General News
26 July, 2026
Dyurrite story offers lesson in hope
Dr Felix Ritson gives a personal reflection on Dyurrite/Mt Arapiles, community, cultural heritage, climbing and the hope that careful consultation can lead to better outcomes.
There is a good story to be told, one that for me is about hope and faith in humanity.
Here, however, there is no way for me to tell it. It is too complex and important to do it any justice.
Furthermore, I really only know my experience of it, not the hundreds if not thousands of others involved.
What I'm resigned to convey is my small perspective, and for that I'll need to outline my historical context and why this story matters to me.
Since I was a teenager, it has been a lifelong dream of mine to spend a year living like a monk/hermit, camped at a place I consider sacred: Dyurrite/Mt Arapiles.
Eventually, after burnout from being about as frontline as a doctor in Melbourne could be, I completed this dream in 2022/23.
Like so many others, I thank the Mountain for bringing me to my new Wimmera home.
I spent the first years of schooling living in an exceedingly remote Indigenous community called Halls Creek, in the Kimberley.
Some of my earliest memories are swimming in pristine gorges, being taught Indigenous language and playing in abandoned gold mines.
There I was very much in the racial minority, though too young for that to have much of an impact on me.
Since that time my mother has worked mostly as a GP in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.
During my schooling and clinical training, I pursued and was fortunate enough to spend time in rural and remote Indigenous communities and organisations such as in Mimilli, Mutujulu, Willcannia, Broken Hill, in and around Darwin and Port Augusta.
I've had the immense privilege to spend years travelling overseas, often being humbled by communities with long-lasting connections to their land: providing medical care in very remote Zambian villages, living with an Indigenous Mexican community, relishing the hospitality received in the mountains of Northern India, making pilgrimage in Tibet and cycling through Central Asia and across Southern Africa.
As a third-generation Australian to refugee European grandparents, I have learnt and mourned that I will never understand the depth of relationship to place that can exist.
Perhaps it is no wonder that "Sand Talk" is my second favourite book, followed closely by "Braiding Sweetgrass".
Completing a Masters of International Public Health, something that focused heavily on pandemics and how Governments and organisations manage them, the year before COVID struck, taught me many things.
Perhaps one of the most important being an understanding that it is incompetence mostly fueled by financial, temporal and political pressures that results in poor decision-making, not evil or malice.
I reckon that if politicians were more honest about this, rather than pretending to be perfectly functional, there would be fewer conspiracy theorists and more respect towards the government.
In late 2024, Parks Victoria released a plan to ban most of the climbing and the ability to walk off track at the Mountain.
To make matters worse, some people wrongly blamed Indigenous people for Parks Victoria’s actions, spurred on by the right-wing media.
Climbers, typically a progressive, open-minded bunch, were branded as entitled racists, a narrative fueled by the left-wing media.
This plan tore people and community apart; ruined friendships, was used as false justification for racists, had people anonymously threatened, made people feel scared in their own towns, avoiding even going to the shops, had people leave the region, ended businesses and caused significant deterioration in people's mental health, on multiple occasions contributing to the worst of meantal health outcomes.
The importance and influence of this Mountain, and the impact of it being taken away, can with words, only ever be understated.
Thankfully, those times marred by shame and anger are behind us.
I am reliably informed that the Mountain is absolutely sacred to its Traditional Owners, and contains historical artifacts of untold cultural value.
Sites I have stumbled across there have left me in states of awe and wonder, representing the arc of humanity in ways that frankly dwarf even the greatest of stone or steel monuments.
Whilst I am not privy to secret knowledge of culture and heritage at the Mountain, I resolutely appreciate and respect both it and its owners right to secrecy. We are blessed to live in a time when Australia's history is so protected.
From time to time people die at the Mountain, and yet, the at times perilous undertaking of climbing continues.
This pursuit is not taken lightly or by those not aware of the dangers; there are motives for why people risk their lives to climb.
Consider; that I am sure that the mountain has saved far more lives than it has taken.
It is to many the most important place in the world for good reason.
I too have sought refuge there during dark times. It is a place of healing, growth and connection.
I am so glad that my daughter will similarly, one day, be free to share in the experience of this ineffably wholesome place.
It was my suspicion that the plan to ban access to almost all of the Mountain was the result of poorly thought-through, financially and time-constrained government decision-making, and hence could be improved upon.
It has been my opinion for the past two years that a much better solution, one that all parties would be happy with, could be reached.
I firmly believed that a process and outcome so good that it would act as a shining exemplar for the nation was possible.
Why? Because what I have seen of these lands is that they are filled with good, caring, decent people who support each other.
My small role in this saga started with messages of hope and respect, and grew into the honour of representing the community.
At times it has been daunting trying to hold onto and then convey my optimistic vision to others. Whilst I am not surprised by the outcome, I am very glad that the predictions came to fruition.
Parks Victoria announced the original plan, the people exercised the avenues afforded to them within our Westminster system to inform the state government of their concern.
Soon after, most of the leadership within Parks Vic had new faces, the original plan was paused indefinitely. Consultation took place, a working group of representatives was created.
Slowly but surely trust was built.
The Traditional Owner Land Council asked for community-nominated experts, who would be told secrets about cultural heritage so that they could assist in determining the best ways to protect it whilst allowing climbing.
All the parties at the table supported the outcome.
Now we have a new, better plan, endorsed by all, fit for a future that will benefit everyone.
The other day I was walking my baby through Horsham’s theatre hall and art gallery to again see the 1863 oil painting of Dyurrite/Mt Arapiles worth perhaps a $1,000,000 on loan from the National Gallery, all funded by our fundamentally well-intentioned representative democratic government.
On display were artistic photos of rock art taken by local children, next to photos of proud local Indigenous people.
It was a beautiful moment for me.
Whilst I will never know the depth of connection to this place felt by those with tens of thousands of years of ancestry to it, I am thankful to live here, as a citizen of our flourishing* society.