Djungan Site of Significance

Ngarrabullgan, is central to Djungan People’s identity. The very name ‘Djungan’ reflects that connection. Djungan, People of the Rock have been residing on its tabletop and in its shadow for thousands of years. In the consent determination, Justice Logan in his reasons for judgement stated at [22] [1]

“From the filed material mentioned previously it appears that the Aboriginal persons who spoke the Djungan dialect of the Kuku Yalanji language used and occupied Djungan country, in the wider Mount Mulligan area, prior to 1788 (the date of the assertion of British sovereignty). Archaeological records furnished in support of occupation attests to Aboriginal people occupying the Mount Mulligan area and the surrounding region from 40 000 years ago”.

The Australian Heritage Commission included Ngarrabullgan on its register of the National Estate on 24 June 1997, describing it as a place that holds:

  • important evidence enhancing the Australian communities' knowledge of Aboriginal occupation of Pleistocene into the Holocene;

  • large diversity of well-preserved (intact) archaeological sites and features, some of which are directly associated with locally known initiation sites and places still sacred to the local Aboriginal peoples (both on top of the mountain and around the mountain's base);

  • strong potential to yield new and important information about Aboriginal occupation, use, beliefs and lifestyles from the Pleistocene down to the present (especially as new archaeological techniques are developed and combined with further, ongoing research and study);

  • excellent examples of the rock art and resource use of those Aboriginal peoples who have occupied and used the area for many generations and still, to this day, view the mountain as a major spiritual site at the heart of their country; and

  • considerable aesthetic impact combining an impressive physical presence as a large natural monument, together with natural and cultural features valuable to the Djungan peoples, other Aboriginal peoples, the people of Mareeba Shire, the North Queensland region more generally, and Australia as a whole[2].

For similar reasons the Queensland Government formally registered Ngarrabullgan as "The Mount Mulligan Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Area" under its Aboriginal heritage legislation (Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2006 (Qld)) in 2006. And it was further added to the national heritage list in 2011[3].

Excavation of rock shelters on Ngarrabullgan show that Aboriginal people first began living on the mountain more than 37,000 years ago but stopped camping there about 600 years ago. There is no evidence that the area around Ngarrabullgan was depopulated at this time or that climate or environmental change made it more difficult for people to camp on the mountain. The archaeological record at Ngarrabullgan suggests, therefore, that about 600 years ago there was a change in the way Aboriginal people used the mountain. This is an exceptionally rare example of an archaeologically recorded change in behaviour which is consistent with contemporary Aboriginal traditions and beliefs.

In Djungan Peoples’ tradition this mountain is a sacred place inhabited by the malicious spirit Eekoo and we approach it with caution and rarely camp on its summit. The mountain was originally a huge pile of stones built by wallabies on the advice of the eagle hawk. A swamp pheasant built its nest on the mountain and hatched its young. However, the Eekoo came along and killed the nestlings. The angry pheasants retaliated by starting a bush fire to kill the Eekoo. The fire was so huge that it melted the stones and formed the towering cliffs of Ngarrabullgan. To save his life the Eekoo created Lake Koongarra on the top of the mountain and sheltered in its waters. The form of the mountain and the presence of the lake are a constant reminder to Djungan people of the Eekoo[4].

For Djungan People to lose access and control of this site would be to rob the Djungan People of their cultural identity, quash years of planning and further separate one of the most culturally rich sites in Australia from its Traditional Owners.


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[1] Archer on behalf of the Djungan People #1 v State of Queensland [2012] FCA 801 at 22

[2] http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/ahdb/search.pl?mode=place_detail;place_id=100267

[3] http://www.environment.gov.au/system/files/pages/6d6859cd-c37a-4c70-b840-7de4662d68e3/files/1060254.pdf; http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/ngarrabullgan

[4] (Richards 1926 cited in David 1992:77; David et al 2007)