Mt Beerwah, a sacred Indigenous site and contentious hiking area on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast has been vandalised with a religious message.

 

Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) is currently investigating the defacing of a section of rock at the base of Mt Beerwah in the Glass Houe Mountains. 

The words ‘Jesus Saves Just Ask Him’ have been carved into the rock, in some sections as deep as two centimetres, with what’s believed to be a power tool. 

QPWS believes the vandalism took place at night on either the 20th or 21st of May. 

‘Regardless of what it says, the graffiti is a terrible act. It looks clumsy and awful, and rangers and the community take a zero-tolerance approach to offences like this in our national parks,’ said Senior Ranger Nat Smith.

The mountain has been a point of contention between the local Jinibara People, for whom Mt Beerwah is a sacred ceremonial and birthing site, and other members of the public, as the Traditional Owners have made calls for a closure of the mountain in order to protect it.  

‘The mountain is an iconic feature of the Sunshine Coast and extremely important to the Jinibara People, the local Traditional Owners, and to the people of Queensland,’ said Mr Smith.

‘To have it defaced like this is appalling and QPWS will work with the Jinibara People to minimise the long-term visual damage.’

QPWS is asking anyone with information on the vandalism to come forward to the department. 

‘This vandalism is deliberate and destructive, and someone in the community will know who did it,’ Mr Smith said.

Vandalism of this kind carries a maximum penalty of $431,250 and two years’ prison under the Nature Conservation Act 1992, as well as an additional $143,750 under the Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2003. The offenders may also be made to cover the costs of rehabilitating the site, which could cost tens of thousands of dollars. 

The mountain is temporarily closed until further notice for cultural healing and reparations.

 

Images supplied by QPWS