historian’s perspective on Mutawintji National Park
NSW Department of Education and Training Sites and Scenes 1999
Margo Ryan: Today we will be talking with Michael Bridges, an historian investigating
the heritage significance of Mutawintji National Park. Welcome to the show Michael.
Michael Bridges: Thanks for having me.
Margo Ryan: Can you tell me about your work at Mutawintji?
Michael Bridges: As an historian, my role is to record the history of Mutawintji National
Park, exploring both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal land use and interaction with the site.
Oral history accounts and research on primary documents, undertaken at libraries and
government archives, will be used. With this information, I will prepare a statement of
significance, taking into account the historical, social, aesthetic and scientific significance
of Mutawintji National Park.
Margo Ryan: What items or places from a heritage viewpoint are considered significant
at Mutawintji.
Michael Bridges: Mutawintji Historic Site, located within the park, has considerable
scientific and cultural significance. It is listed on the Register of the National Estate as
well as the State Heritage Inventory. The historic site contains extremely rich
archaeological deposits, including open camping sites, rock shelters, stone arrangements
and rockart.
Margo Ryan: Can you tell us more about the Aboriginal significance of Mutawintji?
Michael Bridges: Mutawintji National Park is an important Aboriginal site. It is part of
traditional country that has always belonged to the Pandjikali and Malyankapa people,
ancestors of the present-day owners. According to William Bates, long-standing
chairperson of the Mutawintji Land Council, Aboriginal people were forcibly moved off
their land to nearby towns to make way for the growing pastoral industry. Although
forcibly removed from their traditional country, local Aboriginal people maintain strong
links with Mutawintji.
Mutawintji was also an important ceremonial centre for Wiimpatja from wide regional
area, who often travelled there from vast distances away such as the Flinders Ranges.
Mutawintji National Park, and the historic site in particular, continue to be used by the
local Aboriginal community as well as Wiimpatja for cultural tourism purposes.
Margo Ryan: Earlier you mentioned non-Aboriginal land use?
Michael Bridges: Yes, there has been considerable European impact on the site. As
already mentioned, the Mutawintji region was cleared and used for the pastoral industry
from the middle of the nineteenth century. Ruins of several pastoral runs built at this time
still remain. Later in the nineteenth century, mining prospectors, searching for silver,
lead, gold and copper, frequented Mutawintji. Opals were also sought there, because of an
opal mining “rush” at nearby White Cliffs. At this time, Mutawintji became a restingplace on the route between Broken Hill and White Cliffs from the late nineteenth century.
In 1905, the Rock Holes Hotel was built close to Mutawintji historic site to accommodate
this passing trade.
Margo Ryan: Can you tell me how Mutawintji became a National Park?
Michael Bridges: In 1925, rockart at Mutawintji came to the attention of the Field
Naturalists Club of Broken Hill. Two years later, “Mootwingee Historic Site” was
declared a crown land reserve for the protection of Aboriginal sites. Mootwingee Historic
Site was permanently reserved under the control of the National Parks and Wildlife
Service (NPWS) in 1967, while Coturaundee Nature Reserve was gazetted in 1972 as a
nature reserve for the protection of yellow-footed rock wallabies. 1982 saw the National
Parks and Wildlife Service purchasing Gnalta and Mootwingee sheep stations, which
were added to the Mootwingee historic site to create Mootwingee National Park. By late
1983, local Aboriginal people were dissatisfied with how the park was being run and
were keen to have more involvement in its management. In response, the park was
blockaded and prospective visitors were turned away. Exactly fifteen years after the
blockade, in September 1998, Mootwingee National Park was handed back to the local
Aboriginal land council. At this point, the spelling of the park reverted to its preferred
spelling and pronunciation of Mutawintji National Park. Subsequently, Mutawintji
National Park was leased to the State Government, to be managed by a committee made
up of representatives from NPWS, Mutawintji Land Council, Broken Hill Council and
local landowners.