New Indigenous sacred site calling for Uluru-style ban
Indigenous activists are now calling for a popular hiking spot to be closed to hikers due to the cultural significance to the traditional owners of the land.
Mount Warning in the Tweed ranges in northern NSW is considered a sacred site to the traditional owners, the Bundjalung people, but it’s a popular spot with hikers.
Bundjalung Elder Robert Corowa has said that the recent closure of the Uluru climb has given him and his community a new sense of hope.
“I’m ashamed to go there … it makes me really sad to watch people climbing it. I don’t want to let people think they’ve got the right,” he said.
Corowa has said that visitors who hike Mount Warning are disrespectful to the sacred spot.
“I’m ashamed to go there … it makes me really sad to watch people climbing it. I don’t want to let people think they’ve got the right,” he said.
However, rainforest park manager Mark Bourchier said that he was concerned that the closure of the mountain would impact tourism to the area as it attracts up to 100,000 visitors annually.
“If we go shutting the mountain, I can see there would be way less visitors to the area,” he told The Courier-Mail.