Pining for the falls

Ben_Dover said :

The year prior to closing in 2004 the Hyles Family had 15,000 visitors to the falls. Unfortunately three failed attempts to sue the family resulting in years of legal headaches broke the business.

Can we find those who tried to sue, and throw them off the highest point there, just to appease the gods of decency and common sense?

Reminds me of when Murray’s Coaches had $15.00 fares to Sydney. A woman in a wheelchair sued them claiming equal access and won. Murray’s responded by scrapping the $15.00 fare and more than doubling it to $36.00.

The problem was that people would climb to the top of the falls (go up a path), discover that they were some metres from the actual top of the falls (ie where the water went over the rocks) and go off the path, through a fence and into the water. Then either try to climb down or just fall down (like the girl mentioned). I think there was a death there earlier than that as well.

Keep in mind that running this as a public access area means you have to maintain the fencing, trails, toilets, BBQs etc etc and then charge for it (not popular) and then have staff on hand to do all the work etc.

So unless someone wants to spend taxpayer money..

Just so people have a better understanding of the issue, this is a Hansard excerpt from May 2012. Mrs Anna Hyles and her husband own Ginninderra Falls, and she is a member of the Ginninderra Falls Association Committee:

Mrs Hyles:…When we had it open, Johnnie and I ran it as a national park. You can see the falls. It is quite spectacular. It is three kilometres from the edge of the suburbs of Belconnen. It is so close. People would be able to get there in a short time. School groups could get there within their school day.

When Johnnie and I started, we had a bit of a master plan for it that we developed with a firm in Canberra. We saw it as walking trails, camping, canoeing. We had a vision that we wanted to do that ourselves. A young girl injured herself out there in 2004 and we closed the park due to insurance. We could not get insurance. It has fallen into disrepair. There is so much that needs to be done. It is way beyond our capability, all the fences and the railings. We have had people look at it. There are a lot of quite serious structures that need to be built to access the pulpit lookout. To make that safe and secure, there is a lot of work that needs to be done. We really believe that it should be in public ownership. We are very keen to get it underway. We have the idea to do it but it is just beyond our means to do it.

http://www.hansard.act.gov.au/hansard/2009/comms/climate30.pdf

Snave81 said :

And looking at the Google street view image of the front gate, people haven’t been respecting nature to much with the dumped rubbish and burnt out cars.

So, what? We should lock everybody out of everywhere because of a few d***heads? Considering the vast majority who use these type of areas do treat them with respect, I’d say that’s a pretty crappy way of dealing with the situation.

Punish the people doing the wrong thing, rather than punishing everybody just because it’s easier.

Chop71 said :

Open it up please.

http://ginninderra.org.au/node/194

These whackers are dreaming. How ever I think we should have access but. Not via another wast of money national park. Is this the same mob that used BCC moneys to start off this crusade?

Grimm said :

Ginninderra falls is one of many areas that should be opened to the public again. This whole habit of locking people out of nature is getting ridiculous around the ACT.

The falls are also located in NSW and as others have said it’s private property as well.

And looking at the Google street view image of the front gate, people haven’t been respecting nature to much with the dumped rubbish and burnt out cars.

davo101 said :

It’s privately owned freehold. If the owner’s don’t want you on their land then that’s entirely their prerogative.

In this case, yes. The owner can do whatever they like with their private property, and I can’t blame them for not wanting to open it up. As we can see, tossers looking for quick cash have again ruined it for everybody else.

Unfortunately though, in other cases, the ACT Government are locking up more and more popular areas for no reason other than kowtowing to green groups. We are slowly but surely losing access to the places more people should be encouraged to get out and see. Keeping people out isn’t the only way to keep the environment safe, but actual management strategies are too much like hard work…

Grimm said :

Ginninderra falls is one of many areas that should be opened to the public again. This whole habit of locking people out of nature is getting ridiculous around the ACT.

It’s privately owned freehold. If the owner’s don’t want you on their land then that’s entirely their prerogative.

The year prior to closing in 2004 the Hyles Family had 15,000 visitors to the falls. Unfortunately three failed attempts to sue the family resulting in years of legal headaches broke the business.

Can we find those who tried to sue, and throw them off the highest point there, just to appease the gods of decency and common sense?

Supportive or reopening.

Aren’t there some climbing routes there? I seem to remember a couple of lines having been bolted into submission.