When I started out rock climbing, back in the mid 1970s, there were a handful of leading Aussie climbers who immediately captured my admiration and fed my teenage inspiration. Chris Dewhirst was one of those climbers. Dewhirst had established some of the hardest climbs of the 1960s and early 1970s and his name is still… Continue reading Everest, Guns & Money
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Have Parks Victoria Really Banned Scrambling in the Grampians National Park?
Just before last Christmas Parks Victoria finally released the Greater Gariwerd Landscape Management Plan. Unfortunately in Parks Victoria’s haste to ban rock climbing across significant areas of the park they also appear to have banned scrambling and in doing so they have effectively closed three of the best adventure walks / scrambles in Victoria. Two… Continue reading Have Parks Victoria Really Banned Scrambling in the Grampians National Park?
Bushwalking Bans Looming in the Grampians/Gariwerd
Tourist hordes are swarming over ancient quarried edges beside a popular Parks Victoria walking track in the Grampians/Gariwerd. Some are sitting beside quarried edges that are surrounded by graffiti. They are seemingly oblivious to the cultural heritage significance of the site. Elsewhere in the National Park, graffiti (including false rock-art) spoils a rock shelter and… Continue reading Bushwalking Bans Looming in the Grampians/Gariwerd
Parks Victoria Halts New Grampians And Arapiles Guidebooks
To all of our loyal wholesale and retail customers it is with a great deal of regret that Open Spaces Publishing has made the decision to halt work on all of our planned rock climbing and bushwalking titles for the Grampians National Park and at nearby Mt Arapiles. Our business moved to Natimuk in the… Continue reading Parks Victoria Halts New Grampians And Arapiles Guidebooks
Is This Australia’s Oldest Rock Climbing Photograph?
The Grampians have been in the climbing news a lot lately after Parks Victoria initiated the world’s largest rock climbing bans (over 50% of the region’s best climbing) and with no consultation with the climbing community. To say these have been tough times for the climbing community is an understatement. Coincidentally I have just finished… Continue reading Is This Australia’s Oldest Rock Climbing Photograph?
Grampians National Park: Safety Ropes, Bushwalking and Special Protection Areas
This article was added to on 10 March 2021 to include a letter from Jason Borg at Parks Victoria. Many of you are probably aware that Parks Victoria have initiated sweeping rock climbing bans across the Grampians National Park in what are called Special Protection Areas (SPAs). At Open Spaces we have received a number… Continue reading Grampians National Park: Safety Ropes, Bushwalking and Special Protection Areas
The First Ascent of Blimp
At the end of the academic year 1968 at RMIT, I looked for a new outdoor activity, so I met Fred Langenhorst and Rein Kamar from the bushwalking club in the college café. ‘Hi Bruno, would you like to do a rock climbing course with us?’ ‘Yeah, I would like that.’ The introductory course with… Continue reading The First Ascent of Blimp
Following the Wombat Poo Trail
Over the years I’ve developed a fascination for wombat poo. Nothing weird, more as a subject matter for my camera as opposed to collecting them for things like making paper with (which is apparently done commercially by some mob down in Tassie!) My native Victoria is home to many thousands of wombats and this amiable… Continue reading Following the Wombat Poo Trail
Open Spaces Tree Change
It’s been a tough ten years in print publishing as the internet revolution continues to change the way we create and distribute information. Traditional printers across Australia have been putting off large numbers of staff or closing their doors for good. Wholesale distributors and book shops have been similarly affected. The introduction of smart-phones and… Continue reading Open Spaces Tree Change
Healthy Parks – Wealthy People
For many years the various organisations that have run Victorian Parks have had an objective of increasing visitor numbers. The most recent incarnation, Parks Victoria, has gained a new objective – a greater proportion of Parks expenditure is to be raised from users and less is to be provided through government budgets. Are the… Continue reading Healthy Parks – Wealthy People