By way of a brief introduction to this World Heritage area, the region is part of the Murray-Darling Basin Depression, a great plain of salt and sand covering 1 million square Km (well over 10% of the Australian continent). About 400,000 years ago during a dry windy time, the Willandra Creek, which once fed the creek, was cut off by sand and as a consequence the Willandra Lakes were formed. Over millennia the lakes have fluctuated from being completely dry to flooded before they finally drying up 10,000 years ago. Lake Mungo is supposedly the terminal lake of the system but perhaps that’s a matter of definition. Most of the Lake Mungo National Park is dry lakebed with an ancient, eroded dune on its eastern shoreline. In the dry times the wind from the west blew sand, pebbles and clay from the lakebed of Mungo creating a crescent-shaped dune of the east side – a ‘lunette’ which has been constantly impacted by the wind so that the whole complex has slowly shifted further east. This lunette is often called the ‘Wall of China’ (there’s a story attached to that of course).
As those winds have progressively eroded the surface of the lunette the remains of humans, animals and human occupation have been exposed. And that brought world attention to the region 40 odd years ago. It was declared a protected national park in 1979 when it was recognised that it is a critically important site for ancient Australian history and indeed the history of human occupation. It is part of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage area and home to significant archaeological finds that dated Aboriginal occupation in the region back over 42,000 years ago. It is the traditional meeting place of the Muthi Muthi, Nyiampaar and Barkinji Aboriginal people.
Once you could wander over the dunes but that is now restricted. When we were there, further restrictions were in place as the traditional people prepared for the return and reburial of Mungo Lady and Mungo Man. A cloud of secrecy surrounds a large area for obvious reasons.
We also explored the lakebed where we could and joined an official tour of the lunette which was worth the walk up and over the dunes to ponder the effects of time and changing weather patterns on the land; there is evidence of considerable erosion over time but also from the heavy rains we had had a couple of days earlier It was here that we found artefacts such as the tooth of a Northern Hairy-nosed wombat which no longer exists in this region (we saw a skeleton of this animal in the excellent Visitors’ Centre). Also emerging out of the dunes are calcified tree stumps, the remains of trees that once ringed the lake. We also stumbled upon a tiny Painted Dragon heading safety in the bushes.
It is a region rich in archaeological and palaeontological wonders. In 2003, footprints of people from the region were discovered in the dry claypan of the Willandra lakes region. Archaeologists have estimated them to be 20,000 years old. It was an amazing find as they are the only Pleistocene human footprints yet found in Australia and the most numerous found in the world to date. Casts taken at the site have been reproduced and are displayed in the same configuration at the Visitors’ Centre.
The entice area provides so many places to explore. At one site, we found freshwater mussel shells amongst other evidence of human occupation. Bone and shell middens date back to when this was a great lake and provide some of the oldest evidence of modern human habitation in the world.
It was a rare and privileged journey into a rather unique part of the world. An intriguing ancient place which has looked on as some world-shattering discoveries of human history have gradually come to light. And the story continues to unfold as natural forces erode the sands and clays.
We were there looking for wildlife as well as exploring the heritage aspects of the place. So we often stopped and got out to explore. At one spot we spent a couple of hours watching and photographing a flock of gorgeous pink cockatoos (Major Mitchell’s) as well as other parrots. Quite spectacular. And of course yours truly was always on the lookout for plants and non-avian wildlife as well.
Come dawn or dusk there was wildlife and glorious panoramas to in all directions.
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