DAY 36 - LAKE MUNGO NSW

LAKE MUNGO NSW

DAY 36


I have just visited one of the most important archaeological sites on Planet Earth.

Archaeology is not my strong hand by a long way and I am not about to win any great debates on the vagaries of how human evolution may or may not have occurred, however for the purposes of a deal of personal interest (not to mention quite a unique travel experience), Lake Mungo was a huge must when I decided to journey through this part of the world.

Mungo is the subject of many a University thesis and other rambling intellectualisations, so for the purposes of a humble blog, I will keep my commentary minimal.

From Mildura, the Willandra Lakes area (of which Mungo is the most important site) is around 110 kilometres, making Mildura the perfect place to access it.

90 kilometres of this is along corrugated dirt track, which left the option of a grand triking/camping adventure poorly situated.

The best option was always going to be an organised tour – 98% of the time, this is simply not my preference but on this occasion it was the only way to go.

Graham Clarke is a highly experienced and knowledgeable Koori guide who runs Harry Nanya Tours, which includes full-day tours of some of the main Mungo sites, the information centre, and also includes lunch and snacks.

I was also able to be picked up from my campsite, so away we went as a group of 6 on a days’ adventure to Mungo.

We were on site at Mungo by 10 am, where the entire story was compressed into a 2-hour dialogue for our digestion.

Basically (or not so basically), archaeological findings of human remains throughout the lake bed at Mungo have been dated as the oldest and most original of anywhere in the world – somewhere between 45 000 and 60 000 years old.

The importance of all this apparently puts paid to any evolution theories that humans have directly descended from various ape and baboon species across the breadth of the African continent.
The Mungo findings provide a stronger case that Australian Aboriginals are indeed the oldest and most original surviving human culture that has ever existed.

The theory of our guide was in favour of an original landmass called Gondwanaland (which is indeed widely proven) – this included what maps now call Australia, Antarctica and South America – New Zealand and South Pacific Islands as well).

This leads to the next theory that the Australian Aboriginals most likely evolved from something of what is now South America, but as floods and an Ice Age rolled in, Australia was separated and this is how the Aboriginals evolved in a more isolated and original way.

What is also known is that the Aboriginal gene is very weak – it will be watered down and eventually eliminated over time – this process is already widely activated.

Where this leaves me and my white skinned, blue-eyed and European ways, I’m not quite sure, although given the murkiness of my family history, I could conceivably be 1/512th cast Aboriginal……or something like this.

Yet another thought provoking idea that arose as our guide mapped out metaphorical timelines in the Mungo sand was that human existence counts for perhaps the equivalent of 5 seconds in the continuum of time and space.

Not much at all really and on this evidence, it well may be argued that at present rates of consumption and destruction on our tiny planet, it is highly unlikely that we be around in another 5 seconds…..

And of course, I could not have travelled all the way to Lake Mungo without at least some level of personal disaster.

Photographic opportunities abound at several points, particularly at an area called the Walls of China.

And what better time for my camera batteries to completely run out of charge than the first photo of the day?

Normally the camera will flash a warning, but on such an important occasion, why the hell should it?

With no access to a charger or spares, a fellow tourist fortunately came to the rescue with the use of her own camera (another Canon Power Shot, no less) and now the miracles of email should have these surrogate photos delivered to my inbox sometime in the next days…..