Archive for May, 2010
Mulka’s Cave
Friday, May 21st, 2010Not long ago I was passing by Wave Rock, one of Western Australia’s well known attractions, and so I dropped in for a look. But the famous rock wasn’t the highlight of that day for me: instead it was a less-visited site not far away, known as Mulka’s Cave.
Most tourist literature on Wave Rock mentions other things to visit in the area, and one of these is Mulka’s Cave. Tour buses do stop there, however Wave Rock gets nearly all the attention, leaving Mulka’s Cave relatively overshadowed. If you’ve driven all the way to Wave Rock - and it’s a long way from anywhere - it’s a pity not to go a little further and see something unique.
Mulka’s Cave is about 18km beyond Wave Rock, near Hyden in Western Australia’s wheatbelt. Much of the road there is sealed, and the last gravel section is good. What you find at the end of it is a low hill of granite with a small cave at its base - looking a little like the mouth of a whale shark.
Entering the cave involves just a short walk along a flat path, then up a gentle ramp to a platform. There’s no fee - you just turn up and go in. The cave isn’t large, and doesn’t have stalactites (it’s granite), but if you look closely at the walls and ceiling you’ll see what makes this little nook different - an assortment of ancient Aboriginal cave paintings.
At first there doesn’t appear to be much to see, but once your eyes grow accustomed to the low light, images become clearer. There are hand stencils, plus depictions of the animals used as food in this area. Some are hard to spot and may require some manouvering up the sloping floor in order to better see out-of-the-way parts of the ceiling. The harder you look for the markings, the more you see.
The art in Mulka’s Cave is believed to be around 3000 years old according to a WA museum report I read. On the other hand, another internet source claimed 30000 years, and the Aborigines would have been around back then. In any case, the cave paintings are very old. They are also associated with the legend of Mulka, an ancient character whose story you can read all about at the cave.
There are also some pleasant walks from the car park, which complement the cave and make a visit even more worthwhile. My legs definitely appreciated a walk after a long drive.
A short loop trail passes through a range of local vegetation, and reveals fine examples of a gnamma hole and a lizard trap used by Aboriginals in millenia past. The gnamma hole is a rock waterhole which retains water long after rain, and the lizard trap in this case is simply a slab of granite propped up on stones. They may be basic, but features like these helped the Aboriginals thrive, and there are information signs to fill you in on the details.
So if you’re visiting Wave Rock, I can recommend going a little further to Mulka’s Cave. You won’t just see ancient paintings - you’ll get an interesting glimpse into a culture that was around long before any Romans thought of starting an empire.
Topics: Attractions, Western Australia | Add Your Comment »
Australia’s Unappreciated Wonders
Wednesday, May 5th, 2010There’s a lot to like about Australia. One aspect which endears me to this land down under is the overlooked and understated nature of so many of its great wonders. You can stumble across features which are worthy of world acclaim, yet remain unknown to most of the world.
To illustrate what I mean, here is a quote from travel writer Bill Bryson. He is referring to the rare tingle and giant karri forests of Western Australia - the 3rd tallest species of trees in the world - and marvelling at how unknown they are:
It struck me in a moment’s idle thinking that this forest was quite an apt metaphor for Australia. It was to the arboreal world what Charles Kingsford Smith was to aviation or the Aborigines were to prehistory - unaccountably overlooked.
It seemed amazing to me, in any case, that there could exist in this one confined area some of the rarest and mightiest broad-leafed trees on earth, forming a forest of consummate and singular beauty, and hardly anyone outside Australia has even heard of them. But that is the thing about Australia, of course - that it is packed with unappreciated wonders.
- from Chapter 18 of “Down Under” by Bill Bryson (also published as “In a Sunburned Country”)
Indeed! Most of the world has been taught about the world’s tallest trees being the redwoods of California. But how many know that the 2nd and 3rd tallest tree types - almost as tall as the redwoods - are both found in Australia? Not even all Australians are aware of that.
Karri trees towering over my car (bottom right)
An advantage of having treasures which are little-known elsewhere is that we get to enjoy them in a more natural and intimate way. No fuss or fanfare, and mostly unspoiled by crowds - they are just there. The “forest of consummate and singular beauty” which so impressed Bill Bryson has some trees taller than most on the planet, but you won’t find them fenced off or signposted. They grow quietly and modestly, just as they’ve done for centuries, and to me that makes coming across them all the more enjoyable.
Bryson also mentions the Australian Aborigines as being unaccountably overlooked, and he has a point. When we think of ancient cultures, most people would think of the Incas, or the Greek, Roman or Egyptian empires, or perhaps even the Neanderthals. Not so many are aware that the oldest surviving culture on earth belongs to the Australian Aborigines.
Yes, our Indigenous people have been here for at least 50000, probably 60000 years - long before Europe or the Americas saw a human footprint. What’s more, their culture still exists today … a miracle of survival, really, but how many outside Australia know of them?
“Unaccountably overlooked” is an apt description. You can visit a well known tourist attraction like Wave Rock and be unaware that just down the road, but with a fraction of the visitors, lie rock paintings thousands of years old. They make the Aztecs look modern, yet most people don’t know they’re there.
You can wander around the Burrup Peninsula expecting only scenery, and find yourself surrounded by the largest collection of ancient rock carvings in the world. Then there is the spectacular Bungle Bungle range (Purnululu National Park), which remained somehow un-noticed by non-Aboriginals until as recently as 1983.
You just never know in Australia when you’re going to stumble across something noteworthy but surprisingly little known - the biggest, oldest, first, longest, wildest, or whatever. It makes travelling here a real journey of discovery. What you find is so often different from, and better than, what you were expecting. That’s one of the things I love about my home country.
Reference:
In a Sunburned Country
(also published under the title “Down Under”)
Topics: Odds and Ends | Add Your Comment »