Re-Open Mt Warning Community Meeting

When: Friday 2^nd Aug

Starting: 5.30 pm for dinner then meeting 7.00 pm

Where: Mt Warning HotelUki

Celebrate the 95th anniversary of Mt Warning with dinner drinks and chat with MLC John Ruddick, Marc Hendrickx and SOS members

This meeting is intended for local interest groups and businesses who have been impacted by the closure of our World Heritage mountain. All interested members of the general public are very welcome. Please come and support us and this magnificent local Pub.

 Official 95th Birthday celebration of Mt Warning National Park

When: Saturday 3rd August

Starting: 10am.

Where: Breakfast Creek carpark at foot of Mt Warning Mount Warning Rd

95th Anniversary of the Declaration of the Mt Warning National Park on 3rd August 1929

Join us to recreate this historical event and celebrate this Gorgeous and Beautiful place.

Keep the Gate open on Awe and Wonder – Sunshine Coast

Sunday 4th August.

North Shore Community Center, 701 David Low way, Mudjimba.

Starting 1:30pm

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/movingforwardsunshinecoast/1316169

$15 to cover costs

Marc Hendrickx outlines the case, through facts, figures and historical

information for keeping these places open to the public and protecting public access to other places currently under threat of closure like the Glass House Mountains in QLD, St Mary's Peak in South Australia and the Grampians in Victoria.

Marc will present on the topic: "Keep open the gate of Awe and Wonder"

Carolyn Rogers is a Psychologist with over 25 yeas of experience and has her private practice in Brisbane. Before training as a Psychologist, Carolyn was a Registered Nurse and had a background in Nutrition. Carolyn has been a presenter for Low Carb Down Under, the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Medical Network, amongst others. In her many years practising as a Psychologist, Carolyn has observed that underpinning all the difficulties people struggle with, there are always problems with human connection, otherwise known as Attachment.

Carolyn will present on the topic: "What Has My Childhood Got To Do With Anything? Understanding Attachment”

Keep the Gate open on Awe and Wonder - GoldCoast

When: Tuesday 6th August

Where: Croatian Club 181 Nerang, Broadbeach Rd, Carrara QLD 4211, Australia

Starting: 6:30pm (dinner available to purchase from 5:30pm)

Speakers:

Marc Hendrickx – Geologist, Blogger and Author

Hon Malcolm Roberts – Queensland Senator

Join the fight for access and continued access to magnificent and beautiful places like our 100 year old  Mt Warning summit trail & The Glass House Mountains summit routes.

Event organised by Sandy Roach for Gaven, Pauline Hansons One Nation

https://events.humanitix.com/keep-open-the-gates-to-awe-and-wonder

NSW Parliament Debate Update -

*SOS sponsored Sturt and Alan to travel to and attend the debate. One their way they met with Adrian at the Mt Warning trail head and left a message on the Wall of Division. Sturt's letter to Penny Sharpe and Video below.

*The owner of the Mt Warning Hotel was interviewed by channel 7. The message is slowing getting out there about the damage this closure has done and is doing to the community.

*Sturt found his Mums memorial. Now safely relocated at the Mt Warning Rain Forest Park . Pic below

*Individuals and Groups are starting to realize that the trail is in reasonable condition and are using use it. There were quite a few locals that completed their first dawn summits. pics below

*Media uptake is improving. some articles below

*The petition reached its mandate of 10,000 and got very close to 11,000. The debate was held. John put put across many very good arguments and requested a time frame for the re-opening to be given. The response from Penny Sharpe was to essentially not respond or debate any of Johns arguments for re-opening the walk. Summary & Links to audio below

The debate In Brief:

Ruddick (left, atop Mt Warning) dealt only in established facts, quoting Aboriginal elders and Creamer’s extensive research and reports that conclusively demonstrate arguments about the supposed sacredness of the mountain (used by the government to close it) are a modern invention, an entirely fabricated contemporary version of Aboriginal mythology with no links whatsoever to Dreamtime belief. Ruddick also drew attention to the ridiculous demands in the Aboriginal Place Management Plan, approved by Coalition ministers Matt Kean and James Griffin. In October 2022 they signed off on a plan that:

♦ closes the “Aboriginal Place” (all areas above 600 metres, which includes the summit) to ‘unsanctioned peoples’,

♦ discourages the public from visiting Wollumbin AP (particularly aimed at nearby schools).

♦ closes the entire national park by extending the “Aboriginal Place” to cover all of the park,

♦ seeks to control development in all areas of the Tweed Valley that can be viewed from the mountain that would ‘impact on the aesthetics, connection to Country and the cultural landscape which are integral to the cultural values of Wollumbin,

♦ Exerts control over the use of commercial photography of the mountain, and

♦ controls research that might challenge the assertions behind the above measures

Ruddick also addressed the immense economic damage the closure has caused, indicating$50 million in tourist dollars lost over during what is now a four-year closure.

The Greens Sue Higgenson (right) spoke next. Not surprisingly, Higgenson’s rant was rooted in high school level, race-based politics. Apparently all those present were genocidal colonisers and the matter could only be debated by those of the appropriate skin colour. Shamefully she ignored Sturt Davies Boyd’s presence in the public gallery.

Minister Penny Sharpe then spoke, ignoring all the evidence presented to her by Harry Creamer months before. She said it’s a complicated issue, blah, safety concerns blah blah, more discussion needed blah blah blah and yet more blah. Sadly and to their great shame, no Liberal or National members provided any input. And thus, with a brief parting shot from John Ruddick excoriating the Greens and the government, the debate was over.

Thankyou to Ngarakwal custodian Sturt Boyd. Your mother and grandmother would be proud of you today and long may we hear Marlene Boyd’s wonderful call “to go to the summit and witness creation”. Our parks belong to all of us. The repugnant ideology of racial exclusion can’t be allowed to continue determining access to our natural wonders

Link to Marc Hendrix's blog - https://righttoclimb.blogspot.com/2024/03/mt-warning-closure-4-years-of-lies-and.html

The Debate

Text from the above article -

Someone very famous once said: "Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust. All segregation statutes are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality. It gives the segregated a false sense of inferiority. One has not only a legal but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws." Martin Luther King Jr

Sacred (definition for google): something that is holy, devoted to a religious ceremony OR simply worthy of awe and respect. Whenever I enter this park it makes me very conscious and aware that I’m stepping into a very special place, an ancient place of awe and wonder that is due our utmost respect, It reminds me that we should all tread lightly on this beautiful planet that is mother Earth.

Australian families have walked this summit trail for 4 or 5 generations, it has become a rite of passage or coming of age for some, a family tradition. This iconic mountain dominates the landscape as you head south from the Gold Coast, to anyone with any sense of adventure it calls you to it’s view from its summit, as it must have to our pioneers because they built a magnificent windy low gradient trail to its summit over 100 years ago. A magnificent 4.4km rain forest trail to an 1160m summit with 4 platforms looking to the 4 compass cardinals, suitable for anyone of reasonable fitness, young or old. Quote from NSWNP Mt Warning guide book 1993: “Age does not appear to be a barrier for those who attempt the climb. Children as young as five have reached the summit unaided. Likewise people in their 80s are also successful. A reasonable degree of fitness and a determined attitude would seem to be the necessary criteria”

This trail was closed at the beginning of covid under the guise that NP couldn’t keep covid off the chain near the summit. 2 years on it was closed permanently to respect a tribes claim that it is sacred to their men and they believe others visiting the summit is an act of desecration.

At Re-Open Mt Warning and Save Our Summits Inc we have been campaigning for public access to this trail for the past 3 years. We believe that respect for all cultures should be considered equally. NSWNP have stated that Mt Warning had over 100,000 visitors a year prior to its closure, you can imagine the effects on local businesses. If you would like to help, please join us on face book or subscribe with email at our website [www.SaveOurSummits.org](http://www.saveoursummits.org/) Thanks. See you on the trails. Andy Flanagan