MUNGO LADY, MUNGO MAN,Mungo tourist!

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Hello everyone.

We departed Mildura May 24^th & travelled up the Silver City Highway on the tar before turning onto the Mungo National Park road & red dirt. Mungo NP is 110 kilometres north east of Mildura. All roads in the park are unsealed & impassable in the wet. Fortunately for us, all roads were open and graded. We chose a site in the main campground which had very few campers staying in it. The campground does not have water or showers but is modern & the drop toilets were clean.

This World Heritage Area is home of the oldest known human remains in Australia and provides a continuous record of Aboriginal occupation over the past 50,000 years. Rain and wind have uncovered ancient fireplaces and hearths, as well as calcified plant matter, stone tools & animal bones. The landscape also provides a picture of past climate changes and environments, as well as fossil evidence of extinct megafauna. Lake Mungo is totally dry & has been for 20,000 years.

This whole Willandra Lakes World Heritage region was previously several large outback stations prior to all being purchased and amalgamated. Mungo is not an Aboriginal word as most people think. The name was given to the station by a Scottish soldier settler whom named it after Munga the Scottish Saint of Glasgow!What first had us interested in this area was Mungo Lady & Mungo Man as well as the Walls of China! The burial site of Mungo Lady was discovered at Lake Mungo in 1969 and is known to be the world’s oldest cremated person. Mungo Man was discovered in 1974 in the Lake Mungo lunette. Today, Mungo Lady and Mungo Man are recognised as some of the oldest human remains outside Africa.

The park has a visitor centre & museum & the best way to see the park is to take an indigenous tour of the walls & self-drive the park. We did both. Adjacent to the Visitor Centre is the old woolshed for the station which was built in 1860 by Chinese labourers. The Chinese used to look through the gaps in the planks of the woolshed& the Lake Mungo lunette reminded them of China’s Great Wall.

20,000 year old Aboriginal fire place

The self-drive loop is 70 kilometre and primarily one way only. The track takes in a variety of landscapes, heritage features, lookouts and short walks.

The Locals!

On our last night in the park we had some rain, but fortunately not enough for the roads to be closed. We drove out & hit the tar for 30 kilometres before arriving at the small town of Pooncarie. We used the town dump point & took the opportunity to hose some of the red dirt now mud off Wally.

After more red dirt and tar the next stop was the small town of Menindee. We enjoyed one of the best hamburgers you will ever eat at the local café & purchased an onion at the local store. We then headed out to Lake Pamamaroo around 8 kilometres out of town & free camped for the night.