Indigenous boss: WA tourist hotspots like Wave Rock or Horizontal Falls could be closed off or renamed

Some of WA’s natural drawcards such as Wave Rock and Horizontal Falls will inevitably be partly closed off to tourists and renamed, the boss of the State’s peak body for Indigenous tourism believes. Amid strong demand from international travellers for authentic First Nations cultural experiences, WA Indigenous Tourism Operators Council chief executive Robert Taylor argues restrictions are necessary to protect both country and tourists. A push is also on to shift to more dual naming of tourist hotspots before phasing out the newer names — in the same way Uluru replaced Ayers Rock. Mr Taylor said visitors would “definitely” have to get used to such changes, supporting Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation’s recent call to ban permanently all vessels going through gaps at the Kimberley’s spectacular Horizontal Falls after a tourist boat careered into rocks in 2022. Known as Garaanngaddim, the narrowest gap was temporarily closed last year while a 12-month consultation was undertaken after 18 people were badly injured in the crash. But the traditional owners, who jointly manage the falls with the State Government, emerged from the talks saying they wanted to minimise impacts on cultural heritage values by restricting access to popular destinations, adding that tourists would still be able to visit Talbot Bay and observe the falls. DAC says the closure will remain in place in 2024 but it wants “a multi-year staged closure that incorporates feedback and provides clear time frames to account for forward bookings and enable businesses to plan for change”. Tourism Council WA chief executive Evan Hall said the region’s tourism sector could not afford to lose such a massive drawcard, describing it as a “cut-through” experience in a highly competitive global sector. “A cruise in a lovely bay, there’s lots of places around the world where you can do that but Horizontal Falls was unique and therefore had a promotional power,” Mr Hall said. “It’s actually quite difficult to promote the Kimberley without those sorts of bucket-list experiences.” Mr Taylor asked why it was necessary “to rush through the water at the Horizontal Falls when there is already businesses that are running around and looking at it?” “I’m sure all Australians would feel horrible if someone died,” he added. Mr Taylor pointed to the deaths in the space of less than a year of four hikers, including a German tourist, as they attempted to reach the summit of Mt Augustus in the Gascoyne-Murchison region — which was originally known as Burringurrah and is twice the size of Uluru — in 2019 and 2020. But Mr Hall fears that permanently closing the gaps will deter travellers from visiting the Kimberley entirely. The local sector was already “absolutely struggling”, he said, with the council’s business activity survey for the December quarter showing a 38 per cent plunge in the region. Last year’s one-in-100-year floods had put off prospective visitors to WA’s far-flung north, which relied heavily on interstate and international visitors prepared to fork out big bucks for unique experiences. These small groups of travellers didn’t make their plans on a whim — taking up to 18 months in between booking and arriving — and that lag effect meant the coming peak May-to-July period looked grim. The last thing “reeling” tour operators needed was uncertainty about the future of Horizontal Falls, Mr Hall said. “It’s going to be a very tough season for the Kimberley,” he said. “Can we even market it? Even putting it on the front cover of a brochure, if somebody doesn’t end up doing it people will get deeply upset. “It is quite crucial to people’s decision to go to the Kimberley in the first place, whether or not they do it.” The push comes as Glenys Collard, a traditional custodian of Wave Rock in Hyden, called for the sacred granite formation to be protected after concertgoers at the long-running Wave Rock Weekender music festival were seen drinking and standing on it. Ms Collard, a socio-linguistics expert, said bad spirits did bad things to people who did not respect the rock, which was named Waagal Nirnt or Waakal Nirnt in Noongar. “You shouldn’t really drink there,” she said. Paul Sloan, managing director of event organisers Supersonic, said the Collard family had guided on cultural matters since the annual event started in 2005. He said an hour-long “ritual” had emerged where the audience left the event site to gather on top of the rock at sunset, when bars and stages were closed, but “rock carers” worked all weekend to ensure it was left “cleaner than when we found it”. Also, security staff on pathways to and from the rock ensured patrons did the right thing, Mr Sloan added. But Ms Collard said concertgoers should stick to their designated area. “The wadjelas (white people) out there have made an auditorium where you can sit,” she said. “Wave Rock should be viewed as a Noongar version of Uluru because all those granites are connected up.” Mr Taylor agreed the festival should be contained. “If I was holding a party at my house and everyone went and crashed next door to the neighbour’s house, would they be impressed?” he said. Shire of Kondinin chief executive David Burton said the council would follow up on the concerns, which had only recently emerged. “We do like for these events to take place, but we’re very mindful of the cultural significance and want to make sure that we’re keeping everybody happy,” Mr Burton said. “We want to work with the local Indigenous people to try and make sure that everything is protected as much as possible.” Mr Taylor tipped restricted access at Nature’s Window in Kalbarri amid more Indigenous tourism involvement, which gave travellers a more genuine cultural experience but also “look after the people and country, not letting them just wander around on their own”. Mr Hall, however, said there appeared to be a growing tendency to simply shut out tourists rather than work through issues, as seen with the closure of the iconic Gloucester Tree near Pemberton to climbers while engineers and arborists consider how to make it safer — despite the fact people had been scaling the 61m attraction for decades. He cited the planned closure last year of the discovery centre at Penguin Island off Rockingham due to safety concerns, which was then reversed. “It’s the culture within public lands management that the easiest way to deal with it is just to shut it down rather than properly maintain attractions and experiences and find the right way through,” he said. A common sense balance needed to be struck. “I think there’s a big shift on to try and change the mindset amongst the regulators and land managers to find solutions and not hide behind safety, environmental and cultural issues,” Mr Hall said. “It’s all about management.” Ms Collard said sacred sites such as Wave Rock should be dual named while Mr Burton didn’t rule out eventually reverting Wave Rock to its original name — although its current moniker was world-renowned. Mr Taylor’s top pick for a gradual name change is the Peel region, named after early settler Thomas Peel, who was involved in the Pinjarra massacre. But Indigenous leader Warren Mundine warned against rewriting history, saying he was in favour of dual naming. “I’m not fully supportive that because some bloke was a nasty bloke, that you take his name away,” Mr Mundine said. “You’re learning so these horrible things don’t happen again. “And Rottnest Island. The Dutch explorer thought quokkas were giant rats, and that’s quite cute, quite funny. “It gives a bit more historical stuff to it besides the 60,000 years of Aboriginal history — you’ve got this colonial history as well.” Tourism Minister Rita Saffioti said she expected the holiday island would keep being known as both Wadjemup and Rottnest “for as long as I can see”. Four roads on the island were formally named or renamed last year, including changing Vincent Way to Nyi Nyi Bidi, which means “the crying road”, given it had honoured the infamous prison superintendent Henry Vincent, who treated Aboriginal prisoners brutally. Mr Mundine also warned against using safety as a blanket reason to keep tourists out. “There are areas of country that should be looked after and people shouldn’t be going there,” he said. “But at the same time, there are things that are great tourist attractions and when people come there, you teach them about country, people have fun.”