Vol. No. Vol. 2718No. 1927
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Wednesday,November January 13, 2016 Wednesday, 6, 2024
STACKS OF FUN: Nathan and Lincoln Purchase at Blue Ribbon Raceway’s inaugural truck show, which attracted thousands of people to a weekend of entertainment, stalls, a truck competition and convoy at Horsham Showground. Horsham Truck Show featured more than 130 trucks from across Australia and raised money for Wimmera Against Cancer in Kids, WACK. Story, results and more pictures, page 16. Picture: PAUL CARRACHER
Climbing curtailed C
BY LAUREN HENRY
hanges to the Dyurrite Cultural Landscape draft management plan will ‘severely curtail climbing’ at Natimuk’s Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park, Climbing Victoria says.
The updated draft management plan is now available for public consultation until December 1. The management plan seeks to protect areas of cultural significance to the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk Indigenous groups, represented by Barengi Gadjin Land Council. The area is home to one of Australia’s largest stone quarry complexes with rock art and scar trees dating
IN THIS ISSUE:
back 3000 years. The Weekly Advertiser understands under the changes to the management plan, there will be camping temporarily allowed at Centenary Park, with changes to be made including restrictions to the pines area, until a new campground is established. The original bans imposed in 2020 on several climbing areas, including Declaration Crag, Tiger Wall, and Castle Crag will remain, while new permanently banned areas also include The Pharos, Yesterday Gully, Mitre Rock and Tiptoe Ridge. It also proposed that commercial guides would have exclusive use of certain climbs. Several signs were placed around the park late last month reading: ‘While
Parks Victoria and Barengi Gadjin Land Council determine a longerterm management response, and out of respect for this significant cultural landscape, visitors are requested to not enter this area’. In a media release sent out after 5pm on the eve of the Melbourne Cup public holiday, the State Government announced it would invest $1.7-million to ‘improve the facilities, tracks and access points’ at the park. The government says the upgrade ‘will improve parking, refresh tracks and trails as well as upgrade visitor facilities including new barbecues, picnic tables, toilets and new signage telling the cultural story of the area’. Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos said under the draft man-
agement plan, the Dyurrite Cultural Landscape would ‘continue to be a place for climbing, walks and camping, as well as many other activities, with 80 of the established rock-climbing areas open for climbers’. Mr Dimopoulous said the updated management plan provided certainty for traditional owners and all users of the park. “We want as many Victorians as possible to enjoy the great outdoors. This investment will allow more visitors to appreciate the park, while celebrating and protecting its cultural and environmental wonders,” he said. In a statement from Climbing Victoria, the peak body representing outdoor climbers in Victoria acknowledged the changes had been driven
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This Friday, November 8
by the need to protect and celebrate Indigenous cultural heritage at the park, but rock climbers needed to be consulted. “Climbing Victoria fully supports a management plan that provides robust protections for Indigenous cultural heritage and provides resources for sharing and celebrating this heritage with the wider community,” the statement read. “However, we ask that the Allan government and particularly Minister Dimopoulos acknowledge these changes, which severely curtail climbing in the park, and will have a profound impact on the Victorian climbing community and the local Natimuk and Horsham communities.” Continued page 3
Feature, pages 29-33
21,505 COPIES DISTRIBUTED EACH WEEK (average)