Mt Warning next on climb chopping block

Activists who’ve campaigned for years to end climbing at Mt Warning saying the recent closure of Uluru has given them the momentum they need to make it happen.

A RENEWED push to close northern NSW hiking attraction Mt Warning to climbers has flared up in the days following Uluru’s closure to climbers.

Mt Warning, also known as Wollumbin, in the Tweed region is considered a sacred site for the Bundjalung people – and they have been campaigning for years to stop the 100,000 or so people a year from climbing it.

Bundjalung Elder Robert Corowa said the recent closure of Uluru had given them the momentum they need to make it happen.

“I am very motivated by what I’ve seen at Uluru,” Mr Corowa said.

“We’ve been trying to pull the chains down and stop people climbing it for years … it’s probably one of the main sites in the Bundjalung nation.”

Bundjalung elders want Mt Warning shut to climbers. Picture: Christa Merkes-Frei

Mr Corowa said he does not even visit the mountain as seeing people “desecrating” the sacred site is too upsetting.

“I’m ashamed to go there,” he said. “It makes me really sad to watch people climbing it. I don’t want to let people think they’ve got the right.

“Money and greed is the main factor for desecration of sacred sites.”

However, as Mount Warning is one of the main tourist attractions in the Tweed region, Mount Warning Rainforest Park manager Mark Bourchier said he was concerned closing it to climbers would have a detrimental impact on local tourism.

A climber makes it to the top of Mt Warning. Picture: Natalie Grono

“If we go shutting the mountain, I can see there would be way less visitors to the area,” Mr Bourchier said.

Long-serving Tweed Shire Councillor Warren Polglase said the argument to close Mount Warning had been coming up in council for years, but said he believed serious action may now be taken, after the closure of Uluru.