National Parks & Wildlife consulting over future of Wollumbin summit track

 

Wollumbin
IMAGE: Visit North Coast NSW

Echo NetDaily, 22 January 2021:

A number of traditional custodians of the sacred site have called for non-Indigenous people to refrain from undertaking the five-hour trek.

Up to 100,000 people climb the mountain each year, according to tourism data. However, some leave rubbish such as soiled toilet paper by the side of the track and at the stunning peak.

The track has been closed for much of the past year owing to COVID-19, and it now appears it may stay that way.

A safety audit and an engineering assessment conducted during the closure have identified significant safety issues with the final climb to the Wollumbin summit.

These include an ‘extreme risk of landslide, rockfall and failure of the chain section of the track’.

A spokesperson from the National Parks and Wildlife Service said the current closure had been extended, at least until May.

Tellingly, the spokesperson also said that the future of the summit track was now under consideration.

This was being done in consultation with various key stakeholders, including the traditional owners of the site.

‘We understand that locals and visitors may be disappointed by the extended closure, however our main priority must always be to ensure the safety of visitors and staff,’ the spokesperson said.

‘We will now consider the future of the Summit track, in consultation with key community and tourism stakeholders, including Aboriginal Elders and knowledge holders.’

Wollumbin, which means ‘cloud catcher’ in some Aboriginal languages, 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 National Parks and Wildlife Service asks visitors to respect the wishes of the local Indigenous mob and ‘avoid climbing this very difficult track’.

Yaegl elder Ron Heron honoured by Macquarie University on 23 September 2014

Macquarie University media release:

Vice-Chancellor Professor S Bruce Dowton, Mr (Uncle) Ronald Heron (Doctor of Letters), and Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Crouch

Senior Indigenous elder Uncle Ron Heron receives honorary doctorate

23 September 2014

Ronald Heron, a highly respected senior elder of the of the Yaegl Aboriginal people of Northern New South Wales, and an anthropologist, historian and former university lecturer, will be recognised with a Doctor of Letters honoris causa from Macquarie University on Tuesday, 23 September.

The award will be granted in an afternoon graduation ceremony for students of the Faculty of Science, with Heron’s family and friends coming to Sydney for this special occasion.

“We are delighted to confer this award upon Uncle Ron, who has contributed so much to the endeavours of this University through science, education and leadership,” said Vice-Chancellor Professor S. Bruce Dowton. “He provides a remarkable example of the power of education; not only in his own life but in how he has touched and shaped so many others.”

Since 2002, Uncle Ron – as he is known – has worked with Macquarie University researchers on a cooperative project studying and testing medicines made from native plants. With Heron as a key supporter, the Macquarie team started education programs in local schools aimed at providing pathways through high school and tertiary study, now a national initiative in the National Indigenous Science Experience Program.

“This award is a great honour and means so much, not only for myself, but for all of my people of Yaegl and Bundjalung Country,” says Heron. “I feel enormous pride – I have come a long way from a tin hut.  It is up there with the very best.  I thank Macquarie University for this opportunity.”

Born in the Clarence Valley in 1947, Heron was schooled in the prevailing mission system of the day. He worked until his early thirties cutting and burning cane and picking peas before moving into a role as an Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol counsellor.

He moved to Canberra and graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Letters, by thesis (now Masters of Letters), in prehistory and anthropology. Heron then lectured for 10 years at Southern Cross University, Lismore in Indigenous Studies. As an academic he has contributed to many publications, including ethnographic books on the North Coast Aboriginal peoples, and remains a frequently cited researcher.

Heron has contributed to extensive research at Macquarie University including on bush medicines, has been a contributing author on books on Yaegl bush resources in international scientific journals, has presented lectures and storytelling at Macquarie led National Science Week activities and has co-developed the long running and successful River of Learning celebrations at Maclean High School.

“As part of our initial consultations with Uncle Ron and the Yaegl and Bundjalung communities, they told us that we could help them run science and youth leadership activities. Now that the program has gone nationally, they’re even running their own part of it in the fabulous cultural immersion program.”

Despite advancing age, Heron’s drive has not diminished and in the last few years he has successfully studied for TAFE certification in Tourism and Guiding and has started taking tourists around the Clarence region.

** Vale Dr. Ruby Langford Ginibi 1934-2011 **

The valiant heart Ruby Langford Ginibi,
 proud Bunjalung woman,
elder, storyteller, author, historian and activist,

passed away 1st October 2011.

An icon of survival and strength for Aboriginal people.

She will be sadly missed.

Bronwyn Bancroft is one of five children's fiction authors short-listed for the 2011 Prime Minister's Literary Awards

Congratulations to author and artist Bronwyn Bancroft for making this impressive short-list for the 2011 Prime Minister's Literary Awards.

"This year there will be five short-listed authors for each category and the winner will receive $80,000 and the remaining short-listed authors will receive $5000 each."

Tenterfield-born Bronwyn is descendant of the Djanbun clan of the Bundjalung nation and details of her career and art can be found here.

Images from Dept. of Prime Minister and Cabinet Office of the Arts

Bundjalung clubs return

Grafton Regional Gallery's Jude McBean has a terrific piece in Saturday's Daily Examiner about the return of three Bundjalung clubs.

Credit: The Daily Examiner