Small Is Beautiful in the Northern Territory by Daniel Scott
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Mike holds the snake just long enough for me to survey her delicate bands of white and golden orange. Then, before she gets too cranky, he lets her slide away up the rocky bank.
In the Northern Territory, as I am discovering, small is beautiful. It can seem impossible to get a handle on this vast and sometimes unforgiving region. But, my decision to spend two weeks with smaller tour operators like Mike’s FAR OUT ADVENTURES is paying dividends.
Tonight, Mike and I are 140 kilometres south of Katherine, camped out beside a gin-clear Roper River, in the heart of the Never Never country made famous by Jeannie Gunn’s novel.
But, more importantly, we’re also on the land the Mangarrayi Aboriginal people. At tea-time and again the following morning, we’re visited by members of the community, yarning with old ladies like Sheila, Amy and community leader Jessie and larking about in the river with a bevvy of energetic youngsters.
It’s a priceless experience, as is being shown special parts of their land like the “Jungle” – wetlands where flocks of brolgas, jabirus and magpie geese gather – and “Paradise” – where shallow falls rage into an emerald lagoon.
The following day we also get close to the Aboriginal experience in the Northern Territory at Manyallaluk, Here, in an unhurried atmosphere, the community share their knowledge of the bush and demonstrate traditional skills like basket weaving, lighting fires with sticks, and rock and bark painting. It’s a wonderfully affirming place where you’re encouraged to have a go yourself and you emerge with admiration for Aboriginal artistry.
This insight makes the Aboriginal art sites, which are spread across Kakadu and Arnhem Land, seem all the more astonishing. But, as with any great art, understanding these pieces of ancient history requires time and interpretation. On the borders of Kakadu and Arnhem Land, Magela Cultural Tours, gives you both.
Yuri Mucivieks, who runs the tours, is a trusted balander (white) friend to the local Bunitj people, who has access to some highly sacred spots dotted around the flood plains and sandstone escarpments which define their land.
“Our story is in the land - it is written in those sacred places,” says this region’s traditional custodian Bill Niedje and Yuri’s sensitive commentary on these sites makes you aware that you are not only witnessing history (some paintings pre-date the Pyramids by thousands of years) but delving into somebody’s backyard.
At Davidson’s Safari Camp at Mount Borradaile in Arnhem Land, Max Davidson also has the permission of the local custodians to bring small numbers of visitors to see one of the richest Aboriginal cultural sites in Australia.
There are 13 major rock art sites near to the camp and during my visit, Max seems determined to uncover some more. On one six-hour trek and billy goat climb up and down rock escarpments, I follow him to places I wouldn’t follow anybody else.
But, our arduous day has its compensations. At one point, we crawl through a darkened bat-filled cave and end up facing a wall full of 20,000-year-old paintings, which no white person has ever seen before.
Later, Max leads me to a long plateau with wonderful views over the nearby wetlands and toward Mount Borradaile. Meticulously placed on the flat hot rock, in some inexplicable order, are hundreds of small stones. It’s like a mini Aboriginal Stonehenge.
Finally, we clamber past depictions of early white men – hand on hip, pipe in mouth and gun in hand – to a place Max calls the Throne Room. Here, under an enormous boulder, sitting on a series of columns coated in paintings, is an ancient burial site. It contains at least six sets of human skulls and bones, a nineteenth century shotgun and a snuff box marked “R.Bell & Co, London”.
By the time I leave the Northern Territory, inspired by the intimate tours led by Max, Mike and Yuri, as well as by the Aboriginal people I meet, I feel as if I’ve begun to gain real insight into the soul of this extraordinary land.