FLIGHTS TOUCH THE SPIRIT OF THE PAST

News Source: Sunshine Coast Daily, page 5, Friday 6th August, 2004
By: Chris McCormack

Australia Zoo pays homage to Aboriginal history

They glisten in the crisp, clear winter sunshine – volcanic remnants rising majestically out of the surroundings plains.

Soaring high above them you can sense the immense passing of time as these mountains of rock were carved and shaped into their current state.

The wind rises and falls sharply, in turn caressing the Robinson R44 helicopter’s body as through it were a cockatoo, floating on a cushion of air high about the earth. I’m experiencing Australia Zoo’s latest attraction. Wiyal – which means yellow-tailed black cockatoo – flights have been conceived as a way to see and feel the spirit of the Glasshouse Mountains without walking over them. The traditional custodians of the area, the Gubbi Gubbi people, were never allowed to walk on them and prefer, out of respect, that others didn’t.

Gubbi Gubbi elder Eve Fesl believes the flights will enable all visitors, including the elderly and not-so-mobile, to savour the spectacle, feel the spirit of the mountains and in turn “show respect by looking up to things, not standing on top of them”.

The panoramic views afforded by the airy Robinson cockpit are unbeatable. I could see Brisbane, Moreton and North Stradbroke Islands and back up to Noosa.

Two flights paths are planned. One takes in the Glasshouse Mountains, the other along the coast over Bribie Island, both areas of indigenous significance. Some of the money from the flights will enter a trust fund to benefit indigenous projects.

Australia Zoo has purchased land to develop an indigenous interpretive centre showing past and present ways of life and culture of the Gubbi Gubbi. The project aims to develop Australia’s leading centre of Indigenous culture.

Zoo spokesman Peter Lang said the Wiyal flights will give tourists a unique perspective and understanding of Aboriginal history. I’ve always thought the Glasshouse Mountains are one of the most spectacular parts of the Sunshine Coast but preferred to see them from afar as the thought of slogging up and down mountains in subtropical heat didn’t exactly appeal to me. Now there is a sensational vantage point from which I can take in the spirit of the area, safe in the knowledge that these icons will remain preserved because I saw them with Wiyal.