalung.
Hendrickx, author of A Guide to Climbing Mount Warning, was among dozens of protesters who scaled the mountain on Australia Day this year.
Three months later, the prominent activist became the first person fined for climbing the mountain since the hiking ban was enacted.
Hendrickx was fined $300 for violating the National Parks and Wildlife Regulations 2019 by entering “a park that is closed to the public.”
The geologist engineer previously told Daily Mail Australia that 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 couldn’t access these places then it would really be like an attack on being Australian,” Mr Hendricx said.
Ruddick launched a petition in February in an attempt 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.