The "crown" of King Canobolas -- "uninviting"

“Tall and majestic, an ancient volcano,” is how the tourism promotion body Destination NSW describes the Orange region’s prime but most undeveloped would-be tourist attraction, Mount Canobolas.

A “would-be attraction” is a description that applies perfectly at this time to the 1,395-metre tall mountain, which actually has two summits – its name originating from the Aboriginal words “Coona” and “Booloo,” meaning “two heads.”

In fact, Mount Canobolas has been a prime tourist attraction-in-waiting for the past 20 years or more, definitely not majestic but more a shabby, largely dispossessed monarch with a crown of unsightly radio and TV masts waiting for local councils and tourism authorities to decide what they can do with it.

And according to Cabonne Council’s Promotion and Tourism Officer, Glenn Mickle, it’s still difficult to see what can be done for Mount Canobolas in any creative way at all.

Although regarded as an Orange tourism attraction, it stands within Cabonne shire, so it’s the shire council’s responsibility.

But it’s also within the Canobolas National Park, and that means the state Parks and Wildlife Department has the last say on what can be done with it in environmental terms.

Then again, the radio and TV masts on the summit put it within the federal government’s sphere, which is another probably insurmountable obstruction to the “ancient volcano’s” beautification as a tourist drawcard.

But all these problems are at least being faced, if not addressed these days as Cabonne Shire, Orange City Council and presumably the Parks and Wildlife people too look at ways giving the mountain the makeover it deserves for local and national visitors.

A recent report to Cabonne council triggered the latest efforts by describing Mount Canobolas as “uninviting, difficult to access all year round” and having no tourism infrastructure – something already quite obvious to people who drive up there and find the top of it no more than ugly concrete walls, a shabby unpaved car park and, of course, the soaring steel communications masts.

And not a decent seat, viewpoint, soft drink or cup of tea for the begging.

“The current condition does not assist Cabonne and Orange councils to attract visitation to this natural environment and build on the economy of each local government area and the great Central West region,” the report asserted.

ROADS NEED UPGRADING FIRST

According to Glenn Mickle, Cabonne’s responsibility at the moment is confined to the  mountain’s roads, particularly an upgrade of the twisting main routes to the summit – both of which have large sections of rocky unpaved surface which can be quite unnerving on the downward run.

“But that depends on available funds” he says — and competition from other major road repair demands in the shire. There are no ratepayers up on Mount Canobolas.

“The National Parks and Wildlife Department has a plan drawn up for remedial work at the summit, but only to clean it up basically and improve the car park.

“Other than that, it would be a minimal impact job.”

Meantime, he says, everyone’s waiting for Orange City Council’s tourism master plan to come up with suggestions on infrastructural and beautification projects for the mountain – reflecting the “regional situation” that Cabonne’s mayor Bob Dowling has called for in the effort to reclaim the peak.

And everyone’s out beating the bushes for money too – with both councils applying for state and federal grants to get the Mount Canobolas makeover under way.

“We’ve put in for a couple of federal grants,” says Glenn Mickle, “but the parks and wildlife people say it would take three years of their budget to come up with what we’d want them to do.

“We just have to keep chipping away at state, federal and local government sources and meanwhile explore new funding avenues.”

SUMMIT PLATFORM NEEDED FOR UNOBSTRUCTED VIEWING

One project that may be possible, Glenn suggests, is to put a viewing platform on the summit where visitors can look out across the panorama without the obstruction of the communication towers.

“But this is a national park and it depends again on what the parks and wildlife department says about it.

“Again, the height of the summit and the extreme temperatures in winter would prove a drawback to tourism development.

“You could have a scenic cableway riding visitors to the top, but who’s going to sit up there in the winter taking tickets? In fact, it would be difficult to find anyone to manage any attraction up there in the winter months.

“Even repairing the drainage up there and laying grass and woodchips and putting up shelters  and seating means a major job – cutting through two metres of concrete and removing bluestone walls to make the site more visitor-friendly.

“On top of that, there are sacred Aboriginal sites up there, along with rare flora and fauna, that authorities will not want disturbed.”

DRIVE, DECISIONS AND COMPROMISES NEEDED

So, unless major cross-governmental decisions and compromises are made in the coming year the real majesty of Mount Canobolas will remain, for most people, in the text they read in government tourism promotion brochures.

As Destination NSW sees it: “Birdwatchers will enjoy seeing rosellas, cockatoos, parrots, lorrikeets and robins, whilst grey kangaroos, wallabies, wombats and small possums can be found closer to the ground.

“The gnarled Snow Gums in the area provide an excellent frame for the panorama of orchards below.

“Wattle, wild cherry trees and hyacinth orchards provide generous colours to the Mountain.

“A series of walking trails have been created to take you around the reserve and mountain attractions like the Federal Falls, Mount Tomac, Bald Hill and Young Man Canobolas.”

And above it all, the mountain’s crown of old concrete, unsealed gravel, forbidding walls and menacing steel towers reflect the lack of consideration, creativity, celebration and drive that’s blighted the tallest mountain of the Central Tablelands.