Inclusion in the National Heritage List of Mithaka Cultural Landscape

Criterion

Values

(a)

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in the course or pattern of Australia’s cultural history

Mithaka Cultural Landscape has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s historic importance as an economic, social and cultural centre for Aboriginal people in the Lake Eyre Basin and beyond. Mithaka Cultural Landscape is situated in the heart of an extensive and important trans-continental production, trade and exchange, and ceremonial network – the ‘East Lake Eyre Trade Route’ – supplying the needs of numerous Aboriginal groups across north and central Australia and facilitating cultural exchange.

Mithaka Cultural Landscape was an important site of large-scale and organised production and subsequent trade of grindstones and stone implements. Quarry sites of monumental proportions supplied grindstones and stone tools for trade and local use to exploit resources for food like seeds and grains, parts of whole small animals and fish, and to grind ochre. The size and quantity of theses quarry sites, including evidence of primary and secondary production workshops, demonstrate that the Mithaka people were mobilised and organised, operating what were essentially fully functioning mine sites, with the oldest known quarry site dating back to at least 3000BP. Adjacent stone arrangements attest to potential ceremonial or increase activity at these quarry sites, and others also have linkages to constellations in the night sky.

The environment of Mithaka Cultural Landscape is diverse and sustained large populations. The density of archaeological evidence suggests that Mithaka people were staying on Country for extended periods of time, which is supported by the existence of habitation sites in the landscape, such as standing gunyahs (houses), hearths and burial mounds.

The East Lake Eyre Trade Network is also referred to as the ‘Pituri Road’ and focused on the narcotic plant pituri as a core commodity. Pituri is a substance used for many activities that were central to Aboriginal ways of life in the arid interior, used as bush medicine, a stimulant used during extended travel or to prepare for warfare, or as a hallucinogen in ceremony.

(b)

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's possession of uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of Australia's cultural history

Mithaka Cultural Landscape possesses uncommon, rare and endangered aspects of Australia’s cultural history including extensive sandstone quarries, burial mounds, undisturbed ceremonial sites and gunyahs. The remoteness of Mithaka Country, and the Mithaka people’s ongoing care of and connection to Country, continues to ensure the intactness and integrity of the place, contributing to its rarity.

Aboriginal domestic structures, commonly known as gunyahs, are especially prone to vandalism, collapse, erosion, or decomposition. Although gunyahs were once commonplace in Aboriginal societies, they are seldom found in situ in other regions of Australia. This makes those on Mithaka Country rare and uncommon examples of wooden gunyahs still in situ and therefore endangered aspects of Aboriginal cultural heritage. Gunyahs are partially subterranean pit dwellings with concave bases to retain heat and cool temperatures. Some have hearths within them, but many hearths and archaeological deposits are found out front of the gunyahs on ground level. The timber used for the gunyahs has been lumbered with stone axes from a Gidgee Tree (Acacia cambagei) – a hardwood found typically in arid and semiarid zones and endemic to Australia.

The gunyahs on Mithaka Country have been preserved through the continued care by Mithaka people, their remote location and the dryness of the landscape preserving the wood. Researchers tested samples from two gunyahs on Mithaka Country to determine their age. From the sample data, researchers are confident that the gunyah known as ‘Gunyah 1’ probably dates to 1770AD and ‘Gunyah 2’ dates to 1787AD. These gunyahs predate European contact and represent the oldest known intact housing structures in Australia.

Mithaka Cultural Landscape, and the Mithaka people’s connection to the rivers and waterways that feed the Lake Eyre Basin is significant. These waterways are some of the few remaining healthy and free-flowing inland desert river systems in the world. They support a rich and diverse ecosystem for numerous vulnerable native species, and the integrity of the waterways is vital to the survival of not only these species but to the Mithaka people and other Traditional Owners on Channel Country.

Mithaka Cultural Landscape is also significant as it contains the site of one of the earliest examples of reconciliation between Aboriginal people, white settlers and the Native Mounted Police – the Debney Peace. Taking place in 1889, following decades of brutal frontier war and violence in Channel Country, the Debney Peace was a five-day ceremony conducted on Mithaka Country, by Mithaka people, with the support of pastoralist George Debney. More than 500 Aboriginal people from nations across the Channel Country gathered near Pharmaleechie Channel for this event, which functioned as an unwritten negotiated truce solemnised in ritual and ceremony. This site is significant and represents an important and uncommon example of reconciliation during a period where racial violence and guerrilla warfare was a common aspect of the Australian colonial experience.

(c)

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place's potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Australia's natural or cultural history

The place has outstanding heritage value because of the place’s potential to yield information about Australia’s cultural history. The site types represented in the Mithaka Cultural Landscape occur in a rare combination, extent, and density, and yield considerable information about past economic, social and cultural processes, practices, meanings and places. The landscape represents a core component of the East Lake Eyre Trade Route, and includes quarries and grindstone preparation sites, scar trees, gunyahs, hearths, burials, ceremonial and rock art sites.

The archaeology and ethnohistory of Mithaka Country reveal key details of the socio-economic life of the East Lake Eyre Trade Route, particularly details pertaining to village life (including the building of gunyahs, hearths and other structures), the cultivation and processing of plants such as pituri and grains, and the production and trade of grindstones and other stone implements. Over 600 sites have been recorded over a small area of Mithaka Country, and given its size, it is likely that there are many more sites yet to be recorded. Further archaeological and ethnographical investigation on Mithaka Country continues to reveal the extent and complexity of Aboriginal ways of life at different stages in history.

(d)

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of Australia’s cultural places

Mithaka Cultural Landscape has outstanding heritage value to the nation due to its importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a long-distance trade route and trade centre established and maintained by Aboriginal people over thousands of years.

The place includes the origins of key trade resources, including extensive sandstone quarries and pituri processing areas, and associated manufacture and processing sites indicative of various industries. Close by are ceremonial sites (standing stone arrangements) that reflect the cultural aspect of undertaking trade and exchange.

Mithaka also demonstrates the principal characteristics of a permanent or semi-permanent Aboriginal habitation site, including gunyahs, food preparation sites, tool manufacturing sites, hearths, burial mounds, rock art and ceremonial sites. Many of these sites are intact, and reflect the relationship between industry, community and culture in pre-contact Australia.

(e)

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by a community or cultural group

Mithaka Cultural Landscape has outstanding heritage value to the nation due to the seasonal ‘boom-and-bust’ hydrological cycles that feed the Lake Eyre Basin through the rivers and waterways of the Channel Country. Mithaka people describe the physical and aesthetic manifestation of these cycles as the “lifeblood” of their Country. These arterial watercourses, including the rivers, floodplains, waterholes and native wells, tangibly connect Mithaka people with their traditional stories and lore that follow the courses of these water flows. Their culture is inseparable from the water that brings life to their Country. The visual effect of these cycles turns a normally arid landscape into one of intense, rich and vibrant greenery, contrasting starkly against the deep earthy tones of surrounding stony gibber plains and desert landscapes. As the floodwaters recede, vast amounts of lush vegetation lay in their wake, providing fertile breeding and feeding grounds for native species.

The stone arrangements and quarry sites in Mithaka Cultural Landscape also have outstanding heritage value to the nation due to their scale and the patterns they form in the landscape. The sheer size of some of the quarry sites, that from above look like sprawling honeycomb, led some local people to believe that their creation was a natural process, potentially because of a meteor shower. But these quarries are a testament to the large-scale modification of the landscape by Mithaka people and as such, highly valued by Mithaka people for their aesthetic and intangible attributes within the landscape. While research is ongoing, it is believed the stone arrangement on Glengyle Station could represent the Scorpius constellation.

(f)

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance in demonstrating a high degree of creative or technical achievement at a particular period

Mithaka Cultural Landscape has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the high degree of ingenuity and achievement represented by the volume of quarry sites on Mithaka Country, including the largest quarry in the world made by a non-agricultural society, known as ‘Morney Plains 1’. The site is 4.5km2 and has within it approximately 55 hectares of quarried ground. Recent dating at the site predicts that it was active between 610-3000BP. It contains up to 15,000 individual pits and likely produced over 1.5 million grindstones over the life of its operation.

The quarry sites on Mithaka Country demonstrate modification of the environment at a monumental scale that produced grindstones (millstones and mullers) for local consumption and for trade. Mithaka people were mining sandstone to supply thousands of standardised products annually. The products were used for trade and to exploit local resources, like the processing of seasonal native grass seeds, a critical resource in the arid conditions of Mithaka Country.

The average size of the millstones produced at ‘Morney Plains 1’ was around 30 to 50cm long, the minimum length requirement for effective grinding. Some millstone preforms were much larger, including a small sample weighing between 80kg to 310kg. The longest preform found to date is approximately 1.8 metres long, larger than any recorded grindstone in any known collection.

The social organisation and production from these quarries are reflected in other resource systems in Mithaka Cultural Landscape, demonstrating that the quarries are one part of a larger complex system of highly organised resource gathering.

(i)

the place has outstanding heritage value to the nation because of the place’s importance as part of Indigenous tradition

“The Mithaka peoples have evidence of dreaming stories which originate deep within Mithaka Country. These customary lores and traditions took the peoples on many journeys across the Country. The Wood-Duck Dreaming, for example originates in Mithaka Country, travels down and around Kati-Thanda Lake Eyre, before returning to Mithaka Country.

The protocols grandad Bill Gorringe observed when travelling to waterholes were passed down to family via oral tradition and observation. Certain rivers and lakes required certain protocols to be observed. For example, we were allowed to fish at some waterholes, but not allowed to camp or swim, and others we were allowed to fish camp and swim. Grandad Gorringe would always call out in lingo, and bang on the side of his vehicle door when approaching waterholes to let the protector spirits know he was coming. He would also leave food at specific waterholes.

There are other oral stories of an area located on a significant water system where Grandad said many of his countrymen were murdered, and it was a bad place. Alice and Peggy Gorringe recall being shown by an old Aboriginal stockman, the entrance to a cave which was described as an ancient conference room at which could be found at an alternate entrance, ‘treasures of the old Aboriginal kingdom’.

Current research on Mithaka Country has hearths along these important waterways, which date back to 3000+ years. The large-scale quarries located within are evidence of significant industry and connection undertaken pre-colonisation. The cultural landscape is a vast network of trade and connection of the Aboriginal peoples from the Channel Country. The trade systems, kinship, songlines and dreaming extends beyond the boundary of Mithaka Country and connect people across the continent.”

Written and prepared by Tracey Hough and Shawnee Gorringe for and on behalf of the Mithaka Traditional Custodians. With thanks to Aunty Rainy (Lorraine McKellar) for providing supporting stories and traditions.