For avid climber and founding father of ClimbingQTs, Melissa Edwards, the battle over the way forward for climbing mecca Dyuritte/Arapiles is a deeply private one. That is Mel’s dwelling, the place they fell in love and foster neighborhood. It’s extra significant than simply their favorite climbing hang-out, and the problems surrounding the not too long ago launched Dyurrite Cultural Panorama Administration Plan run deeper than simply climbers vs tradition.
Till I discovered my chosen dwelling within the climbing neighborhood of Natimuk, Victoria, my life was formed by fixed motion and upheaval. So when information got here of deliberate mass closures of climbing routes at Dyuritte/Arapiles, with out session of that climbing neighborhood, it felt like I couldn’t escape my private and household historical past of displacement. Why is that this related to the dialogue surrounding Dyuritte/Arapiles? Let me clarify.
In Search of Belonging
Till I discovered my chosen dwelling within the climbing neighborhood of Natimuk, Victoria, my life was formed by fixed motion and upheaval. So when information got here of deliberate mass closures of climbing routes at Dyuritte/Arapiles, with out session of that climbing neighborhood, it felt like I couldn’t escape my private and household historical past of displacement. Why is that this related to the dialogue surrounding Dyuritte/Arpailes? Let me clarify.
My mom left South Korea in her 20s, in 1985 after marrying my dad, who was travelling from the UK. He’d been making his approach by way of components of Asia, planning to finally head to Australia, however as he likes to joke, ‘She trapped me’, chopping his solo travels brief.
She’s the daughter of Korean Struggle (1950–1953) survivors, and whereas I don’t know a lot about both of my dad and mom’ lives earlier than I used to be born, I carry the intergenerational trauma of loss, displacement, and profound societal upheaval. These experiences left lasting scars, perpetuating a cycle of avoidance, secrecy, and silence.
My dad, although from a distinct background, additionally confronted vital challenges rising up. I deeply admire and look as much as each of them. They’ve achieved a lot to construct a life for themselves, and have at all times prioritised me and my sister in the easiest way they knew how.
Nevertheless, this dedication typically meant that, for the primary 15 years of my life, we had been in a relentless seek for ‘a better life’.
That is necessary to share as a result of it explains why Natimuk, Victoria (inhabitants 514) has change into so vital to me. I grew up shifting from nation to nation, attending over ten totally different faculties in a number of languages, continually transitioning between communities.
I used to be at all times looking for a way of belonging however by no means fairly discovering it. With little to no ties to prolonged household and a childhood marred by bullying – mocked for my ‘slanty’ Korean eyes or singled out as the one ‘white’ individual in a sea of Asians – I grew accustomed to being othered.
These experiences left a long-lasting mark, making maturity a problem as I grappled with identification and connection. Whereas I’m extremely pleased with my combined Korean-English heritage, I battle to really feel deeply related to a single place, tradition, or set of traditions. A lot of that connection feels distant or fragmented.
Seven years in the past, I found climbing at a metropolis health club, and in 2018, I based ClimbingQTs. Earlier than the pandemic, I remained a devoted health club rat, however towards its finish, I moved to Natimuk to be nearer to Dyurrite/Mount Arapiles as a budding trad climber.
I shortly fell in love with climbing in nature – the journey, the psychological challenges, the talent required, and above all, the peace it introduced me.
Whereas the pure magnificence initially drew me in, it was the residents of Natimuk who satisfied me to remain.
A few years in the past, I met the love of my life on the Pines Campground. Weeks later, we grovelled up an offwidth collectively, and we’ve been inseparable ever since. I proposed to him whereas hanging from an outsized image body that captures the mountain from the sting of city.
Only a few months in the past, we realised a dream – shopping for our first dwelling collectively, a fantastically renovated weatherboard home, with a view of the mount.
It’s not simply the proximity to world-class climbing or the inexpensive housing that retains me right here. It’s the deep connection I really feel to this place – the panorama, the individuals, and the neighborhood we’ve constructed.
For somebody with such a fractured relationship to household, birthplace, and cultural heritage, Natimuk has crammed a void. For the primary time in my life, I don’t really feel like operating away.
When individuals inform me to ‘just go somewhere else, climb somewhere else’ as a result of ‘it’s not your nation’ or ‘not your land’, it cuts deep. These phrases reopen the scars of intergenerational wounds and remind me of what I lacked rising up – the sense of belonging and a neighborhood to name my very own.
This area is the ancestral land of 5 Aboriginal clans: the Wotjobaluk, Wergaia, Jupagalk, Jadawadjali, and Jaadwa peoples. Earlier than I ever set foot right here, they belonged to this land.
At present it has change into the chosen dwelling to many individuals, a few of us ‘lost boys’, like myself – very similar to the boys in Peter Pan who aren’t tied by bloodlines however as an alternative discover belonging within the land itself.
We’re related by way of the therapeutic, pleasure, love, and that means it’s introduced us. So what troubles me most, isn’t merely the potential lack of vital entry to climbing, however the invalidation of my connection to this place and the notion that my voice is unworthy of being heard.
Learn extra: Mount Arapiles is Extra Than Only a Rock Climber’s Mecca
The Challenge Runs Deeper Than Climbing vs Tradition
Some argue that climbers ought to merely settle for the Dyurrite Cultural Panorama Administration Plan as it’s. However this overlooks the significance of questioning the processes behind such selections. Blindly accepting a flawed plan units a harmful precedent for unchecked energy, which might hurt everybody.
Parks Victoria has an obligation to develop clear and accountable administration plans that prioritise the voices of Conventional Custodians whereas guaranteeing equitable entry to nature-based actions. Regrettably, the present draft, which was primarily based on an outdated 1991 doc, falls far in need of these requirements and is wholly unfit for objective.
For instance, the plan restricts bushwalking to designated tracks, of which there are solely three inside the park, none resulting in climbing areas. This makes it not possible to entry permitted crags or descend from climbs with out breaking the principles.
Furthermore, the plan neglects to deal with crucial environmental issues, such because the safety of threatened species like Skeleton Fork-ferns and the endangered Arapiles mint-bush. Neither is there any point out of the Peregrine falcon, Mallee fowl, or Pink-tailed black cockatoos which maintain vital conservation worth.
The draft plan additionally suffers from a fragmented method. The full space of Arapiles block is 1500Ha, while the entire space of Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park is approx 7500Ha, that means your entire Arapiles block represents simply 20% of the park, and of this roughly 10% could be thought of climbing areas.
Meaning by solely surveying climbing areas, nearly 90% of the park is left unexamined. This not solely undermines conservation efforts but additionally introduces sampling bias, leading to incomplete knowledge and flawed conclusions.
The proposed closures are additionally designated to climbing areas, none of that are comparable in dimension or scope of routes. For instance, one space ‘Lizard Procrastination’ has 4 routes and one other space, ‘the Organ Pipes’ has 66 routes.
As an alternative of a nuanced method to closing climbs which are inside proximity of values, total climbing areas have been topic to very large blanket closures.
Learn extra: Quite a few Rock Climbing Websites at Mount Arapiles Set to Shut
On the subject of cultural heritage, the method taken is each slim and problematic. If solely climbing areas had been surveyed for the latest modification, that leaves many caves and cliffs with potential archaeological significance unexamined.
It begs the query, what priorities guided the scope of this venture? Discovering cultural heritage or discovering proof of hurt? Whereas it’s comprehensible that archaeologists will deal with areas with perceived danger to values or archaeological potential, this restricted scope overlooks broader features of the Dyurrite panorama.
Fashionable climbing has a 60-year historical past on the mount, demonstrating its low environmental affect whereas contributing positively to each the native economic system and the panorama.
Climbing’s Ongoing Impact on Neighborhood and Nation
Following Geoff Durham’s go to to Arapiles on behalf of the Victorian Nationwide Parks Affiliation within the late Nineteen Eighties, it was proposed that Natimuk climbers begin up a ‘Friends’ group to be a part of the Victorian Surroundings Pals Community.
Louise Shepherd took up this suggestion with enthusiasm and nonetheless runs Pals of Arapiles right now. Since then, different volunteer teams, together with Crags Stewards Victoria and Cliff Care, have additionally emerged in an effort to preserve and enhance the Arapiles atmosphere.
All of those teams have undertaken a long time of volunteer work together with planting timber, eradicating invasive weeds, eradicating feral bees, and constructing erosion-preventing stone steps.
Climbers have actively contributed to conservation efforts, assisted archaeologists in defending cultural heritage, and prevented Peregrine falcon nesting websites, with the hen inhabitants remaining secure for 40 years.
Claims that climbers have degraded the habitat or broken cultural websites are unsupported and contradict the proof of their long-standing optimistic affect.
Parks Victoria is Letting Down Each Sides
When Parks Victoria selected to launch the draft plan at 5pm on the eve of the US election and a Victorian public vacation – only one month after assuring Climbing Victoria that the plan was removed from prepared – it raised severe questions on their motives.
Was this incompetence, or a rushed launch timed to coincide with treaty celebrations the next week? Regardless of the motives, it has resulted in a plan rejected by the general public and embarrassing the Labor Authorities’s makes an attempt to ‘shut the hole’.
The sudden launch of the plan was accompanied by vital inaccuracies, together with claims concerning the extent of climbing closures. To be clear, 63% of climbs are proposed to be closed underneath the draft plan, removed from the ‘majority open’ narrative being promoted. Of the 44 extremely accessible, newbie stage routes, 88.6% (39/44) will probably be closed, leaving a complete of solely 5 designated accessible routes at Arapiles which are appropriate for individuals of all skills and expertise ranges, together with individuals with incapacity.
Even worse, 100% (7/7) of newbie stage multi-pitch routes at extremely accessible climbing areas will probably be closed. This implies little to no routes will stay for guiding school-aged youngsters and newbie trad climbers will probably be pushed to check their abilities on more difficult and harmful routes.
With solely 24 days to offer suggestions restricted to signage, maps, and communication (not the plan itself), it’s no marvel climbers reacted with urgency, scrambling to understand the total affect it will have on how we join with the mountain.
This plan has carried out nothing however foster division and erode belief. The actions taken by Parks Victoria usually are not conducive to reconciliation and treaty.
Parks additionally misrepresented the Gariwerd Wimmera Reconciliation Community’s (GWRN) engagement with the native Aboriginal land council, Barengi Gadjin Land Council (BGLC), as ‘climber and community consultation’.
GWRN doesn’t advocate for mountain climbing, as an alternative engages with Conventional Custodians and leisure consumer teams to advertise reconciliation. GWRN engaged solely with BGLC and by no means engaged with Parks Victoria on the plan.
Does the plan adjust to human rights?
If we glance by way of the lens of legislative obligations, it’s unclear if Parks Victoria has acted compatibly with the Constitution of Human Rights and Tasks Act (Victoria 2006) and its requirement to permit freedom of motion inside Victoria.
The act requires public authorities, corresponding to Parks, to adjust to the constitution and provides correct consideration to human rights when making selections.
Part 12 of the Constitution states, ‘Freedom of Motion – Each individual lawfully inside Victoria has the appropriate to maneuver freely inside Victoria and to enter or go away it and has the liberty to decide on the place to stay.’
Moreover, part 19.2 states, Aboriginal individuals maintain distinct cultural rights to ‘preserve their distinctive non secular, materials and financial relationship with the land and waters and different assets with which they’ve a connection underneath conventional legal guidelines and customs.’
So with this in thoughts, the place the rights of 1 group are in battle with the rights of a separate group, part 7.2 of the Constitution explains, ‘A human proper could also be topic underneath legislation solely to such cheap limits as might be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society primarily based on human dignity, equality and freedom, and taking into consideration all related elements together with – (e) any much less restrictive means fairly obtainable to attain the aim that the limitation seeks to attain.’
Merely put, because of this rights can solely be restricted in sure circumstances if it’s cheap, mandatory, justified, and proportionate. There’s laws in place in Victoria and assets for public sector staff to assist information how this may be carried out in a approach that’s prone to be accepted by the entire neighborhood.
Nevertheless, with the information that Parks Victoria hasn’t consulted with the general public (e.g Climbing Victoria, the height physique for leisure outside climbing within the state) or public authorities affected (e.g Horsham Rural Metropolis Council), it’s doable that the present plan doesn’t meet the obligations of this laws.
Between the blanket bans primarily based on arbitrary climbing areas, the closure of routes that disproportionately impacts marginalised communities, and slim scope of surveys carried out to an outdated plan, there’s sufficient cause to query how this plan has come about and advocate for one thing significantly better.
Collaboration Must Come From All Sides
The Constitution of Human Rights and Tasks: A information for Victorian public sector staff, particulars a step-by-step information aimed toward reaching an end result that respects cultural heritage, ensures accountable land stewardship, and maintains entry to nature, by fostering collaboration between Conventional Custodians, native organisations, and neighborhood representatives.
A first-rate instance is a stone’s throw away in Gariwerd/Grampians on the left-hand facet of Taipan Wall. Initially closed as a result of rediscovery of quarrying, GWRN labored intently with Conventional Custodians to determine the place climbing routes intersected with cultural values.
They proposed sensible options, corresponding to adjusting the beginning factors of sure routes. The implementation of those changes resulted in 94% (63/67 routes) of the left-hand facet of Taipan Wall being reopened.
As Louise so completely put it, ‘This successful negotiation should have been the template for a similar fine-grained approach to all of climbing routes at Arapiles/Dyurrite. Instead, Parks Victoria abrogated their responsibilities to engage with local communities despite their obligation to do so under IUCN best practice guidelines for protected areas’.
Collaboration and allyship are important, even inside the framework of Aboriginal self-determination.
For non-Aboriginal individuals like myself, significantly those that carry the burden of intergenerational trauma or have confronted racism, discrimination, minority stress, and lateral violence, these experiences can supply a singular perspective.
They improve our capability to empathise with hypervigilance and function a basis for forging respectful, enduring partnerships with Aboriginal communities. I firmly imagine we are able to work collectively to honour cultural heritage whereas guaranteeing Aboriginal individuals meet their very own social, cultural, and financial wants by way of a course of rooted in mutual selection, respect, and shared dedication.
I’ve personally made efforts over quite a lot of years to foster a relationship like this, sadly I’ve been met solely with both silence or anger. Parks Victoria was ready to assist construct that bridge, however their conduct has pushed our communities additional aside.
The place to from right here?
Parks Victoria is presently underneath authorities overview, facilitated by the advisory agency KordaMentha, board members have had their phrases slashed till the top of January 2025 and there’s widespread hypothesis that the overview may result in Parks Victoria being folded into the Division of Power, Surroundings, and Local weather Motion (DEECA).
Whereas the potential dissolution of Parks could not evoke a lot remorse, it’s important that we stay steadfast in holding the subsequent in line accountable.
Whether or not it stays a venture with Parks, or lands on a desk at DEECA, the one sustainable path ahead lies in real, collaborative session between all key stakeholders.
The end result of this course of have to be a complete, purpose-driven plan, one which respects, protects, and celebrates Aboriginal cultural heritage whereas championing accountable land stewardship irrespective of who it’s carried out by, guaranteeing equitable entry for all, and fostering the deep connection to nature that underpins belonging, well being, and wellbeing for everybody who visits this land, whether or not they’re passing by way of or placing down roots.
Within the 4 years I’ve lived right here, I’ve witnessed how this place can nurture and encourage individuals from all walks of life, the way it can heal the soul, bridge a spot between generations, and supply a way of dwelling to anybody.
This isn’t an idealised picture of Natimuk or the mount, it’s merely a mirrored image of what I’ve skilled right here.
The sense of neighborhood, respect, and connection to the land is real, as are the therapeutic and inspiration this place affords.
I imagine we’re able to deep care, considerate collaboration, and mutual respect, grounded in a shared love for this distinctive and noteworthy place, and collectively we are able to obtain an end result that’s accepted by the entire neighborhood.
Photographs provided by Melissa Edwards
