Australian Traveller

  • Home
    • Travel Deals
  • Destinations
    • ACT
      • Canberra
    • NSW
      • Sydney
      • Batemans Bay
      • Broken Hill
      • Byron Bay
      • Coffs Harbour
      • Dubbo
      • Katoomba
      • Merimbula
      • Newcastle
      • Orange
      • Port Macquarie
      • Port Stephens
      • Tamworth
      • Thredbo
      • Wagga Wagga
      • Wollongong
    • NT
      • Alice Springs
      • Darwin
      • Kakadu
    • QLD
      • Brisbane
      • Cairns
      • Fraser Island
      • Gold Coast
      • Noosa
      • Port Douglas
      • Townsville
      • The Whitsundays
    • SA
      • Adelaide
      • Clare Valley
      • Coober Pedy
      • Port Lincoln
      • Victor Harbor
    • TAS
      • Hobart
      • Launceston
      • Burnie
    • VIC
      • Melbourne
      • Ballarat
      • Daylesford & Hepburn Springs
      • Geelong
      • Mildura
      • Mornington Peninsula
      • Warrnambool
      • Yarra Valley
    • WA
      • Perth
      • Albany
      • Broome
      • Coral Bay
      • Esperance
    • 100 Best Towns in Australia
    • 100 Best Views In Australia
  • Experiences
    • 100 Things to Do Before you Die
    • 100 Incredible Travel Secrets of Australia
    • Adventure Holidays
    • Affordable Holidays
    • Beach Holidays
    • Camping Holidays
    • Driving Holidays
    • 4WD Holidays
    • Family Holidays
    • Food & Wine
      • 100 Greatest Australian Gourmet Experiences
      • High Tea
    • Hiking and Biking
    • Island Holidays
    • Luxury Escapes
    • Outback Holidays
    • Romantic Getaways
    • 100 Things To Do In Australia You’ve Never Heard Of
  • Accommodation
    • Brands
      • Accor
      • Art Series Hotels
      • Crown
      • Delaware North
      • Hyatt
      • Medina
      • Majestic Hotels
      • Sofitel
      • Spicers
      • Starwood
      • Travelodge
      • Voyages
    • Brisbane
    • Canberra
    • Cairns
    • Gold Coast
    • Hobart
    • Holiday Homes
    • Melbourne
      • Budget
      • Boutique
      • Luxury
    • Perth
    • Port Douglas
    • Sydney
      • Budget
      • Boutique
      • Luxury
  • Our Favourites
  • Tech & Style
    • Photography
  • Readers
    • Celebrity
    • Reader Stories
    • Your Shot: Winner
    • Your Shot: Runners Up
  • Shop
  • Opinions
    • The Long Way Round
    • The Disgruntled Traveller
    • Editor, Unedited
    • Be Our Guest
    • Trip Notes
    • The Wanderer
    • The Wheelie Traveller
Home > Mildura > 100 Things To Do Before You Die #030 – Rediscover the ancient secrets of the Mungo Man

100 Things To Do Before You Die #030 – Rediscover the ancient secrets of the Mungo Man

Mungo-Mini

030 - Rediscover the ancient secrets of Mungo Man and the oldest wind blowns walls in the world

  • Mungo-Mini

Never mind visiting the Great Wall of China – a mere 2000 years old. When compared with Mungo National Park’s Walls of China, the Chinese version just doesn’t stack up. Our Walls, for example, while admittedly a little shorter (33km versus more than 6000km) are way older – by about 13,000 years. Our Walls have fossils. Our Walls have displayed evidence that humans have continuously occupied the region for 45,000 years.

 

“To walk among middens with the remains of fish meals consumed thousands of years before Europa was even a goddess is a perspective you’ll never get while seeking the perfect cafe latte.”
- David Koch

Mungo is located in southwest NSW, 980km west of Sydney. The area incorporates 17 dry lakes, which have been eroded by years of wind, searing sun and droughts – leaving essentially a fossil landscape.

The largest formation etched by wind is of course the crescent of eroded rock dubbed The Walls of China. Along with large mobile sand dunes, these give Mungo a distinctive lunar-landscape feel. (See Tim Fischer’s Secret Spot for more on this fascinating region.)

Did you know?
Mungo Man was discovered in 1974, when shifting sand dunes in the park exposed his remains. He’s believed to have lived more than 40,000 years ago, in the Pleistocene epoch. He was found with his hands interlocked over his groin and sprinkled with red ochre, in what is the earliest incidence of such a sophisticated and artistic burial practice.

How to get there
Mungo National Park can be reached from a number of towns: Pooncarie (85 km), Mildura/Buronga (110 km), Balranald (146 km), Wentworth (160 km) and Broken Hill (316 km).

All roads leading to Mungo National Parks from these towns have unsealed sections, which become impassible after rain.

Best time to go
Anytime, though temperatures can easily top 40 degrees Celsius between December and March.

Further information
Useful websites:

www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au
The National Parks and Wildlife Service website

www.visitmildura.com.au
Official website of Mildura Tourism. Also has info on Wentworth.

pooncarie.visitnsw.com/HolidayLocation/TNSW607078CT.htm
Website of Tourism NSW with info about Pooncarie

balranaldarea.visitnsw.com/HolidayLocation/TNSW500404AR.htm
Website of Tourism NSW with info about Balranald

www.visitbrokenhill.com.au
Official website of the Broken Hill Visitor Centre

** This is our original 100 Things to Do Before You Die. First published in 1996. There is an updated 100 Things To Do In Australia Before you die, published in 2011.

Tweet

COMMENTS

LEAVE A REPLY Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

LOCATION

View on map

Mungo National Park, NSW

Discover the ancient secrets of Munga man and national park is No. 30 on Australian Traveller's list of 100 Things To Do In Australia Before You Die.

THE DETAILS

Where // ACT, Australia

issue8

BUY THE ISSUE

This article appeared in Issue 8 of Australian Traveller.

100 Things To Do In Australia Before You Die Plus Uluru. (The guide to doing it properly) Spa’s and Health Retreats (What they are about and how it all works) Noosa (The insiders guide) Kosciuszko National Park Portfolio – Nullarbor Plain   Reviews Bannisters Point Lodge - NSW

BUY THIS ISSUE

RELATED ARTICLES

100 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE #001 OVERLOAD YOUR SENSES AT KAKADU

100 Things To Do Before You Die #001 Overload Your Senses In Kakadu

There are really two things you have to do before you die regarding Australia’s largest national park: see Kakadu in the wet...

100 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE #002 DIVE INTO THE GREAT BARRIER REEF

Great Barrier Reef

No matter how many documentaries you’ve seen or how much it has been hyped up by everyone you’ve spoken to, once you’ve...

100 THINGS TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE #003 DO THE BIG LAP AROUND AUSTRALIA

100 Things To Do Before You Die #003 Drive Around Australia

It’s the dream of many Australians, but often it takes some guts to say: “Now is the time.” Time, that is, to...

MORE FROM MILDURA

100 BEST VIEWS IN AUSTRALIA #100 PERRY SANDHILLS, NSW

100 Perry Mungo National Park, NSW

Where is it?   Near the Victorian border, 6km west of  Wentworth  How to see it for yourself? There’s a car park on...

READER STORIES: A TRIP TO MUNGO NATIONAL PARK

1st-prize-gallery-1

Artistic AT reader Joanne Croke was inspired by the beauty of an iconic outback NSW landmark on a recent trip to Mungo...

THERES SOMETHING ABOUT MILDURA

Mildura-Title-Image

 On the banks of the Murray lies a town that is surviving, thriving and drawing visitors from around the world. Considered the...

SUBSCRIBE

Back issues available
ORDER NOW
Australian Traveller April/May Issue

OUR MONTHLY NEWSLETTER

FOLLOW US

australian traveller facebook link australian traveller twitter link australian traveller rss link Follow us on Google+ Follow us on Pinterest

LATEST ON FACEBOOK

LATEST TWEETS

Tweets by @AustTraveller

WHERE ARE YOU TRAVELLING TO?

Select a state to view more

  • NSW

    • NSW: Country house escapes for groups
    • The South Coast. A Gourmet Treasure Trail.
    • Gulargambone: the middle of nowhere
    • Old Grafton to Glenn Innes Road
    • Slow Road Over the Blue Mountains
  • WA

    • Western Australia: Country house escapes for groups
    • 100 Incredible Travel Secrets #56 Point Samson, WA
    • 100 Incredible Travel Secrets #70 Depuch Island, WA
    • Beached in Esperance
    • The Tin Horse Highway, Western Australia
  • QLD

    • Queensland: Country house escapes for groups
    • 2012 Readers’ Choice Awards: Favourite Winter Destination
    • Don’t You Wish You Were Here?
    • Culinary Queensland Train Trip
    • Whitsunday Wind Power
  • VIC

    • Victoria: Country house escapes for groups
    • Back roads through the goldfields, Victoria
    • The Kilns
    • 100 Best Views In Australia #5 Craig’s Hut, Mt Stirling, VIC
    • Beautiful Beechworth
  • TAS

    • Tasmania: Country house escapes for groups
    • 100 Incredible Travel Secrets #64 Arthur River, Tas
    • 100 Incredible Travel Secrets #71 Evandale, Tas
    • Best beach retreats from under $200 – Three Hummock Island
    • Mountain Valley Retreat – Haven for Humans and Devils
  • ACT

    • Gourmet Treasure Trails: The Poacher’s Way
    • 104 Things To Do This Summer: ACT
    • ACT & Surrounds- 2011 Regional Food Report
    • Affordable Summer Holidays: Canberra
    • Cultural Dreaming; Profile of the New Indidenous Gallery at the NGA’s curator
  • NT

    • 100 Incredible Travel Secrets #44 MacDonnell Ranges, NT
    • Litchfield National Park, Northern Territory
    • Wish You Were Here: Gunlom Falls Top Pool
    • Reader Stories: Lost at Litchfield
    • 100 Best Views In Australia #15 Ormiston Gorge, NT
  • SA

    • South Australia: Country house escapes for groups
    • 100 Incredible Travel Secrets #54 Innamincka Hotel, SA
    • Fleurieu Peninsula, South Australia
    • Nullarbor Links, SA & WA
    • The Nullarbor Links, SA/WA
  • © 2012 Australian Traveller
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Privacy
  • Back issues
  • Subscribe
  • subscribe to at wire
  • Update subscription details