Private buildings, public land: how Australia’s national parks became a battleground between conservation and commerce

Keith Muir says the proposed ‘bush camps’ in the Gardens of Stone national park are actually part of a glamping-style resort. Photograph: Dean Sewell/The Guardian

When the Gardens of Stone in the Blue Mountains was declared a state conservation area in 2022, it should have been cause of great celebration for Keith Muir. Instead, the plans put forward by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) for the nature reserve make him weep.

“The geology is spectacular,” he says of the nature reserve. “The pagoda landforms are sculptured natural artworks, that is the only way to describe them. They are symphonies in stone.”