Placeholder Content Image

Selfish selfies: Influencers fined for posing with priceless artworks

<p dir="ltr">Tourists visiting Queensland’s Carnarvon National Park have come under fire, after the wannabe influencers put an historic Indigenous site at risk with their disrespectful holiday selfies. </p> <p dir="ltr">The park’s rock art sites are, according to senior ranger Luke Male, of international importance, and are marked as restricted access areas to prevent tourists from interfering with the “fragile” rock art. </p> <p dir="ltr">However, “some visitors to Carnarvon National Park think the rules don’t apply to them and they’re entering restricted access areas to pose for photos.</p> <p dir="ltr">“In some instances, they are posing in front of Indigenous rock art that is thousands of years old, or they’re actually touching it.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service makes no apology for taking compliance action against people who break the rules because they believe they are influencers.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Over the course of 12 months, six different people have been slapped with fines for entering the restricted areas to interact with the rock face - whether to take selfies or to go so far as to touch it - and 18 more fines have been issued for other offences, with camping in the protected area also landing them in trouble with park officials.</p> <p dir="ltr">Touching the art is considered disrespectful, but isn’t the only reason visitors are asked to keep their distance, as touch can also wear down the work. The likes of sunscreen, perspiration, and hand sanitiser can cause further damage, while dust stirred from people walking through the space can adhere to the rock face. </p> <p dir="ltr">As Male explained of the situation, “the ochre stencil art of the region is unique, diverse, highly complex and spectacular, and the rock art is embedded within sandstone that is incredibly fragile.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It is a great honour and privilege for us to be able to see these rock art sites, and touching them can damage cultural artefacts that are thousands of years old.”</p> <p dir="ltr">He also shared that the park rangers regularly received “information, including photos from members of the public about people who have broken the rules.</p> <p dir="ltr">“People have to understand that the Traditional Owners remain connected to this place and the rock art within it, and they regard the entire Carnarvon National Park as a cultural site.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Carnarvon National Park Traditional Owners Management Group Committee’s Bidjara representative Leah Wyman had more to add on the importance of protecting the artworks, sharing that “our rock art bears thousand-year-old images, and they provide valuable information about the lives and cultures of our people in the past.</p> <p dir="ltr">“They are also important spiritual and ceremonial sites to us, and it is imperative that everyone stays on the walkways to ensure that Carnarvon National Park can be visited by future generations to come.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Another member of the committee and Bidjara woman Kristine Sloman noted that the park itself was a cemetery, and that the sites were locations where family members had been laid to rest, so “getting off the boardwalks and walking around is of the utmost disrespect, and is comparable to attending someone’s funeral and walking on their coffin.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Many people around the world have chosen to close their sacred sites due to destructive impacts, and it would be a great shame to resort to this type of action.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Let’s appreciate, learn, nurture, and respect each other’s cultures and ensure no more of our sacred places are damaged or closed to the public.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Department of Environment and Science</em></p>

Travel Trouble

Placeholder Content Image

Terence Darrell Kelly's nanna speaks out

<p>After a recent court appearance, Terence Darrell Kelly's nanna has spoken about about the alleged abduction of Cleo Smith. </p> <p>Speaking to reporters outside the Carnarvon courthouse, Esther Mingo said she is concerned for Terence's safety while he remains in Perth's <span>maximum-security Casuarina Prison.</span></p> <p><span>“We all know what Casuarina prison is (like). People go there and spend life and they kill people. They belt them until they kill them,” she said, adding that she hoped Terence was being kept in isolation and away from other prisoners.</span></p> <p><span>Esther went on to say that she "cried and cried" when she learned of Terence's arrest in relation to the abduction of 4-year-old Cleo </span>Smith. </p> <p>She described Terence as a “nice person” and said she was going to ask him to “tell me the truth” when she went to visit him in prison on Tuesday.</p> <p>“I do feel upset. I need something to be done right for him,” she said.</p> <p>Terence Kelly appeared via video link in the Carnarvon Local Court, where he was charged with multiple offences, including forcibly taking a child under 16. </p> <p>His recent court appearance was the first time he was seen since he was escorted onto a plane by police a month ago. </p> <p>He was not considered eligible for bail and was remanded in custody.</p> <p>He will next appear in court on January 24 for a hearing for further legal advice.</p> <p><em>Image credits: 7News / WA Police</em></p>

News

Placeholder Content Image

Why Terence Darrell Kelly’s neighbour is clearing out

<p><em>Images: 7NEWS</em></p> <p>The neighbour of accused Cleo Smith kidnapper, Terence Kelly is so scared of what will happen once police leave the area that he’s packing up and leaving.</p> <p>Ever since Cleo was found at the home 18 days after she went missing, there has been a strong police presence at the Carnarvon property.</p> <p>Detectives and forensic officers have been at the Tonkin Crescent house each day, but security guards have also protected the house from vandalism or vigilante attacks while Kelly is in custody and police carry out their work.</p> <p>Kelly’s neighbour believes once police and security presence stops, the duplex could become the target “revenge” attacks and vandalism.</p> <p>“The house will be smashed,” he told 7NEWS.</p> <p>“A lot of people are disappointed and angry about what has happened, so there’s a greater chance that once the police are gone, we expect something will happen.</p> <p>“100 per cent sure they will come here and smash the house.”</p> <p>As he was packing up on Thursday, Kelly’s neighbour showed 7NEWS through his property, which is a mirror image of the home next door where Cleo Smith was held captive.</p> <p>The two bedrooms are positioned away from the common wall, which is hardly sound proofed, with only fibro and a timber frame separating the living rooms of the two properties.</p> <p>“I find it hard to know that it was right next door to me. It took me a while to absorb it.”</p> <p>Kelly was described as the perfect neighbour. He didn’t drink, didn’t smoke or take drugs and the two would occasionally chat when taking the bins out. Kelly would keep an eye on his house if he was away.</p> <p>Kelly’s neighbour has been offered a new place to live in wake of what allegedly happened next door.</p> <p>Police have stripped Kelly’s home gathering evidence, all but the sleeping bag which still remains missing.</p> <p>Police tape is set to come down once a final sweep of the home has been done. Those who have become accustomed to street presence have growing fears about what might happen next.</p>

Legal

Placeholder Content Image

Exploring the secret ravines of Carnarvon Gorge

<p>In the sandstone country of Queensland's Central Highlands, the walls are closing in.</p> <p>The tiny gorge - a side gorge of a side gorge - is narrowing, and high cliffs angle over our heads. Even the searing sun can no longer find us down here.</p> <p>Simon Ling stops and scans the pebbly creek bed.</p> <p>"There are no footprints," he says. "Nobody else has been through here. We could be the first people in here this year."</p> <p>And yet, just half an hour ago, we'd been walking among a steady stream of people through Carnarvon Gorge.</p> <p>Four hundred kilometres inland from the city of Rockhampton, Carnarvon is arguably the most striking natural feature in Queensland's outback.</p> <p>White cliffs rising up to 200 metres above Carnarvon Creek enclose the 30-kilometre-long gash in the rugged hills.</p> <p>Two major Aboriginal art sites adorn the rock walls, and endemic fan palms rise from the banks, bursting open like fireworks against the cliffs.</p> <p>But to think of Carnarvon as a single nick in the land is to underestimate it.</p> <p>The wide central gorge is stitched with side gorges, and it's inside many of these that Carnarvon's prime attractions are found.</p> <p>Many of the side gorges are marked and accessed by trails, but there are others as anonymous as they are spectacular.</p> <p>Which is why I'm here with Simon.</p> <p>A former Brisbane chef turned ecologist, Simon has been living around Carnarvon for 15 years, and guiding visitors through it for a decade.</p> <p>"Carnarvon was always my favourite national park, and this is more up my alley in terms of things I'm passionate about."</p> <p>The inevitable guiding line through Carnarvon Gorge is the walking trail that leads almost 10 kilometres along its banks to Big Bend, passing each of the gorge's major features along the way.</p> <p>As the day's first light strikes the cliffs around the gorge mouth, Simon and I are already hiking along their base.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="498" height="245" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/35630/image__498x245.jpg" alt="Image_ (204)"/></p> <p>As we walk, dragonflies play over the creek and a water dragon comes down to drink.</p> <p>Small lorikeets, one of around 170 bird species recorded in the gorge, whirr overhead.</p> <p>"These are the smallest lorikeets in Australia," Simon says. "They're like budgies on speed."</p> <p>This day, the main gorge is simply our freeway to smaller things.</p> <p>The bulk of the marked side gorges are bunched along the first half of the trail, though we ignore most of them because we're seeking our own hidden gorge.</p> <p>But even Simon can't resist a stop at the Art Gallery.</p> <p>Lining a 60-metre section of cliffs, this Aboriginal art site contains more than 2000 paintings and ochre stencils depicting the likes of boomerangs, animal tracks, nets and figures of hands.</p> <p>As sunlight creeps along the wall, a series of engravings also comes into relief.</p> <p>"Central Queensland is prolific in art sites, but somehow it's just not as famous as Kakadu or the Kimberley," Simon says.</p> <p>Past the Art Gallery, we step off the track and effectively disappear.</p> <p>Sides gorges fork and fork again as the wide main gorge constricts into a narrow shaded tunnel.</p> <p>Cool winds funnel through the side gorge, chilled by rock walls that never see the sun.</p> <p>One wall is painted green with moss, and a large log remains wedged between the cliffs overhead from a surging flood months before.</p> <p>"This is one of the reasons I've been here so long," Simon says. "Every side gorge has a unique character, and after every flood, things change.</p> <p>"The walls stay the same, but the creeks are different."</p> <p>There are other things that are changing around Carnarvon Gorge also.</p> <p>This evening I head to adjoining Bandana Station where, last April, the 17,500-hectare cattle station began sunset tours fronting the gorge cliffs.</p> <p>On a rise looking over the station homestead to the cliffs, a fire is roaring.</p> <p>Wine and beer are poured, guests are sitting on logs, and grazier Olivia Evans is talking about her six-generation connection to the region.</p> <p>For Olivia, bringing tourism to Bandana has been a plan 11 years in the making, and finally the idea came from the station's most striking feature: its view.</p> <p>Beyond the station's pastures, the sandstone escarpment unfurls like a ribbon, though late-afternoon cloud has crept over the range, threatening to steal our sunset.</p> <p>But as Olivia's father, Bruce, recites a Banjo Paterson poem, the sun peeps below the cloud, briefly lighting the cliffs as brightly as the fire.</p> <p>Slowly the light fades and the world disappears. Carnarvon is done for another day.</p> <p>By dawn the next morning, I'm inside the gorge again, setting out alone to explore the remainder of its natural treasures.</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="498" height="245" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/35631/image__498x245.jpg" alt="Image_ (205)"/></p> <p>The best hiking advice I've been given is to walk to the furthest point - Big Bend - in the early morning, then venture into the side gorges as I return, making the long trek in the cool of the day and breaking the walk back with stops in the cool side gorges.</p> <p>From the Art Gallery, through sections of riverbank smothered in fan palms, it's about four kilometres to the second of the gorge's major art sites.</p> <p>In an enormous overhang, Cathedral Cave has similar ochre stencilling, with new imagery such as pendants, suggesting trade, and a rifle depicting early contact with Europeans.</p> <p>By the time I turn at Big Bend, the sun is boring into the gorge, its heat radiating off the white cliffs.</p> <p>The narrow side gorges are now just as appealing for the relief of their shade as their beauty.</p> <p>In Wards Canyon, I step into the cover of Australia's only inland stand of king ferns, confined to a 40-metre stretch of this side gorge.</p> <p>At the Amphitheatre I don't just walk up to the cliffs, I walk into them, squeezing through a narrow crack that balloons into a 60-metre-deep sinkhole.</p> <p>Trees lean over the cliff edge far above, casting silhouettes against the bright sky.</p> <p>I remember Simon's words from the previous day: "You get animals falling in there occasionally. A koala fell in once."</p> <p>My final detour is into a side gorge named Moss Garden, climbing to a pool encased in cliffs that are a shagpile of moss.</p> <p>A chill breeze blows over the pool like a puff of natural air-conditioning, and the only sound is the dripping of water.</p> <p>So near to the heat and fierce light of the main gorge, the gentle scene feels almost like an installation, a natural water feature designed to soothe in this gorge that has as many faces as it has bends.</p> <p>Have you ever been to Carnarvon Gorge?</p> <p><em>Written by Andrew Bain. First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span></strong></a>.</em></p>

International Travel

Our Partners