Up close and personal - Tourism Australia
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Up close and personal
Meet the guides from Discover Aboriginal Experiences
A visit to Australia without an Aboriginal tourism experience is like going to Bondi without a
surfboard. Or going outback and never seeing a kangaroo.
From gateway destinations like Sydney, to Central Every part of Australia is Aboriginal country and
Australia or the red earth of the Kimberley, every part of that country has a series of unique
Aboriginal people across the country are waiting stories and experiences. The Discover Aboriginal
to tell their stories and share the meaning of their Experiences collective offers an exciting array
cultures and way of life. of activities, tours and accommodation; from
exploring labyrinths of ancient and contemporary
Aboriginal culture dates back more than 60,000 rock art, quad biking, kayaking, whale watching,
years. It existed long before Stonehenge, predates fishing, mud crabbing, hiking, taking a walking
the Pyramids and is older than the Acropolis. tour in a city centre or staying in a lodge on over
What’s more amazing is that this culture can be 200 square miles of lily-laden flood plains teeming
experienced today. with wildlife.
Who better to introduce you to the world’s oldest It’s often who you meet when you travel to Australia
living continuous culture than those who live, that stays with you. Aboriginal guides are no
breathe and dream it every day – Aboriginal guides exception. They bring a unique cultural insight to
who call this vast continent their home. the land and history of Australia through their
stories and way of life. Meet just a few of Australia’s
Whether it’s through feeling the light strip of ochre notable Aboriginal guides to see just what makes
across the forehead or walking along the beach with them so unforgettable.
an Aboriginal Elder who can read the tides by how
the birds call, Aboriginal people bring another side of
Australia to life.
Manuel Pamkal
Top Didj Cultural Experience & Art Gallery,
Katherine, Northern Territory
Manuel Pamkal was born in a Northern Manuel turned his life around, quitting
Territory community so remote that alcohol to become a role model for
the first time he saw a white person, his community.
he thought he was looking at a ghost.
When he first arrived at school (as a At Top Didj, he shows visitors how to
teenager, having never sat on a chair throw a spear, light a fire and paint
or held a pen), the principal guessed – while telling a few jokes along the
his birth year as 1966. Manuel is more way. He welcomes people by playing
inclined to believe a whitefella who the didgeridoo and singing a song
married into his family and saw him as in Dalabon – a central Arnhem Land
a baby – he says 1963. language that experts say is now
spoken fluently by less than half-a-
Today, the charismatic Dalabon man dozen people.
tells his fascinating life story to
visitors at Top Didj Art Gallery near Manuel is a talented artist who
Katherine, 320 kilometres (200 miles) specialises in rarrk (cross-hatching)
south-east of Darwin. It starts with painting. His fine brush is made from
his childhood spent hunting goannas billabong reeds and his preferred
and lizards and digging for yams. After medium is acrylic on canvas. “I’ve been
a near-death experience as an adult painting all my life, from young up until
(detailed in an episode of the ABC now,” he says.
television program Australian Story),
“I really love my job – I meet people from everywhere,” says Manuel.
He’s chatting during his lunchbreak after entertaining a “big mob” of
Contact Information: 42 visitors. “I want to work here until I retire.”
sales@topdidj.com
topdidj.com
Blake Cedar
Dreamtime Dive & Snorkel,
Cairns, Queensland
Working as one of Dreamtime Dive also has the chance to tell guests about
& Snorkel’s Indigenous rangers is a his own Komet cultural group, one of
dream job for Blake Cedar. eight on Murray Island. “Island life is
very nice – especially to be somewhere
Blake is from Murray Island in the where your culture is strong, you don’t
Torres Strait. Visitors can learn more need to speak English [islanders speak
about his island home and its unique Meriam Mir, a traditional language, and
culture when they join this recently Torres Strait Creole], you’re relaxed and
launched day tour with a difference. you’re living off the sea and the land,”
Like other reef cruises, it takes visitors he says. “It’s an unreal feeling – it makes
from Cairns to diving and snorkelling you feel appreciative of what’s still left
sites on the World Heritage-listed in the world.”
Great Barrier Reef. The twist is that
this tour includes storytelling from He might also discuss his grandfather,
members of four Indigenous groups – Eddie Mabo – the revered figure behind
Gimuy Walubara Yidinji, Gunggandji, a landmark land rights case. The Mabo
Mandingalbay Yidinji and Yirrganydji Case altered the foundation of land-
– whose lands stretch from Port rights law in Australia. “I’m royalty on
Douglas to the Frankland Islands south my island,” says Blake. “A lot of Torres
of Cairns. Strait Islanders are royalty on their
islands because we used to have chiefs.”
Blake has learned a lot about the various
Aboriginal groups and their Dreaming Visitors are often “blown away” when
stories – including the account of how he talks about his culture. Blake says
“I’ve had locals from Cairns come on the boat who can’t recognise the the reef was formed when a hunter it’s rewarding to educate people,
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags,” he says. “At first that was a speared a sacred black stingray – but he including fellow Australians.
little bit heartbreaking, but then I took a step back and realised I could
educate them about how our Indigenous cultures are tied to the reef.” Contact Information:
res@dreamtimedive.com.au
dreamtimedive.com
Margret Campbell
Dreamtime Southern X,
Sydney, New South Wales
When you meet Margret Campbell, As you stand in front of modern
feel free to call her Aunty Marg. In wonders such as the Sydney Opera
Australia, addressing an Indigenous House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge,
Elder as “Aunty” or “Uncle” is a sign Aunty Marg’s stories will take you
of respect. Aunty Marg is the founder- back to a time when this land and
owner and managing director of the harbour looked very different.
Dreamtime Southern X, which Before colonisation, Indigenous people
runs tours offering fascinating would watch out for the whales they
insights into Sydney’s Aboriginal considered a spiritual ancestor. They’d
Dreamtime beginnings. also bring fish here to cook over
their campfires.
You might encounter her – or one of
her guides – cradling a tiny pot of Aunty Marg is from the Dunghutti and
ground ochre while standing in The Jerrinjha nations of New South Wales
Rocks waiting to welcome you to the but has 10 other ways of identifying
90-minute walking tour. The pale herself, including various animal
paste is dabbed onto your wrists to Totems. These all link her into a deep
connect you to Earth Mother and the network of kinship and connection.
sandstone lying beneath your feet. Spending time with Aunty Marg will
Aunty Marg might also draw symbols highlight how the Dreamtime still
on herself with the ochre paste, which shapes the world’s oldest continuous
dries in the sun as she talks. living culture – estimated to be more
than 60,000 years old – and the
responsibilities of Elders in today’s
society.
“Reconciliation is not just about shaking hands and feeling welcomed into
Country. Reconciliation is about all peoples connecting with Aboriginal
Contact Information: Peoples’ culture to learn how we can respect and conserve our Earth
bookings@dreamtimesouthernx.com.au Mother that we all live and walk upon.”
dreamtimesouthernx.com.au
BEC SAMPI
Kingfisher Tours,
The Kimberley, Western Australia
Gija woman Bec Sampi grew up in catch fish using spinifex grass, and
Woolah Country (also known as Doon understand cultural Songlines that
Doon), a tiny outstation community reveal ancient, unmarked paths
near Western Australia’s World through the wilderness.
Heritage-listed Purnululu National
Park. It’s a wonderfully remote Bec, a former schoolteacher who
place, nine-odd hours’ drive east is fluent in the Gija, Wola and
of the Kimberley region’s tourism Kriol Indigenous languages, shares
hub of Broome. This remoteness much of this knowledge on her
has informed Bec’s personality: her tours of Purnululu, home to the
observational skills, her ability to extraordinary Bungle Bungle Range.
connect with Country, her comfort As the head guide with Kingfisher
in isolated, outback locations. As a Tours, she blends modern science
13-year-old, she explored Purnululu’s with traditional education to provide
curious landscape of red rock fascinating explanations for how the
boulders and rounded sandstone formations in her homeland came to
domes during a cultural immersion be, woven together with song and
trip with her grandmother. The pair softly spoken truths.
camped in the bush, with Bec learning
how to read hidden messages in
Aboriginal rock paintings, find
plants that serve as bush medicine,
“The way you see my Country is different to how I see it. Some people are
amazed, because they only had an impression of Aboriginal people on
Contact Information: the street. I see this as a reconciliation tour; you’ll see we’re First Nations
fly@kingfishertours.com.au people and we’ve lived through hard times.”
kingfishertours.com.au
Juan walker
Walkabout Cultural Adventures,
Port Douglas/Daintree, Queensland
Juan Walker was a shy young and dig for pipis in the sand.
man considering an electrician’s In the World Heritage-listed Daintree
apprenticeship at a mine when Rainforest, he shows visitors the lush
relatives talked him into staying on layers where cassowaries roam.
Country in Tropical North Queensland.
The Kuku Yalanji man can thank his “It’s one thing to learn about
grandmother for directing him onto Aboriginal history through textbooks,
a different path when she found him sitting down in a classroom, but out
a job as a tour guide with Daintree on Country, it makes things a whole
Ecolodge in 1999. “It took me a while lot more real,” he says. “It’s a lot more
to be able to talk to strangers – that hands-on – you can see how we know
was the hardest part, getting over that about bush medicine and bush tucker.”
shyness,” says Juan. Today he runs
his own business, Walkabout Cultural You’ll also see his Country through
Adventures, from his Cooya Beach new eyes, as just about every
base near Port Douglas. landmark comes soaked in myth and
legend. Juan can tell you, for instance,
There’s no trace of that shyness a Dreamtime story about how a
now as Juan leads visitors through hungry snake slithered down from
the landscape he knows so well. the mountains towards the coast to
In the mangroves and shallows, he look for food, its body carving out the
demonstrates how to spear a mud crab sinuous Daintree River along the way.
Contact Information: “I tell my kids Dreamtime stories at night for their bedtime stories,” he says.
juan@walkaboutadventures.com.au
walkaboutadventures.com.au
Helen Martin
Banubanu Beach Retreat,
Bremer Island, Northern Territory
Helen Martin grew up surrounded by ingredients into the retreat’s new
Central Australia’s red desert, but menus. She talks about how wild figs
these days she looks out upon the can be turned into jam, bush apples
sparkling blues of Yolŋu sea country. into dessert, and how salty, crunchy
Helen, an Arrernte woman from Alice pigface, a succulent that grows on
Springs, runs Banubanu Beach Retreat, the beaches, makes a textural addition
on Bremer Island off East Arnhem to salads. She plans to learn more
Land, together with her husband, about bush tucker from the women
Trevor Hosie. of the island’s Gutjaŋan community.
Retreat visitors, who often say they
In 2019, the couple completed a feel like castaways from modern life,
major upgrade of the property, which can also visit the Yolŋu sea country
now comprises six eco-safari tents, a community for cultural experiences
plunge pool and a chef-run, 30-seat such as fishing, mud-crabbing
restaurant. The retreat also offers day and painting.
tours to visit the island from Gove, a
90-minute flight from Darwin. An island stay gives an insight into
this rich traditional culture, as well
It’s been a steep learning curve for as all that nature has to offer in this
Helen but one she wouldn’t change for Top End paradise. Birdwatchers can
anything. “It’s been a journey for me,” look for brolgas, brahminy kites,
says Helen. “But I like it – this is home orange-footed scrubfowl and emerald
now – and I’m passionate about it.” doves while anglers can fish the deep
waters for coral trout, red emperor
Helen is also passionate about food and mackerel. The island also attracts
and cooking and is excited about nesting leatherback, hawk’s-bill and
incorporating the island’s native green turtles.
“I am blessed to be living in East Arnhem Land, it is a special place that
reconnects visitors to the land and sea, a place to reflect upon our
journey, I love sharing this experience with visitors.” Contact Information:
enquiries@banubanu.com
banubanu.com
Darren “Capes” Capewell
Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Cultural Adventures,
Shark Bay World Heritage Area, Western Australia
Darren “Capes” Capewell once played and my culture,” he says. Wula Gura
Australian Rules football for East Nyinda Eco Cultural Adventures
Fremantle but these days he’s kicking will take you kayaking through the
different kinds of goals. Capes, as he’s region’s stunning bays. Along the way,
universally known, is now sharing you learn about the strong spiritual
the Indigenous history of Shark Bay connection between this land and
– the land of his ancestors. The World its Traditional Custodians. You can
Heritage-listed region, 800 kilometres also slip from the double kayaks into
(500 miles) north of Perth, is the crystal-clear waters to snorkel and
Australian continent’s westernmost swim with rays, fish and turtles.
point. Among Shark Bay’s highlights
is Monkey Mia, famous for its wild Capes also runs a Didgeridoo Dreaming
dolphins. It’s also home to Francois night tour – a didgeridoo meditation
Peron National Park, where acacia- around an open campfire. Bush tucker
covered red sand dunes contrast and fish are cooked over the fire, and
vividly with turquoise waters that are males can try their hand playing the
home to manta rays, dolphins and timeless instrument. Traditionally, the
elusive dugongs. didgeridoo is played only by men but
females on the tour can try coaxing
Capes came home from the big city music from a conch shell. On a 4WD
in 2000 and started his tourism tour of Francois Peron National Park,
venture in 2004. “Apart from my you might spot the thorny devil, a
family, it combines two of my greatest spiky lizard that stars in one of the
passions – and that’s the environment region’s Dreamtime stories. “When you visit places it is easy to ‘see’ Country , but to truly take something
away with you – you need to feel the spirit of Country . This is what I share
Contact Information: with visitors. People walk away with a deeper appreciation of what Country
info@wulagura.com.au means to my people, here in Gutharraguda (Shark Bay).”
wulagura.com.au
Andrew Smith
Sand Dune Adventures,
Port Stephens, New South Wales
Andrew Smith is the boss of a thrilling When Smith started developing the
venture that combines high-adrenaline business, he had only eight quad
quad-biking with ancient Indigenous bikes and “stood by the side of the
coastal culture. The CEO of Worimi road waving signs at passing cars
Local Aboriginal Land Council, which hoping they would come”. Tourism
operates Sand Dune Adventures at Australia backed the venture, naming
Port Stephens on the New South it an Indigenous Tourism Champion.
Wales North Coast, was a long-time Business mentorship, along with great
Australian Taxation Office employee word of mouth, also helped turned
when the opportunity arose in 2006 Sand Dune Adventures into a thriving
to do something completely different. enterprise within just a few years.
“I didn’t know anything about quad Profits are poured back into the
bikes or Aboriginal tourism or tourism local Indigenous community, funding
in general,” he says. He did know a lot employment, housing, education,
about governance and accountability, health and Elders’ programs. “It’s
though – expertise that helped as he about the growth and empowerment
pondered how to turn the Southern of our community,” Smith says.
Hemisphere’s largest moving sand
dunes into a viable business that Quad-bike riders journey up to
supported his community as a not- 20 kilometres over the awe-inspiring
for-profit social enterprise. “We were dunes – some of which are more than
asset-rich but cash-poor,” he says. 30 metres high.
“About 95 per cent of people who come on our tours are really after the quad
Contact Information: bikes but every single tour gets exposed to the occupational history and
sda@worimi.org.au Aboriginal culture of the area.”
sandduneadventures.com.au
Dale tilbrook
Dale Tilbrook Experiences,
Perth, Western Australia
Dale Tilbrook needs little prompting Maalinup Gallery was developed where
to discuss her favourite topic, the activities around bush tucker, culture
native foodstuffs Australians call and Aboriginal art are promoted.
“bush tucker”. “People regard lots of
them as superfoods because of their Dale expanded her work with Maalinup
nutritional make-up. Kakadu plums Gallery and created Dale Tilbrook
have the highest vitamin C content Experiences. Today Dale’s two signature
of any fruit in the world,” says the experiences focus on taking guests
Wardandi Bibbulmun Elder and chef. “If on an in-depth, hands-on journey into
something interests me, I’m like a big Aboriginal native edibles as food and
sponge – I suck it all in and retain it.” medicine. “Food is our medicine,” Dale
explains. During these experiences
Today, Dale is such an expert on guests are able to eat the bush foods
Indigenous bush foods that she’s in and learn many interesting facts
high demand to talk about them and about their nutritional profile and
cook them in far-flung countries such medicinal plants. Dale also reveals some
as Italy. That makes her one busy remarkable insights into Aboriginal
woman as she also runs Dale Tilbrook food traditions such as the yam garden
“People call me the Bush Tucker Queen as I have a passion that borders on
Experiences in Perth. along the Swan River, the Noongar
obsession regarding native edible plants and their pharmaceutical and
six seasons and sustainable hunting
nutraceutical qualities. This obsession has continued to build for the last 20
After returning from 10 years overseas and gathering. In her art experience
odd years and is something I never tire of.”
Dale’s journey in Aboriginal tourism the history of Aboriginal art and dot
began 25 years ago starting with paintings is explored and participants
a boomerang and artefact making create their own piece to take home.
enterprise with her brother, then an Dale’s storytelling skills come to the
Contact Information:
Aboriginal art and gift gallery with fore when she delivers her Local History
manager@maalinup.com.au
some bush food products. From there and Culture experience.
daletilbrookexperiences.com.au
Bart Pigram
Narlijia Experiences,
Broome, Western Australia
When Bart Pigram gazes across the Bart embodies the rich
flat, Tiffany-blue expanse of Roebuck multiculturalism that runs through
Bay in Broome on the Kimberley Broome. He has Aboriginal, Asian
coast of Western Australia, he doesn’t and European heritage, and he uses
just see water. He sees dinosaur it to express the way locals embrace
footprints hidden by the tides, cultural diversity. His family history
mangroves harbouring crabs and also links back to the pearling boom
molluscs, and pearling luggers that at the turn of the 20th century,
used to dot the horizon. enabling him to share both fascinating
and sinister stories of the past on
Bart, who started Narlijia Experiences in his walks between bays, along the
Broome in 2015, likes to take people mangroves and through the town.
to a spot high on the hill, where a new
lookout stands. Circles have been cut He weaves Dreaming stories through
through the shelter’s steel to create his well-researched talks, and crushes
symbolic dot paintings on the ground. fragrant leaves or cracks open a
Just to the right is a spot most people boab nut for a sensory experience.
miss: a clearing littered with shells “I’m close to this area,” he says. “My
that have bleached white over the people’s language, our understandings,
thousands of years they’ve lain in our Creation stories all come from
the sun. This is where his people, the here. I believe the environment here is
Yawuru, would come together to eat among the best in the world and my
and watch over the bay. culture belongs here.”
Contact Information: “I want to get people grounded when they get to Broome and reveal all the
bart@toursbroome.com.au secrets and all the history. The good, the bad, all of it – and give them a true
toursbroome.com.au experience of what it’s like here.”
Kevin Baxter-Pilakui
SeaLink NT
Tiwi Islands, Northern Territory
Kevin Baxter-Pilakui was born in the visitors to smoking ceremonies, where
air, way above his remote island home. wafting plumes from native leaves rid
His mother was flying from the Tiwi people of bad spirits and feelings. He
Islands to hospital in Darwin, the takes them through the island’s lauded
capital of the Northern Territory, to screen-printing art centre, where iconic
deliver him, except that Kevin arrived designs make their way onto colourful
early, half-way between both. He materials. He teaches them about
jokes that he’s from no-man’s land, sourcing ochre pigments from the
but in truth, Bathurst Island (which is island and mixing them for painting.
60 kilometres off the mainland) has
always had his heart. He also shows off the hard, heavy
ironstone used for carvings of birds
He lived on Bathurst Island until he was and towering pukamani poles, the
12, when schooling in the big smoke sacred, decorative posts placed at
called, and he began tour guiding after burial sites during a traditional
graduation. Seven years ago, he decided ceremony. Kevin also loves to surprise
the scenery in Darwin was no match his guests with the news that neither
for the ‘islands of smiles’. He wanted to the didgeridoo nor the boomerang is
return to his ocean-lapped roots to help found on the islands – revealing the
share its culture. differences between them and
greater Australia.
Now, the former football player leads
Tiwi by Design tours. He introduces “There are some 900 to 1000 different dialects across the Northern
Territory, and sometimes it’s taboo for the mainlanders to share parts of
Contact Information: culture, but the Tiwi Islands and our culture are open to the world. For us,
salesnt@sealink.com.au it’s important to share.”
sealinknt.com.au
Dwayne Bannon-Harrison
Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness,
Narooma, New South Wales
Dwayne Bannon-Harrison, a the ways. You’ve got to be chosen to
descendant of the Yuin people of New receive that kind of in-depth teaching,”
South Wales’ far South Coast, was an explains Dwayne.
accomplished football player and a
plasterer by trade in Bathurst, west of At 26, the transformative experience
Sydney, before experiencing what he was so profound that it inspired
describes as his “call back to Country”. Dwayne to establish Ngaran Ngaran
Culture Awareness (NNCA), an
“In 2010 everything really turned on Aboriginal-owned and -operated
its head. I was all set up in Bathurst cultural training service, that today
but I had a really strong urge to return shares Yuin culture in the form of
to the New South Wales South Coast, immersive travel experiences.
like I was being spiritually called
back,” says Dwayne, who hadn’t lived You can learn about the Yuin way of
on his ancestral land since he was a life by joining NNCA’s Yuin Retreat
very young child. experience, which takes you on a
spectacular journey deep into Yuin
Unable to resist the pull any longer, country. Hear sacred Dreaming stories
he sold his house and business, packed passed down for tens of thousands of
up his young family, and moved years, and bear witness to traditional
400 kilometres (250 miles) south-east ceremonies, song and traditions; at
to the coastal town of Narooma. night, retire to your lavish “glamping”
There he was welcomed back to tent, complete with plush bedding,
Yuin country by his grandfather, a ensuite bathroom and gourmet
renowned Elder, who quickly became catering that showcases native
Dwayne’s cultural mentor. “Because ingredients.
I was his eldest grandson, he really
took me under his wing to teach me
Contact Information: “I believe that’s why I had the calling to come home, to create a vehicle to
info@ngaranaboriginalculture.com
continue the traditional teachings of our bloodline.”
ngaranaboriginalculture.com
CLARK WEBB
Wajaana Yaam Gumbaynggirr Adventure Tours,
Coffs Harbour, New South Wales
Gumbaynggirr/Bundjalung man guests spot during one of Wajaana Yaam
Clark Webb doesn’t do anything by Gumbaynggirr Adventure Tours guided
halves. After becoming Coffs Harbour stand-up paddleboarding/kayaking or
High School’s first Aboriginal school walking tours, which are conducted at
captain in 2002, Clark went on to set three spectacular locations within the
up the not-for-profit Bularri Muurlay Solitary Islands Marine Park on the New
Nyanggan Aboriginal Corporation South Wales Mid North Coast. Clark and
(BMNAC) in 2010, which works to uplift his team are passionately doing their
Aboriginal youth. Now, a proportion bit to make the Gumbaynggirr language
of profits from his ecotourism accessible and keep it alive, even though
business, Wajaana Yaam Gumbaynggirr a lot of it was lost.
Adventure Tours, is invested back into
language teaching programs and other “When we can’t find a word for a
projects run by the BMNAC. certain plant or an animal, it’s part of
the disruption that happened to our
“I’m really passionate about the culture,” Clark says.
revitalisation of our language and
culture, so that is what drives Wajaana But that doesn’t stop Clark from
Yaam Gumbaynggirr Adventure Tours,” bringing the Dreaming to life on his
says Clark, who has been learning the fascinating stand-up paddleboarding
Gumbaynggirr language for 14 years. trips, with his contagious smile
Clark loves a good yarn and will happily and welcoming nature putting you
share the Gumbaynggirr word for any immediately at ease, even if you’re
marine life, animals or native plants that paddling for the first time.
Contact Information: “Our language is our soul, so when we speak our language in Coffs Harbour
info@wajaanayaam.com.au – when we speak Gumbaynggirr – we’re making our soul strong again.”
wajaanayaam.com.au
CLINTON WALKER
Ngurrangga Tours,
Pilbara, Western Australia
“We’ve been here forever and a safe passage through this sacred
day, probably longer,” says Clinton spot. Then, he picks his way to a rock
Walker, who estimates his family has face depicting long-gone megafauna,
lived in the Pilbara region of Western such as a giant kangaroo. “They
Australia for more than 2,500 went extinct 30,000 years ago, so
generations. A descendent of the the rock art is, at a minimum, that
Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people, old,” Clinton says. It’s believed there
Clinton has thousands of years of are more than a million engravings
cultural knowledge at his fingertips in Murujuga National Park, 1800
and he’s passionate about using it. kilometres (or a two-hour flight)
Leaving behind a career in the state’s north of Perth.
mining industry, the former mechanic
now channels his energy into sharing Clinton’s tours follow the Songlines of
Aboriginal stories though his tourism his ancestors. Songlines are ancient
company, Ngurrangga Tours. wayfaring pathways shared through
stories and songs, using landmarks
Containing one of the world’s largest as guideposts. They take him to
concentrations of petroglyphs (rock the mud-crabbing flats of Hearsons
engravings), his Burrup Peninsula Cove, to the rivers and gorges of
backyard (part of an area known as Millstream Chichester National Park
Murujuga, which means “hipbone and throughout Murujuga. Clinton’s
sticking out”) is the perfect setting. hope is that by teaching others about
When Clinton approaches a rubble these Songlines, his beloved history,
of boulders etched with images of culture, and Country will be preserved
animals, fish, footprints, symbols and for another 2,500 generations – and
people, he stops to greet the Spirit beyond.
Ancestors in his language, requesting
Contact Information: “I want to educate people about my ancestry and protect what’s here.”
bookings@ngurrangga.com.au
ngurrangga.com.au
JOHNNY MURISON
Jarramali Rock Art Tours,
Laura, Queensland
To call Johnny Murison a character is an Country. The Magnificent Gallery is
understatement – this animated Kuku particularly special because there are
Yalanji man only knows one speed, and no boardwalks or sealed roads to get
right now that’s full throttle towards the here – only intrepid travellers make the
Magnificent Gallery. This outdoor site on off-road journey with Johnny. “The 4WD
the Cape York Peninsula is home to more track we take is one of the gnarliest
than 450 works of rock art covering a I’ve ever been on,” says Johnny. “It’s
40m-long swathe of sandstone. It’s the steep and rugged, and often washes
camping base for Johnny’s overnight away during the wet. We call it the
Jarramali Rock Art Tours, which decode ‘Thousand-Dollar Track,’ because that’s
the stories his ancestors left behind what you need to fix your car after
more than 20,000 years ago. you’ve driven it.”
“My jaw hit the floor when I saw the Johnny’s camp (replete with a natural
art the first time,” says Johnny. “There rock infinity pool filled with rain water)
are paintings of turtles, barramundi is on the edge of an escarpment, just
and kangaroos; fertility symbols, spirits 400m from the art. “My Elders would
and hunters. It gives me goosebumps to come here for shelter during the wet
think they were painted by my family season, to avoid the rain and heat
members, Kuku Yalanji people.” and flies. And they’d paint to pass
the time,” he says. In doing so, they
It’s thought 10,000 such rock art transformed this hidden pocket of Far
sites adorn these 230,000 hectares North Queensland into an outdoor
of wilderness in the Laura Basin, Dreaming story that does complete
collectively known as Quinkan justice to its name – and then some.
Contact Information: “A lot of the time I have people on my tours who are in tears after seeing
jarramalienterprises@gmail.com the art. It’s such a special place – it will grab you by the heartstrings.”
jarramalirockarttours.com.au
MARK SADDLER
Bundyi Cultural Tours,
Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
“Yamandhu marang mudyi?” This is Aboriginal Tourism Operators Council
how Mark Saddler welcomes visitors (NATOC). “It comes from 100 per cent
to the banks of the Murrumbidgee genuine experiences across 60,000
River. He’s asking if you’re well, in his years of my people teaching me how
Wiradjuri dialect. “When you start to bundyi with people today.”
to learn the language of the Country
you’re in, you start to learn the Mark is on a mission to get people
Country itself,” he says. to slow down and reconnect with the
land. “You may go to a place where
This particular Country is Wagga you feel a bit special and you don’t
Wagga in the Riverina region of know why – non-Aboriginal people
south-western New South Wales, can feel the same way, because we’re
Mark’s homeland and the base for his all connected to Mother Country,”
tours by bus, van, motorbike and on he says.
foot. “My goal is to get people to see
the land differently,” Mark says. “We “And if we don’t connect back to
visit places that are very special to Mother Country, we might as well be
the Wiradjuri community, and where on the next shuttle to Mars,” Mark
few others get to go. It should open adds. “We’ve done a pretty poor job
your eyes and your mind.” of protecting her over the last couple
of centuries. Hopefully, through
Mark’s Bundyi (“share”) tours are education and tourism, we can
indeed personal and eye-opening, change that process and make sure
lasting from two hours to a full day. “I we stay around a little longer.”
share from the heart. It’s the only way
I know how,” says Mark, who is also
a member of the New South Wales
Contact Information: “Aboriginal people have been doing land management for 60,000 years.
info@bundyiculture.com.au
We watch the animals to learn how the land’s going and watch the plants
bundyiculture.com.au
to time the seasons.”
ROB HYATT
Koorie Heritage Trust,
Melbourne, Victoria
“A lot of visitors to the Koorie Heritage “It’s just one of the ways we’re able
Trust have no idea what Aboriginal to show the diversity of Aboriginal
culture looks like in an urban setting,” cultures in both Victoria and Australia,”
says Rob Hyatt, the organisation’s says Rob, who spends a lot of his
education and visitor experience time curating cultural competency
manager. They enter the Aboriginal- workshops for government and
operated trust’s architecturally corporate groups. “We have this
dramatic gallery and cultural centre amazing opportunity to talk about
at Federation Square in the heart of our collective history and the impact
Melbourne, he says, and are “somewhat of colonisation, and what that means
taken aback by what they discover.” today,” he says. “It’s truth telling, but
without any attached blame or guilt.”
The trust began in 1985 at the
Melbourne Museum as a way to “give Rob and his team also run tours around
Aboriginal people a voice on how Melbourne, revealing the city and its
artefacts are displayed, in a cultural stories through Aboriginal eyes. “Every
rather than anthropological way,” tour is unique, because the guides
says Rob. It has since become an tell their own stories – having an
independent not-for-profit, housing individual expression of culture is really
more than 6,000 items from pre- important,” he says. “People get to see
colonisation to today, and covering our heritage on display, including ‘scar
everything from photographs to oral trees’ and cultural sites. It makes our
stories told by Elders. heritage feel tangible.”
Contact Information: “Visitors sometimes ask us, ‘Where are the real Aboriginal people?’ Our
robhyatt@koorieheritagetrust.com role is to educate that diversity is us – we’re all different because we all
koorieheritagetrust.com.au have individual cultures and experiences.”
SARAH DALBY
Maruku Arts,
Uluru, Northern Territory
It’s not easy to capture the immensity Mankurpa [three landmarks of
of landscapes and legends that Central Australia]; Kapi Tjukurla
surround Uluru, a place as spectacular [waterholes], and Kungkarangkalpa
as it is sacred to Anangu communities. [the Seven Sisters Creation story]. I
But this is Sarah Dalby’s life’s work, like to watch the environment and
and she’s now helping others grasp paint what I see.”
it all, as a tour guide and art teacher
with Maruku Arts – an Anangu-owned It’s a sentiment Sarah – a minyma
regional gallery and cultural centre, Anangu woman from Australia’s
near the base of Uluru in Australia’s Central and Western Desert, whose
Red Centre. own art sells fast among collectors
– encourages among Maruku Arts
“I learnt [to paint] from my aunty visitors who sign up for one of her
in Ernabella, a long time ago,” says workshops to discover Aboriginal
Sarah, who started painting on painting styles and techniques, and
canvas at Ernabella Arts – Australia’s hear the stories behind them.
oldest continuously running
Indigenous art centre, in north-west “I tell people to draw small stories.
South Australia. I show them symbols of my home
and share my Tjukurpa. They show
“I paint Tjukurpa [the Creation me their stories, their Tjukurpa.
period, or Dreaming],” she explains. Sometimes I get them to paint the
“Sometimes Kuniya Liru [a legend walks they’ve done, their footprints.”
about a woma python woman
and poisonous snake man]; Puli
Contact Information: “I like teaching others about Tjukurpa, about my Country and how to
maruku@maruku.com.au
paint… It makes me happy.”
maruku.com.au
TERRY HUNTER
Borrgoron Coast to Creek Tours,
Dampier Peninsula, Western Australia
Terry Hunter is the fourth generation went to school in a basic tin shed on
of his family to work in the pearling the pearl farm with only a handful
trade, but the first to become a tour of other kids, before each was sent
guide. The proud Bardi man grew up off to boarding school in Perth. But
on a remote pearl farm in Western neither was destined for city life.
Australia. His home, 220km from the
nearest town of Broome, is part of the Now James is the managing director
state’s famed Kimberley region. of Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm – Australia’s
oldest continuously operating pearl
To many visitors, it’s a vast, raw farm – and Terry runs Borrgoron
wilderness, where dusty red deserts Coast to Creek Tours. On his signature
meet empty beaches lapped by the two-hour walking tour, Terry shares
world’s largest tropical tides. For stories of his childhood, his culture
a young Terry, it was the ultimate and his deep knowledge of these
playground, where he and his best lands. But it’s not just Terry’s guests
mate James Brown grew up practicing who gain a better understanding
Aboriginal skills such as foraging of his Country, it’s also his own
for bush tucker, sourcing water on extended family – and he hopes
salty tidal flats, and carving pearl to inspire them to preserve the
shells – all learnt from Terry’s father Hunter connection to Cygnet Bay for
and other Bardi Jawi Elders. The pair generations to come.
Contact Information: “I love to share my home, share our culture, and see guests’ reactions as
terry@coasttocreektours.com.au they get a better understanding of Aboriginal culture, knowledge and
cygnetbaypearlfarm.com.au/borrgoron-coast-to-creek-tours heritage. It’s all about sharing with me.”More info For more information on any of these experiences, including famil opportunities, high-res imagery or to arrange interviews, reach out to: Nicole Mitchell Global Project Executive, Experiences Discover Aboriginal Experiences nmitchell@tourism.australia.com tourism.australia.com/aboriginal
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