A group of Australian nationalists have defied a climbing ban at an iconic mountain in New South Wales, unfurling a banner at the summit saying “Mt Warning for the White man”.
The Queensland chapter of right-wing activist group the National Socialist Network on Thursday shared photos from a weekend hike, showing black-clad members holding the banner at the peak along with the Australian flag and the flag of their organisation.
“White Australians established and maintained the trail for nearly a century and White Australians will decide who climbs it,” the group wrote on social media.
Mt 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 to everyone except for local indigenous males, claiming the mountain is spiritually significant.
The trail once hosted 100,000 climbers a year, many of whom hiked to the top in the early hours as the peak of Mt Warning is the first location in mainland Australia to see the sunrise.
The climbs generated $10 million in revenue for the NSW Department of National Parks, which has now spent more than $200,000 in taxpayer funds keeping the mountain closed, including $7,000/week on security guards in April to October last year alone.
The racist ban has angered locals and climbing enthusiasts from around Australia, and the Libertarian Party has called for it to be reopened, as has newly elected independent Tweed councillor Kimberly Hone.
In August climbing enthusiast Marc Hendrickx received a $300 fine for defying the ban with a group of protesters in April, but climbed again the next day with NSW Libertarian Party MP 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.
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.”
The Wollumbin Consultative Group claims that Mount Warning is spiritually significant to the so-called Bundjulang nation, and believes that only male members of their 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.
