Blue Mountains Council (BMCC) plagiarises our business logo and then falsely claims it to be Gundungurra?

Since 2018 and prior (from our tour business conception in 2013), Nature Trail’s business logo has recently been plagiarised by government (local Blue Mountains Council jointly with the NSW Government’s (NPWS) Parks Service, tweaked with a few tokenistic aboriginal variations to our original artwork…

Nature Trail’s creative logo artwork since 2018 is thus:

The Blue Mountains Council in 2024 then nicked our concept artwork design for its $13 million externally funded concept trail… Grand Cliff Top Walk wayfinding signage, thus:

We then read below part of the Parks Service’s (NPWS) official flyer for its 2024 ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’, which includes a specific mention the track wayfinding identification logo – our logo!…

Then we read a promotional video again of the 2024 ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ online by the Parks Service, which clearly and falsely claims that the only traditional Aboriginal custodians were/are the Gundungurra.

[Source:  ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk‘, webpage of Destination NSW (a NSW Government department for state tourism, ^https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/blue-mountains/katoomba-area/wentworth-falls/attractions/grand-cliff-top-walk]

Some Fact Checks:

(1)  Australia’s Blue Mountains Region is vast and comprises million+ hectares of wilderness of The Greater Blue Mountains Area, listed by UNESCO back on 29th November 2000.  See map downloadble below [^Source]

 

 

(2) Traditionally the land and habitat that comprises this Blue Mountains Region was traditionally shared by various Aboriginal custodial tribes and their various clans from at least 22,000 year ago.  The tribes of this region being (in alphabetical order) Darkinjung, Dharug, Gundungurra, Wiradjuri, and Wonnaru.  See an official representative distribution map below, which overlaps the Blue Mountains that we call them today.  Many inter-bred, including with colonialists.

(3) And who funded this walk? – the NSW Government, $13 million out of NSW taxpayer funds!   BTW, none of this trail was impacted by the 2019 bushfires.  It was severely impacted and closed for years by the subsequent torrential rains from February 2020.

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The following is Nature Trail’s email complaint to Blue Mountains {city} Council 24th June 2025:

RE: Copyright Infringement Complaint (CSR 601373) – Nature Trail logo plagiarised by BMCC

 

…as briefly mentioned, I run a commercial tour operation from Katoomba , registered as ‘Nature Trail’, since 2017.

In the years from 2013 leading up to launching this business venture, I personally conceived and designed a number of logos for my business.

This includes the image below I designed in 2018 as an integrated logo, along with other versions. I have used this the locally native yet rarely seen Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo logo for Nature Trail continually publicly since 2018 on the Nature Trail website, on emails and my business marketing material.

• Square shaped overall image frame – for multiple applications – website, email signature (see below), brochures, business cards, apparel, in the field seminar field sandwich board
• Sky blue background – the colour theme of Nature Trail (representing the Blue Mountains)
• A pair of Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoos (Zanda funerea) – locally native in the Blue Mountains, not often seen, but always flying as a pair (male and female mates)
• ‘Nature Trail’ – the business name heading
• ‘Premier tours of the Blue Mountains and beyond’ – tagline
• ‘Back to Nature’ (motto below)

It took me some time and creative effort to conceive and finetune the design. The original version was pained by local Katoomba artist Lyn Naismith, whom I commissioned to paint and have her sign over exclusive copyright to me. I own the original paint and used this as the basis for my overall logo.

So it has come as a shock and disappointment to me to recently discover that since 2024, Blue Mountains City Council in a joint project with the National Parks and Wildlife Service of NSW has mirror copied my logo for hiking track ‘wayfinding’ signage of the upgraded Prince Henry Cliff Walk, re-branded the Grand Cliff Top Walk. It is a hiking track that extends nearly 20 km along mostly the top northern escarpment clifftop of the Jamison Valley between Wentworth Falls and Katoomba.

The attached brochure claims that the exactly same outline of this same bird was “designed by Kelsie King”. No it wasn’t.

If one makes a stencil cutout , it has the exactly the same outline with 6 large feathers and 4 small ones trailing on its right wing. I presume she found my logo on the Internet and killed off the mate, and added a few trailing dots to give it an Aboriginal artwork ‘flavour’ of sorts.

I have also notified the National Parks and Wildlife Service (Parks Service) in person at its Blackheath at it its Blue Mountains Heritage Centre.

I have thus far written the following article on Mountains Drums blog on Nature Trail website to voice my concern of plagiarism. This is the hyperlink to that article, FYI.

NPWS (Parks Service) plagiarises Nature Trail’s copyright logo

 

I have since reconnoitring half the length of Grand Cliff Top Walk in short sections and noting information for future proposed hiking tours I wish to offer.

In the process, I am taking many photos including one of every sign post that displays a plagiarised copy of my logo, albeit displaying just one of the same Black Cockatoo sketches. So far, I have counted more than three dozen separate images of this along this amalgamated track. They seem to only appear on the Council land portions, whereas the Parks Service has used its own Lyrebird logo on its custodial ownership portions of the track. Council uses its own logo on its portions, as is appropriate.

Question:   Why could Council not come up with a unique image of its own?

Anyway, this is my first contact with Council to voice my complaint.

Kind regards,
Steven Ridd

NOTE:  Attached is a PDF copy of this original email by Nature Trail to Council (with privacy redactions that we’ve applied).  Note the dates of our correspondences.

 

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And the following has been Council’s response delegated to a junior staffer of Council’s ‘Natural Area Visitor Facilities’ section within Council fancy named ‘Infrastructure Nature Areas – Project Delivery Service’, which we’re told is headed up by senior manager Eric Mahony.

Well, our feedback to this legitimate complaint thus far:  

 

(A)  Nature Trail’s complaint about its copyright infringement was first notified in early June 2025 in person by Steven Ridd initially to the Parks Service’s Blue Mountains Heritage Centre at 270 Govetts Leap Road situated at the edge of Blackheath.  During the cordial discussion, the front office staff member then handed Steven a copy of its official flyer about the ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’, which explained its almost identical logo. (Copy below downloadable).

Steven then requested the front office staff member to do a quick search on Google on her front desk PC for Nature Trail’s website, to which she obliged.  She quikcly found it and instantly recognised the flying Black Cockatoos on a square blue sky background as being almost the same as the trail logo on the Parks Service’s flyer.

Steven explained that he had designed the original logo himself back in 2018 and asked that his plagiarism complaint be communicated to the Parks Service management and provided Nature  Trails contact telephone number.  Yet, nothing since has been heard back from Parks Service.

(B)  Blue Mountains Council’s letter of reply to Steven is dated 16th July 2025.  It incorrectly refers to Steven’s email complaint on this matter (CSR 601373) being dated 1st July 2025.   No, Steven has records that confirm that his initial phone call complaint to Council was Tuesday 24th June 2025, a week prior.

Also, Steven then received a phone call request from Council’s Customer Service department to submit his compliant with details by email in writing to its public email address: council@bmcc.nsw.gov.au.  This Steven did on Thursday 26th June 2025, not 1st July 2025.

(C)  Council’s brief reply to Steven of 16th July 2025 demonstrates that the detailed attached evidence that Nature Trail supplied in its complaint to Council has not been read, else disdainfully rejected;

(B) Council’s brief reply is an attempt to fob off our complaint back to the Park’s Service (NPWS).

This contradicts the “joint initiative” between Council and the Parks Service with this recent trail infrastructure project – their fancy renamed ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’.  During our reconnoitring of this recently upgraded trail, we have documented and photographed our logo having been used many dozens of times along this trail, and both on Parks Service custodial public bushland and on Council custodial public bushland.

Indeed, from the very start of this ‘Grand Cliff Top Walk’ at the repaired and upgraded track head of Charles Darwin’s Walk which is on Council’s custodial public bushland, there are two noted uses of the plagiarised Nature Trail’s copyrighted logo.

First, the unmissable and extravagant sandstone ‘welcome wall’:

Second, Blue Mountains Council’s information board at the track head of Charles Darwin’s Walk track, purely Council, not the spin of being only the (NPWS) Parks Service:

 

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References and Further Information:

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