Vandals and defecating louts at popular tourist site prompt Aboriginal elders to lock down access to the land
- Traditional custodians of Cape York have banned travellers from visiting the Tip
- The boom gate has now been brought down on areas of the northern peninsula
- Elders called for public toilet upgrades after tourists defecated in the scrub
- Travellers will no longer be allowed access past the Croc Tent on Pajinka Road
Indigenous elders have locked down access to one of Australia’s more popular tourist destinations after louts vandalised and even defecated on land held sacred by Aboriginal people.
Traditional custodians of Cape York, in Far North Queensland, have banned travellers from visiting Australia’s most northern point.
Disrespectful visitors in recent years have covered cliffs in graffiti, littered, defecated and even used unregistered guns in the area.
Disrespectful visitors in recent years have graffitied cliffs, littered, defecated and used unregistered guns in the area
Traditional custodians of Cape York, in Far North Queensland, have banned travellers from visiting Australia’s most northern point (pictured, camping in the area)
The boom gate has now been brought down on popular areas of the northern peninsula region
Elders have also called for public toilet upgrades after some tourists used nearby scrub due to a lack of facilities.
The boom gate has now been brought down on popular areas of the northern peninsula region, the Cairns Post reports.
Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation chairman Michael Solomon consulted custodians of the land before closing Captain Billy’s Landing, Pajinka (the Tip), Ussher Point and Somerset to tourists due to ‘disrespect to tradition landowners’.
‘They make their own tracks and drive down the beach, they come with quad bikes and pig dogs,’ he said, adding that tourists had turned the Tip into a ‘rubbish tip’.
Gudang/Yadhaykenu Aboriginal Corporation chairman Michael Solomon (pictured) said tourists don’t recognise the traditional landowners
‘We have had enough and I am concerned. We have been here for a long time but cannot go forward, people just don’t recognise the traditional landowners.’
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships Minister Craig Crawford compared tourists’ disrespect of the land to people breaking the law to climb Uluru.
‘We do need to respect that they are the traditional owners of that land and it gives them certain rights. I probably do agree with them, they probably do need some upgrades, no one should be defecating in the scrub,’ he said.
Mr Crawford said traditional owners have exercised their land rights under federal native title law, which allows them to possess and occupy an area.
Signs have been set up at the Jardine River ferry crossing, and tourists will no longer be allowed past the Croc Tent on Pajinka Road.