The Most Magical Way to Experience Mungo National Park
Despite the eerie beauty of Mungo National Park, some 90 minutes’ drive north of Mildura, near the Victorian border, the real treasures remain beneath the surface. I’m standing atop the Mungo lunette, a 30-kilometre dune system that curls around a dry lakebed and holds as much history as any place in Australia. For more than 50,000 years this land has been home to the Barkandji/Paakantyi, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngiyampaa Peoples.
“Everything tells the story of long-time Aboriginal occupation,” says Mutthi Mutthi ranger Tanya Charles as she points out tools her ancestors used for hunting and fishing, fireplaces where they ate and ochre they used for ceremonies. For 2000 generations her forebears have been custodians of this area, where the sky is so vast it overflows into mirages that fill the dry, bluebush-studded lakebeds. From the shearer’s quarters that have been converted into comfortable but basic accommodation, I stroll toward the dunes, the wind whispering through cypress pines while roos swivel their ears like radar dishes as I pass. Around me, twisted pinnacles rise, their features furrowed by wind and rain over millennia. It’s easy to see why artist Russell Drysdale called this one of the most extraordinary places in the world.
While the lunette can only be accessed on ranger-led tours, a new app created in collaboration with the Sharing Stories Foundation gives visitors a unique insight into the importance of this land. Mungo Stories: Walk Together comprises 10 living stories activated by trigger points located around the park. Featuring animations illustrated by students from Mildura Primary School and narrations from Elders and Peoples of all three tribal groups, the oral histories bring the ancient landscape to life and show how it provided food, shelter and tools. Intended to be viewed in context, the content is only available for 48 hours after visiting.
“My nan grew up in the old way and when she used to tell a story she would write it in the sand. Then the wind would blow it away so no-one else could interpret those stories,” says Charles. “These sands have a lot of stories but this app is another way of getting our messages out there and showing our continuous connection to Country.”
