Wollumbin (Mount Warning) permanently closed for visitors

In some controversial news the Mount Warning hiking trail in the Tweed Shire, in far north New South Wales, has been permanently closed to visitors.

The decision to close the popular walking track is out of respect to the original Aboriginal custodians.

The summit of Wollumbin is a sacred place to the Bundjalung People, and was declared an Aboriginal Place in 2014.

Wollumbin, which means ‘cloud catcher’ to some Aboriginal People, is a traditional place of cultural law, initiation and spiritual education for the people of the Bundjalung Nation. Under Bundjalung law, only certain people can climb the summit.

The Wollumbin Consultative Group (WCG) and NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service prepared a management plan earlier this year with the understanding to have the area closed off for good.

The WCG has deemed the site to not be 'culturally appropriate or safe' for hikers to use or for images to be taken of it for tourism purposes.

Environment Minister James Griffin said use of the track conflicted with Aboriginal cultural values.

'The Wollumbin Consultative Group's long-standing view is that public access to the summit is not in line with the cultural values of the area,' he said.

The WCG said the site held both physical and spiritual importance to the community.

'Wollumbin is interconnected to a broader cultural and spiritual landscape that includes creation, dreaming stories and men's initiation sites of deep antiquity,' it said.