His main hobby was rock climbing and he was excited about the next chapter of his life in the Blue Mountains learning to be an adventure guide.
Create a free account to read this article
or signup to continue reading
Oliver Carrick, 20, from Queensland, died on the cliff where he was taking part in an abseiling training assessment with Blue Mountains TAFE on October 7.
This year in March, Mr Carrick and his then partner made a plea for help from the Mountains community to find cheap accommodation in exchange for farm/gardening work.
"We are a young couple who will be moving to the Blue Mountains this year once we find a place to call home," he said.
At the time he was preparing to start the Outdoor Leadership at Wentworth Falls TAFE course in July and had planned to complete Certificates III and IV over 12 months.
Emergency services were called to Katoomba cliffs about 8am on Friday, October 7 after being told a man abseiling in a group had fallen 65 metres from Malaita Wall in Katoomba.
TAFE guides assisted the student before NSW Ambulance paramedics arrived but the man died at the scene. Officers from the Police Bomb and Rescue Squad retrieved the student's body about 11am.
A popular abseiling spot in the Jamison Valley, Malaita Wall (also spelt Malatia on some national park signs), is about 200m of vertical cliff, with the first and longest abseil 45m.
New life in Blue Mountains
In a social media post in March, Mr Carrick wrote: "The main objective of writing this message is to find a place to call home that is suited to our way of living and the hobbies we enjoy. We are ... working towards growing produce and living self-sustainably, or a place where we can grow produce on someone's land. We both strongly believe there are people in the Blue Mountains area who are living on a property with permaculture interests and the intentions of becoming self-sustainable that have a space to welcome a young couple to live and be a part of the growth."
He said the goal was to find a home through "like minded people in the community ... a small place on a property such as a tiny home".
"We are more than keen to work with property owners and work on the land in exchange for a cheaper living situation. I will have 3-5 days a week attending my TAFE course, varying each week. I am willing to work on the property outside of TAFE hours while still allowing time for myself to rock climb as that is my main hobby."
The pair were living on a property in Queensland, growing their own produce.
"Before moving to the Blue Mountains we will be both working and or receiving Centrelink payments to help with our moving interstate period. We are also already financially stable and prepared to move to the Blue Mountains as soon as the opportunity arises.
"We are both looking forward to and are excited for the next chapter of our lives together to focus purely on our journey with healthier and simpler living.
"We are both in a very transformative and healing stage of our young lives and know there is a place already there for us in the Blue Mountains. We are ready for the leap of faith to be in a new environment with new lines of study and work, creating new friendships and experiences with all that the Blue Mountains has to offer."
The message was widely posted on Mountains community Facebook pages and shared many times.
Detectives investigating
TAFE was contacted for comment about the incident and directed the Gazette to police.
Police said: "Detectives attached to Blue Mountains Police have initiated an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the man's death. SafeWork NSW has been notified."
The tight-knit outdoor adventure industry has been left reeling by the incident.
CEO of Outdoors NSW/ACT Lori Modde said: "It is indeed a tragedy and we extend our heartfelt condolences, thoughts and prayers to the family, friends and colleagues. Out of respect to the family we won't be commenting on the incident until the investigations are complete. We are focusing our full efforts on support for the industry and those colleagues directly affected as the whole industry is grieving from this event."
The outdoor leadership course at Blue Mountains TAFE is one of the key training pipelines for the NSW outdoor recreation industry.
A report is being prepared for the Coroner.