Case Study: Mungo National Park
Mungo National Park, within the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, is in the semi-arid southwestern corner of New South Wales. It contains vital evidence of the antiquity of human occupation of Australia.
GML prepared a conservation management and cultural tourism management plan which identifies the significance of the historic heritage resources within the park. For the first time, the plan integrates the Park’s pastoral history into the broader story of human interaction with this unique environment.
While the report did not revisit the natural and Aboriginal cultural values that led to the Willandra Lakes Region’s inscription on the World Heritage List in 1981, it does address their relationship to the place’s historic values. A key part of the project was consulting with Aboriginal stakeholders, land councils and former station owners’ families.
The project had three main outcomes: it was the first comprehensive evaluation of the Park’s pastoral history; it integrated that history into the broader history of human interaction within a changing environment; and it provided a comprehensive conservation and tourism planning framework.
The vision was for future visitors to Mungo National Park to leave knowing how the timber slab woolshed and all the other historic features fit into a ‘whole of landscape’ story that links the prehistoric to the present in a meaningful way.
Location: Mungo National Park, NSW
Client: National Parks and Wildlife Service
Project Type: Conservation Management Plan and Cultural Tourism Plan