Australia has so many for the bucket list. Climbing Sydney Harbour Bridge, diving the Great Barrier Reef or having a cuddle with a Koala are some of the top picks. But exploring Aboriginal Australia often doesn’t get much more of a look-in than the whistle-stop tours that buzz around Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), and maybe a browse through an Aboriginal art gallery. Yet the Aboriginal heritage goes back at least 40,000 years, making it one of the oldest cultures on earth. Being hunter-gatherers, they felt entwined with nature. They believed that they belonged to their land or their ‘country’, and this was defined by sacred sites, distinguished by geographical features such as caves, hills or rivers. They built their understanding of their country and their spiritual beliefs through dreamtime and story-telling. Acting as a pictorial library of knowledge scattered around the caves and rocks of their ancestral grounds – ancient rock art illustrates their dreamtime culture and is still visible today at many sites. There’s no more of an authentic way to explore Aboriginal culture than to re-trace their steps, journeying into these vast historic grounds that defined them. Here, is a cross-country ‘walkabout’ selection that promises Aboriginal insight as well as an Australian adventure at the same time.
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Mungo National Park, New South Wales
Mungo National Park is one of these humbling historic treasures spread out over a vast moon-like landscape. The park’s shallow lakes were used by the Aboriginal people to hunt, and continues to be the home to three tribal groups today. But what’s really special about this place, is that it introduces you to some of the oldest signs of civilisation outside of Africa, and offers the opportunity to follow the footsteps of the Aboriginal people, quite literally. Around the Willandra Lakes, the world’s largest collection of footprints can be found, estimated to be around 20,000 years old. The Walls of China Boardwalk make it easy for the park to be explored along with numerous camping facilities for those who want to spend a night under the stars.
Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory
Maybe one of the best places in the country to see some pristinely preserved rock art – the sites at Ubirr and Noulangie at Kakadu National Park offer a library of culture portrayed through imagery. The park hosts a number of bushwalking trails, including the Abbangbang, following the route of the Bininj tribe people, who used this area for gathering plants for food, shelter, musical instruments and even medicine. The park also has an expansive area of wetlands teeming with birdlife and even the odd crocodile.
West Macdonnell National Park, Northern Territory
If you’re venturing to central Australia, it’s tempting to just head straight for Uluru in Kata Tjuata National Park. However, a little closer to the big country town of Alice Springs is West Macdonnell National Park. This is the home to the Arrernte Aboriginal people, along with a medley of mythological creatures including the giant goanna ancestors. The park’s ancient landscape has been sculpted by climatic events, namely Ochre Pits which holds cultural significance for the Aboriginals. The colourful outcrops of Ochre on the banks of a sandy creek, offer some striking eye candy but were also used to harvest ochre for medicinal purposes and even magic charms.
South Stradbroke Island and Southern Moreton Bay Islands National Park, Queensland
This is one of the closest places to Brisbane where people can experience Aboriginal culture. It’s the ancestral grounds of the Nunukul and the Goomberri people, and archaeologists believe it has been a tribal meeting place for over 8,000 years. You can follow the Alcheringa trail, which is an Aboriginal word for dreamtime or time of creation as it weaves throughout the different terrains. Along with cultural findings, the area showcases a mixture of natural wonders, such as a livistona rainforest, melaeuca wetlands and many dazzling sand dunes. Several types of tame (especially around picnics) wallabies can be found scampering the tracks, such as the Golden Wallaby and the Agile Wallaby.
Barron Gorge National Park, Queensland
Further up the coast, the Barron Gorge National Park is perhaps better known as a nature site. After all, it is a Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, featuring a spectacular waterfall – Barron Falls. However, it does hold historic importance, with a number of trails originally developed by the Djabugai Aboriginal tribe for hunting-gathering purposes. Less than an hour away, is the Tjapukai Aboriginal Cultural Park, where you can hear traditional storytelling, watch a theatrical display of dreamtime and even learn to play the didgeridoo.
Grampians National Park, Victoria
A favourite for rock climbers, this National Park known as Gariwerd to the Aboriginal people presents one of the richest indigenous rock art sites in South Eastern Australia. The Jardwadjali and the Djab have roamed these rugged rock formations and striking sandstone mountain ranges for thousands of years, and the area hoards around 80% of the Aboriginal evidence in the state of Victoria. Visit the Brambuk National Park and Cultural Centre in Hall’s Gap to see some Aboriginal presentations, learn about the park’s heritage and you can even feast on some authentic bush foods.
Flinders Ranges, South Australia
The largest mountain range in South Australia, it has a number of incredible places scattered throughout, although perhaps the centrepiece is the Wilpena Pound amphitheatre. According to Aboriginal legend, the amphitheatre was formed by the bodies of two giant serpents that could not move after devouring the attendees at a ceremony. This tale comes from the Adnyamathanha people, known as the hill or rock people and the first people to call this land ‘home’. It’s also a geological gem – incredibly, the fossils unearthed here are so unique, that experts had to revise the geologic time-line of the Earth’s history.
Bungle Bungle Range, Purnululu National Park, Western Australia
Looking like giant beehives protruding from the landscape, the Bungle Bungle Range has been a World Heritage Site since 2003. Although the Aboriginal people have lived here for at least 20,000 years, the colourful striped sandstone domes were surprisingly kept a secret from the outside world until 1983. They are a unique feature with their orange, black and grey stripes, and possibly some of the most splendid formations in the world. Traces of the traditional Aboriginal owners, the Kitja (meaning river people) can be found throughout the park, with rock art and burial sites peppering the landscape. This park also holds a lot of appeal for ‘twitchers’, as colourful rainbow bee-eaters are amongst some of the 130 bird species found here.
The Aboriginal people are the original nomads of the world. Having a culture of ‘walkabout’, and a deep understanding of the land they lived in, they existed for tens and thousands of years in harmony with nature. Today, while the planet continues to suffer at the expense of humans, the Aboriginals left no ugly scar on the land – just a small display of dreamtime imagery. A lot can be learnt from a journey into Aboriginal Australia, and a trip to the big island could simply not be called complete without exploring their sometimes unforgiving, diverse yet wholly unique landscape.
