Blocking the go-kart track to protect Aboriginal cultural heritage on Mount Panorama has brought both elation and disappointment.
The Bathurst Regional Council earmarked a site at Mount Panorama-Wahluu for a go-kart track in 2015, but the Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley announced emergency protection in March.
It came after lawyers acting for the Wiradyuri Traditional Owners Central West Aboriginal Corporation (WTOCWAC) compared the proposal to the destruction of 46,000-year-old caves at Juukan Gorge, by Rio Tinto last year.
On Monday, Ms Ley announced a further protection order which will last for ten years and explicitly outlaws earthworks or construction of any track.
It does not prevent existing activities, including motorsport, from continuing.
Publicity officer for the WTOCWAC, Yanhadarrambhal Jade Flynn said they were initially in "shock" at the decision, followed by a sense of "elation".
However, the Bathurst mayor, Bobby Bourke, said he was "disappointed", and that Ms Ley was incorrect.
"We've done all the homework that we could, we've got all the advice … and I'm disappointed she didn't take that on notice," he said.
President of the Bathurst Kart Club, Mark Dunbar, said he was also "very disappointed", and that the Club would not give up on building a track.
Calls for the track to be moved
Mr Flynn hoped another location — that did not endanger Aboriginal culture — could be identified.
"We would absolutely support an international standard go-kart track somewhere in Bathurst or somewhere in the region for sure, we'd love to see that," he said.
Ms Ley said she was "satisfied" the area met the requirements for protection, as the construction of the track would have resulted in "desecration and injury to the site".
She called on the Council to find another location for the track to be built.
"It's a good project and it's meaningful and it has community support but it just can't be in this particular location on the top of Mount Panorama," Ms Ley said.
Unity needed
The proposal has divided the community. A petition with 10,000 signatures calling for the track to be moved was presented to a council meeting, and others have been the focus of protests.
The council's general manager, David Sherley, said it will abide by the ruling "at this time", and was "seeking advice to investigate the full ramifications" of the decision.
"Council notes that neither our own commissioned reports or the Minister's commissioned report indicated that Section 10 should be placed on the site," he said.
Not the end
Mr Flynn said the decision was significant for the protection of country nationally, and while he was confident the site would now be safe, the broader fight was not over.
The Bathurst Regional Council said it would seek advice as to the full impacts of the decision.
Ms Ley said there were avenues for appeal.
