An Australian citizen has been fined $300 for climbing a mountain in his own country that has been declared off limits to everyone except a small number of men who claim to be part of the local indigenous population.
Climbing enthusiast Marc Hendrickx was confronted by a ranger on Mount Warning, New South Wales, while with a group of protesters in April, but was given the fine by courier on Friday – just one day before a second planned climb with Libertarian Party politician John Ruddick.
Mr Ruddick posted a photo of himself and Mr Hendrickx on top of the mountain in Libertarian-branded clothing on Saturday morning, and declared that the site should be open to all.
Mount Warning was initially closed to the public in 2020 due to “social distancing”, but since then self-proclaimed indigenous custodians the Wollumbin Consultative Group have kept the summit trail closed, even though other local aboriginals disagree.
The trail once hosted 100,000 climbers a year and generated $10 million in revenue for the NSW Department of National Parks, which has now spent $200,000 in taxpayer funds keeping the mountain closed, including $7,000/week on security guard in April to October last year.
Mr Hendrickx has been campaigning for years to get the trail reopened, and has led regular hikes to the summit with other protesters in defiance of the ban.
He told Daily Mail Australia: “[The fine] was really an act of intimidation and something designed to generate fear in me and in other people that we shouldn’t climb the mountain.
“I’ll be fighting that fine [and] if there’s a new fine today, well, I’ll just add it to the pile that seems to be developing and we’ll fight that one in court as well.”
A NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service spokesperson said a second person had also been fined, and that anyone who ignored the climbing ban would ‘be subject to appropriate law enforcement’.
The Wollumbin Consultative Group claims that Mount Warning is spiritually significant to the so-called Bundjulang nation, and believe only male members of that tribe should have access.
However, a rival indigenous group claims the mountain belongs to the Yoocum Yoocum and Ngarakbal Githabul people and contains important “women’s lore” sites.
