The Mungo National Park midden sites
Find evidences for 60.000 years of Aboriginal occupation at the Wall of China in the Mungo National Park.
It is amazing that as soon as you start one of the Aboriginals tours, you seem to be away from the modern world. For me it feels like being soaked up into an ancient world.
Walls of China at Lake Mungo
The Mungo National Park is an important archaeological site concerning evidences of how long the indigenous people of Australia really have inhabited Australia.
On the Harry Nanya tour, which I did, you will not only learn about this, but also about the animals and plant life out in the semi-arid desert.
Mungo National Park lies within a semi-arid desert. The Pakkantyi guide Graham Clark tells you a lot about the native plants and animals on the one hour drive to Mungo National Park. I could very much feel his fascination and his connection to this land.
Plants and animals have adapted to the environment. He said, that if you know the land, the plants, and the animals, it will help you and will save you a lot of trouble. I like to tell you two of the examples, he told us.
Never ever camp under Red River Gum trees as they might suddenly drop their mighty branches on you.
These trees can soak them self up with water to twice the original weight during the day. Then usually in the afternoon branches could break of and can definitely smash a car as the might weight several hundereds kilos.
Do not build any house in areas subject to flooding. You can recognise such areas by looking at the tree growing there. Certain trees only grow in areas that are flooded every now and again, These areas will certainly be flooded in future again.
Because of the heat during the days in summer animals became semi-nocturnal. Just think of all the kangaroos. They are always active between dusk and dawn. Aborigines adapted, too.
He said, you have to adapt to mother nature. Mother nature will not adapt to your needs. That is how it always has been and how it always will be.
Maybe a reason why Aborigines have survived that long in Australia.
The lunette known as the ‘Walls of China’ was the shore of Lake Mungo about 18,000 years ago. This 30 kilometre long dune, constantly moving, reveals evidences of human occupation from time to time. Especially after rain new fireplaces and middens might appear when the rain washed the sand down the slope.
It is one of the largest fish midden sites in Australia. The guides showed us about five midden and fireplaces just within a few hundreds meters.
Walls of China at Lake Mungo
I like to give you some good reasons for doing this tour.
When you go to the ‘Walls of China’ by yourself, you will probably walk up to the top, have a look around, and do not see more than pinnacles, sand, and the wonderful view of the semi-arid desert. The interpretive sign do not tell you as much as the guide can do.
He takes you to some of the always changing fireplaces, because the dune is moving constantly with about ten meters every two decades.
Also he can show you the remaining of fish or kangaroo skeletons at various places, how to determine their age, using layers of the dune as an indicator.
Watch this short video to get a visual impression about what I'm writing here.