Parks Victoria chief has big hill to climb over rock climbing ban

Park’s Victoria’s interim boss will dispatch himself to the area that has been hit hardest by the cultural heritage bans that have smashed the heartland of Australia’s rock climbing community.

Climber John Fischer on Castle Crag at Mt Arapiles in Victoria. Picture: David Geraghty

Park’s Victoria’s interim boss will dispatch himself to the area that has been hit hardest by the cultural heritage bans that have smashed the heartland of Australia’s rock climbing community.

Gus Dear, who is running Parks Victoria during a government-ordered investigation into the beleaguered organisation, is due to travel next week to the small climbing town of Natimuk in western Victoria.

He is confronting a community deeply affected by Parks Victoria’s decision to impose sweeping bans on climbing, first in the Grampians National Park and then later at nearby Mt Arapiles.

Natimuk locals expect to see him next week on a two-day visit that is designed to build bridges between Parks Victoria, climbers and First Nations people after the organisation bungled the implementation of the heritage and environmental climbing bans.

The Victorian government is facing an uphill battle to assuage the concerns of the local Barengi Gadjin Land Council, which is upset about the steps to appease the rock climbing community.

Under Victorian law, large fines can be issued to anyone who damages cultural heritage, such as rock paintings, or impacts intangible heritage, which can include areas that are the subject of traditional stories.

Climbing Victoria wants a steering committee to be formed with an appropriate mix of climbers and others with “sufficient scope and ability to bring about more unifying outcomes”.

CV will be advocating for a new management plan for Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park and not just amendments to the 33-year-old plan. It also wants the reconsideration of climbing areas that are currently slated to be closed, and is open to the BGLC joining the committee.

CV spokesman Mike Rockell said it was hoped that climbers could work with the BGLC.

“Otherwise it’s going to be one solution against another one,’’ he said, adding that the legislation affecting Mt Arapiles was open to question and the bans – both current and proposed – exceeded the cultural heritage at the site.

Australian Climbing Association Victoria spokesman Mike Tomkins said the organisation had written to Mr Dear asking to be part of the consultation process.

He had also been discussing what legislative reform was needed to resolve the dysfunction in Parks Victoria and the difficulties with cultural heritage laws.

Parks Victoria said in a statement: “The minister directed that consultation on the Dyurrite (Arapiles) draft management plan amendment be extended to 14 February 2025, giving the community more opportunities to make submissions. Gus Dear is leading this consultation to ensure local council, tourism operators, Climbing Victoria, the local community and business views are heard.”

Mr Dear is an ally of Premier Jacinta Allan and is respected in the outdoors community.

In 2019, the Victorian government began gutting climbing in western Victoria, first with the Grampians National Park which has significant rock art cultural heritage.

But Parks Victoria used false, misleading or unverifiable evidence to claim harm was committed by rock climbers, including the incorrect claim that rock art had been damaged by a bolt inserted by climbers.

In 2020, Parks Victoria announced it had rediscovered quarry sites, artefact scatters and rock art at Arapiles, which is 335km northwest of Melbourne.

It claims there are dozens of motifs in charcoal and red ochre, including a decorated oval reminiscent of designs painted on ­Aboriginal shields.

However, The Australian has revealed the last publicly available archaeological report from Arapiles more than 30 years ago showed there was only limited rock art at the site, with ancient quarrying being the main historical ­evidence.

No one is denying that there is some cultural heritage at Arapiles, merely whether the extent of the proposed bans is justified.