Hobart City Council has unveiled an $80,000 revamp of the Springs lookout on kunanyi/Mt Wellington, featuring a brand-new balustrade and improvements to the walking path.
The Springs vantage point can be reached via a 10-15 minute loop walk from the car park and provides panoramic views of the city, the Derwent River and the Organ Pipes.
During the unveiling on Friday, Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds called on the state government to contribute more funding for maintenance and new infrastructure on the mountain.
The council currently spends around $3 million per year on works on kunanyi/Mt Wellington, while the state government provides an annual grant of around $380,000 to the Wellington Park Management Trust.
“We are always knocking on the doors of the state and federal government to encourage them to also chip in,” Reynolds said.
“If we had a similar contribution that we had put in over the last five years we would have a lot more visitor infrastructure than we do today.”
The mountain is the second most-visited tourist attraction in the state and the most popular natural site, with 377,085 visitors making the trek to kunanyi in the 2022/23 season.
In early 2023, Premier Jeremy Rockliff said he was “committed” to building what some consider to be the most ambitious piece of infrastructure imaginable on the mountain – a cable car.
The proposal for a cable car to the summit was last rejected by the council in 2022 and was again knocked back in November 2023 after the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found the proposal ‘failed to meet multiple standards’.
The Mount Wellington Cable Car Company recently argued that their solution represents the “only feasible, sustainable way to protect the mountain into perpetuity” and again questioned why the council was against it.
“The terms of our proposed lease will ensure a sustainable future for the mountain,” the company said.
“A future where local taxpayers no longer cover the cost of tourist enjoyment, instead, willing tourists effectively cover the cost of all park management, allowing locals to enjoy the mountain for free, forever.”
