No Limits 4x4 Hire launches clean up of the Old Tele Track in Cape York

While some call them “mementos,” a group that has just cleaned up an iconic Cape four-wheel-drive track has condemned the zip-tying car parts, thongs and beer cans to landmarks. Have you say in our poll.

The shelter at Cockatoo Creek on the Old Telegraph Track has been cleaned of bottles, cans and ‘mementos.’ Picture: No Limits

While some call them “mementos,” a group that has just cleaned up an iconic Cape four-wheel-drive track has condemned the zip-tying car parts, thongs and beer cans to landmarks.

For the past week, eight vehicles and 17 people have removed from the southern section of the Old Telegraph Track nine trailer loads of dumped car parts, three bulker bags full of discarded cans and bottles and another bulker bag full of general waste.

Starting at Bramwell Junction Roadhouse, No Limits 4x4 Hire manager Toby Reid said the team, including paying customers, worked their way up the track pulling broken car parts and camping gear out of the bush as they went.

The No Limits 4x4 Hire clean up crew in Cairns before heading off the tackle the Cape. Picture: No Limits

“(People) have the means (to dispose of the rubbish) but they just don’t take it out, they damage things on the rocks and just leave them there,” he said.

“And then sometimes zip tie them to a tree as a memento.

“At Cockatoo Creek there is a shelter there and people had been writing their names on the walls and people started hanging cans and since then it’s boomed and things are tied all over the place including a radiator strapped to the ceiling.”

A radiator and kids trike strapped to the roof of the Cockatoo Creek shelter. Picture: No Limits

Four-wheel-drive enthusiasts have also taken to dressing up termite mounds in old T-shirts and discarded mining hats as well as slapping stickers on road signs.

The long-held tradition of glueing memorial plaques, nailing items to trees and graffitiing rock cliffs at the Tip to commemorate bucket list tips was stamped out in 2022 after the Traditional Owners drew a line in sand.

Memorial plaques at the Tip of Cape York mark the cliff face near the Tip walking trail car park have since been removed. Picture: SHANTELL KENNELL

The Gudang Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation at the time threatened to lock the gate on access to the Tip due to disrespect of country, which extended to vehicles ploughing through the bush and visitors defecating in the scrub.

A dressed up termite mound at Cape York. Picture: Supplied

Mr Reid condemned the practice of displaying discarded car parts and rubbish, who believed the eyesores had no place at Cape York, including on the Old Tele Track.

“I have no idea why they do it, it’s definitely a cultural thing,” he said.

Conducting a poll of other travellers Mr Reid said 90 per cent of people surveyed supported efforts to keep the environment pristine.

“The reception has been really good, the vast majority want to see it clean and look after the place unlike the minority that want to ruin it for other people,” he said.

No Limits 4x4 has spearheaded a massive clean-up of the entire southern section of the Old Telegraph Track and north to Canal Creek. Picture: No Limits

Most of the waste has been taken to the Heathlands Ranger Station, halfway along the Old Tele Track, before it will be carted to Coen and dumped at a Cook Shire Council facility.

And what’s left will be turned into an art installation by Dan Draper and Evita Camilleri from Derby Cross who were also involved in the clean up tour.

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Originally published as No Limits 4x4 Hire launches clean up of the Old Tele Track in Cape York