A lease proposal for the development and operation of private cabins along an under-construction multi-day walk in the Gardens of Stone Conservation Area, has been criticised by conservationists.

 

The NSW Government plans to grant the lease, with a total potential term of 20 years, to Wild Bush Luxury, a NSW company that runs a range of adventure offerings at different tourist destinations across Australia and New Zealand. Public comment on the lease proposal is open until Friday 31st of May.

This is the second time a lease to Wild Bush Luxury has been proposed in the region, with the initial lease being tabled alongside a lease for a potential adventure park in the conservation area. After public backlash on these plans in 2023, the NSW Government agreed to restart the advertisement off the leases.

The refined version of the development involves more details about what the accommodation would look like and includes no mention of an adventure park.

What would the cabins look like?

The planned lease will allow the private company to build and operate three ‘bush camps’ in Gardens of Stone Conservation Area near Lithgow, as part of a paid guided walking tour along a new multi-day trail in the park that’s currently under construction.

Each of the three proposed bush camps will cover upt to 300m² and cater for groups of ten guests and two guides. Each camp would include six two-person cabins, a covered communal area, and an amenities block with three showers and three composting toilets, along with the additional infrastructure needed to service the camps.

 

Artists impression of the proposed bush camp facilities

 

These bush camps are in addition to three public-use campgrounds along the same track that will be available to self-sufficient hikers.

What’s the problem?

As the Gardens of Stone State Conservation Area is part of NSW’s national park estate, it’s public land. Allowing a private company to lease and earn a profit on part of that land is a form of privatisation.

There are also fears that separating hikers between private cabins and public campgrounds on public land will create a division between those who can and can’t afford to walk with greater comforts.

‘Everybody should be treated the same in a park. We’re all Australians, we come together in a campground and we share things, we share experiences’ Keith Muir of Katoomba-based Wilderness Australia, told ABC News.

‘But when you have a sort of a haves and have-nots situation it’s just not appropriate for a public park.’

The bush camps have been touted as making the multi-day walk ‘accessible as possible to as many people as possible’ by David Crust, Blue Mountains branch director for the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

However, this accessibility doesn’t consider who the development might be pricing out. Costings around the experience are yet to be revealed, however Wild Bush Luxury currently charges over $2800 per person for its four day guided walk on Maria Island, Tasmania.

Have Your Say

Public comment on the intention to grant the lease closes this EOD Friday 31st of May 2024, so get your submissions in now! Just submit your name, email address, and thoughts on the proposal using the online form.

Have Your Say

 

Feature photo by Destination NSW

We share news on topics relevant to our mission of getting people outdoors and protecting the environment. We choose carefully to cover the topics we reckon you’ll find interesting or need to know about, this means quirky stories as well as the hard-hitting ones. We're all human here, so occasionally you'll get our writers' opinions as well. We’re proud to follow our Editorial Standards in every article we publish.