Mungo; a park for all time

It had been many years since I'd been to this special dryland park in south-western New South Wales and Lou never had, though we'd been passing the turnoff to it for a long time and promising ourselves a visit 'one day', so when we were looking for somewhere to spend a few nights camping back in May we finally committed to it. It's an unusual park by Australian standards in that it's best known for its cultural significance (which indeed is its reason for existence), though its natural values are very significant too.

It's substantial - over 110,000 hectares of diverse semi-arid shrubland and dry lake beds - and remote for the south-east of the continent. The nearest small town (Pooncarie on the Darling, to the north-west) is 95km away. If you're coming from the east, as we were, it's 155km from Balranald. While sealing of roads is progressing (I was surprised by how much in fact), there is still a substantial amount of dirt to traverse in all directions. This is no problem for two-wheel drives in reasonable condition, unless it rains. In that case however the roads are closed to everyone.

Looking across the distance-hazy bed of Lake Mungo to the distant sandhills (lunettes, for
their crescent shape), known somewhat bizarrely as the 'Walls of China', though it's
a term I won't be using again here.

Mungo National Park is approximately at the end of the green arrow,
a drive of some two hours from the Sturt Highway at Balaranald.
Here are the directions for whichever way you're approaching.

Mungo is just one of a series of old lake beds which are remnants of the ancient Lachlan River system.  They cover an area of some 600,000ha, running 150km north to south and 40km west to east. Of this, 240,000ha in the centre of the system was listed as being of World Heritage Significance in 1981, for both its cultural and physical values. Mungo National Park falls within this World Heritage Area. Today the average annual rainfall is only 250mm a year, but prior to the last glaciation (ie until 20,000 to 30,000 years ago) it was a vast wetland of some 17 major lakes, fed by four or five streams of the pre-Lachlan River. On the eastern shores of the lakes the lunettes grew with the prevailing westerlies as the lakes formed beach sand in wet periods, and the clay from the lake beds blew onto them in more recent dry times.

This is the view from the viewing platform at the edge of the lake. As I understand it (and I
make no pretence to being a geologist!) the outcrops of red represent the old sediments of
some 100,000 years ago. The white sands are from former beaches.

This view looks back in the opposite direction across the lake (at a point where the circuit
drive crosses the dune). The more recent red upper layers here represent clay particles blown
from the lake bed. The strong erosion is evident in both these photos; while it seems
intuitive to me that it's associated with the pastoral phase, one of the interpretive signs
suggests - without explanation - that it began a thousand years ago. Actually I think
that some politics is involved here, as other sources are sure that it was sheep,
goats and rabbits that set the sands moving - and exposed the ancient burials.

This view, from the same vantage point as the photo before last, but looking to the right, shows
a gently sloping, much less eroded landscape. It apparently resembles the pre-erosion situation,
but again I really want to know more! eg why did this not erode?

And maybe that's enough about things I don't properly understand!

 

Inevitably people settled in this rich area. Graziers arrived in the south-west in the 1850s and the land of present Mungo was settled and grazed by 1864, eventually becoming an outstation of the huge Gol Gol Station, with the surviving Parrintji people forcibly removed to Balranald in the 1880s. The origin of the name is uncertain, with sources claiming both Scottish (per Saint Mungo) and Parrintji derivations. After WW1 Gol Gol was subdivided into 16,000 hectare soldier settlement blocks.

 

The Mungo lunettes came to fame in the 1960s and 70s when researchers from the ANU (notably Dr Jim Bowler) discovered very significant ancient burials. The dates of these have been debated, but it seems to be generally accepted that the oldest of them go back some 40,000 years, including what is apparently the world's oldest known ritual cremation. You can easily find lots of information on this; it's not my area of knowledge and I'm cautious about presuming to tell stories which are not mine. When you visit, in addition to the excellent information centre, you can learn a lot more by taking a walking tour of the lunettes with a guide from the local community. (You can only enter the dunes with such a guide.) The pastoral history is also well interpreted at one of the shearing sheds, accessed from the superb 70km road loop that runs around the lake.

 

Following these ancient discoveries Mungo Station was purchased by the NSW Government and gazetted as national park; other stations were added over time. The park is managed jointly by the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service and elders from three local Indigenous groups, in a process formalised by a Memorandum of Understanding.

 

The Vigars Well area, behind the dunes, reached from the scenic loop road.

There are two campgrounds. Of these the smaller and more remote Belah Campground on the loop drive was the more attractive to us, but was closed when I booked.  However while it had reopened when we visited, fires are not allowed there and nights were cold, so maybe we were lucky. The main campground is certainly busier (some 30 or so sites there) but it wasn't too bad - and we could sit by a small fire in the evening. (It is of course 'bring your own firewood'.)

 

Outside the lakebeds the park plains and dunes are covered with diverse semi-arid woodlands and chenopod (saltbush) shrublands. I love these habitats and, in addition to the must-do loop drive already mentioned, there are two short walks that provide great introductions to the woodland habitats. The Grassland Nature Trail is a short loop out of the main campground, which I did several times. The other, the Foreshore Walk of 2.5km, starts and ends at the visitor centre and as well as traversing the edge of the lake, climbs into some lovely sand dune woodland. Here are some of the trees you will encounter; the first three were along the Grasslands Trail.

Belah, Allocasuarina cristata. This a widespread and often dominant
tree in drier inland south and south-eastern Australia.

Wilga Geijera parviflora, Family Rutaceae, a very elegant weeping tree
with a similar distribution to Belah.

 

Wilga flowers, which are very attractive to insects. Among these are blowflies,
attracted to the sometimes rank small emitted by the flowers.

Rosewood or Bullock Bush Alectryon (formerly Heterodendrum) oleifolium grows
across much of inland Australia. I find it interesting that most other members of the
genus are rainforest trees; this one's ancestors adapted to arid living as the land dried out.

This also applies to another widespread inland tree known by a variety of names including Berrigan and Native Apricot. This wealth of names is unsurprising given its wide range across arid and semi-arid Australia.

Berrigan Pittosporum angustifolium growing in a dry creek bed in the bluebush plains at Mungo.
Pittosporum is a very familiar genus of rainforest edges and other wet forests of eastern Austraila,
but it is hardy enough to be widely planted in suburban settings, so was presumably
predisposed to survival in a drying landscape.

Berrigan fruit; the 'apricot' allusion in one of its names is obvious enough here,
but the attractive fruit is not edible.

Two species of cypress pine growing together on the dunes along the Foreshore Walk.
On the left is the distinctive bluish foliage of White or Murray Cypress Pine
Callitris glaucophylla (or columellaris), and on the right the dark green
of Slender (or, confusingly, also Murray) Cypress Pine C. preissii.

There are also some substantial stands of mallee along the loop drive, and some remnant trees on the dunes of the Foreshore Walk.

Mallee is a habitat named for the growth form of the eucalypt species which comprise it,
with multiple stems growing from an underground stem extension called a lignotuber
(though generally known more imprecisely as a mallee root). The form is triggered
by low soil nutrient levels, especially of phosphates. This is a favourite habitat of mine.

Spinifex, or Porcupine Grass Triodia spp., grows as an understory to the mallee
in places where the sand is deep and the rainfall low. It dominates some
20% of the Australian landmass.

Various chenopods, including this Pearl Bluebush Maireana sedifolia,
dominate the clay soil plains (including the lake beds) of the park.

When we were there the country was drying out after a couple of wet years triggered by La Niña, and there weren't many herbs still flowering (though in places the ground was covered by drifts of burrs from recently flowering burr daisies). We rapidly learnt not to let clothes touch the ground! 

This Fleshy Groundsel Senecio gregorii, a widespread arid land daisy,
was one of the few herbs still flowering.

The most apparent non-bird animals were, unsurprisingly, kangaroos, and both Western Greys (Macropus fuliginosus) and Red Kangaroos (Osphranter - or Macropus - rufus) were widespread. The greys were usually present in the campground, but the Reds were a bit more reserved and kept to the plains, though they weren't concerned by cars or observers.

This mother and baby Western Grey frequented the camp ground; on this occasion the
joey was distracted as mum moved away...

... resulting in a frantic leap as her absence was noted!

A magnificent big male Red Kangaroo on the plain...

...and both species feeding together by the road.

A ghost moth Abantiades sp. (I think!) which visited camp one night, after some rain.

And I reckon it emerged from this burrow and pupal case (or at least ones very similar!).

These cockroaches were common in the dunes along the Foreshore Walk. The colour pattern
along the sides of the body segments seems to be to best match Macropanesthia kraussiana,
and this species is recorded at Mungo, so that's my bet!

No reptiles I'm afraid - it was pretty cold and windy most of the time.

And that leaves the birds, which were a highlight of our trip. The main campground was busy with birds (though not so much with smaller ones), and especially parrots. Here are some of them.

Ringnecks Barnardius zonarius are common inland parrots (they seem to replace rosellas as
medium-large woodland parrots), but were particularly prevalent in the main campground,
whether foraging nearby on the ground...

... or quietly preening overhead.

Eastern Bluebonnets Northiella haematogaster however, while also pretty common
in the drier country, are never as obliging as the Ringnecks when it comes
to approaching and photographing them. Not at Mungo however!

And any campground which features Pink Cockatoos Cacatua leadbeateri is a good one in my opinion.

We spent quite some time one afternoon enjoying them around our camp, whether feeding
on the cones in the surrounding callitris pines (and threatening with great show)...

... or quietly renewing pair bonds for a long time in a bare tree which enabled great views.

We didn't see Mulga Parrots Psephotellus varius in camp, but they were nearby on the Foreshore Walk, feeding on seeds in the trackside shrubs.

The male Mulga Parrot in particular is an exquisite little bird.

However I find the more muted colours of the female also delightful.

There were two species of butcherbirds present around the camp, but while the glorious calls of the Pied Butcherbird could be heard regularly, they didn't approach closely. Grey Butcherbirds Cracticus torquatus however came and went all the time.

Grey Butcherbird in the campground.

Emus Dromaius novaehollandiae also passed through from time to time.

These two were out on the plains.

These however were part of a family group taking advantage of the rain puddles
on the road just outside the campground. I say 'these' but I must admit
that it does strangely resemble a single four-legged Emu!

Female Crested Bellbird Oreoica gutturalis in the mallee. To many of us, the
call of this bird is the sound of the inland. Haunting and hollow, the call is well captured
in the name panpanpalala, as used by the Pitjantjatjara people of Central Australia.
Other Indigenous languages across the country reflect the call in various ways.

Chesnut-rumped Thornbill Acanthiza uropygialis along the Grasslands Track.
Normally this is not an easy bird find sitting still, or to get close enough to photograph
(at least in my experience, though others obviously manage perfectly well!).
However this was one of a pair which completely froze when a Grey Butcherbird
started calling nearby. For this time they reckoned me a minor threat indeed.
Eventually they deemed it safe enough to suddenly launch into a low, fast silent
flight into a larger clump of trees, and were gone.

Also distracted enough for me to get close to one morning along the same track
was this Australian Hobby Falco longipennis apparently enjoying breakfast.
This fast and fierce little falcon is a dedicated bird hunter. I can't quite make
out the unfortunate meal, but I think it's a Yellow-throated Miner, which
are abundant in the area.

And I think that's enough for you to go on with - and hopefully more than enough to encourage you to make your own way out there, whether for the first time or for a return visit. You could never be disappointed there.

Here are some closing photos taken from our camp at the beginning and end of some special days.

Sunrise.

And the setting sun just still touching the tips of the callitris.

Another sunset, with the rain coming.

Moon over the callitris as the glow of sunset fades.

NEXT POSTING THURSDAY 31 AUGUST

 

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