More than 40,000 years of Intriguing History
Mungo National Park in south-western New South Wales is the centre of the Willandra Lakes World Heritage area. It is 110 km north-east of Mildura and 147 km north-west of Balranald. Mungo covers most of an ancient dry lake bed. During the last ice age, Lake Mungo was the second largest of a chain of freshwater lakes strung along the Willandra Creek.
Remains of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady discovered in the park prove that occupation of Mungo has been ongoing for well over 40,000 years. Weather and erosion have uncovered ancient fireplaces and hearths as well as calcified plant matter, artefacts, stone tools and animal bones. The extensive number of Aboriginal objects found indicate a large population in the past.
The discovery of bones of animals commonly referred to as megafauna reveal that many amazing creatures that lived in the area many thousands of years ago. Examples include Genyornis newtoni, a flightless bird with legs as solid as those of a horse; the towering short-faced kangaroo, Procoptodon goliah, and the buffalo-sized Zygomaturus trilobus.
A Famous & Unique Feature – The Mungo Lunettes
The formation of the famous lunettes tens of thousands of years ago are made of layer upon layer of sand and silt deposited by water and wind.
Three major layers of sediment form a lunette and each represents a different time period and environmental condition.
The bottom layer of the lunette which formed up to 150,000 years ago is made of deep red calcareous soil and represents an aeolian deflation event. This occurred when the climate was warm and dry.
Quartz sands blown from wave-nourished beaches make up the 50,000 year old layer above. This indicates full lake conditions during that time.
The final layer resulted from lake waters receding and salt accumulating on the exposed mud of the lake floor. South-westerly winds carried the salt crystals onto the lunettes to form a series of clay blankets. This final process was taking place up until 15,000 years ago.
The Walls of China Down Under
The Walls of China are a feature of the Mungo Lake lunette. Over thousands of years, wind and water have carved spectacular formations comprised of sand and clay. Rain washes away the soft sands and muds of the lunette, creating the rilled ridges and residuals that characterise the Walls of China. Winds pick up this dislodged sand and heaps into huge mobile dunes along the back of the lunette.
The Walls of China hid the remains of Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, which are at least 40,000 years old.
Foundation Projects
Growing Mungo National Park
The Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife purchased the first 15,700 hectares of Mungo National Park’s estate in 1979, ensuring the protection of the unique landforms and archaeological sites.
Mungo Archaeological Digs
World Heritage listed Lake Mungo is unique in both visible land formations and archaeological significance. Before the lake dried out some 18,000 years ago, Aboriginal people lived on the shores of the lake. Traces of their occupancy - camp hearths, remains of food, their clay-pan workshops - and skeletons of now extinct creatures such as the Tasmanian Tiger can still be found in the slowly eroding sand dunes of its shores.
Australian Indigenous Knowledge & Research Centre
Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife is preparing a prospectus to fund the building of an Australian Indigenous Knowledge and Research Centre to serve as a visitor centre, meeting place, "keeping place" for skeletal remains of Mungo Man and Woman and artefacts, research centre and repository of archaeological research records from 5 key researchers. The centre would showcase the values that make Willandra Lakes a World Heritage site and make accessible to the world the artefacts, research and living culture of the area in its most appropriate location. Glenn Murcutt AO, Australia’s only Pritzker Prize winning architect and his wife Wendy Lewin have agreed to take on the commission for the building should the opportunity arise.
Willandra Lakes was World Heritage Listed for its natural and cultural heritage, particularly the lunette site, evidence of one of the oldest living cultures in the world and geological landforms showing climate changes over the past 50,000 years. Recently the longest fossil trackway in the world was discovered in the park. This site cannot be visited by the general public and the centre would provide interpretation, video and replicas of the trackway, as well as access to historic data and material for research.
