Ngarrabullgan
| Ngarrabullgan | ||
|---|---|---|
 Table Mountain viewed from the east |
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| height | 400 m | |
| location | Queensland , Australia | |
| Coordinates | 16 ° 49 '33 " S , 144 ° 50' 18" E | |
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| rock | Sandstone | |
| particularities | Australian National Heritage List | |
The Ngarrabullgan , also called Mount Mulligan , is located in Queensland , Australia , 100 km from Cairns . The Table Mountain has great cultural and historical significance to Australia; it was given back to the Djungan Aborigines in 2007 and placed under national monument protection in 2011.
Geography and geology
The Ngarrabullgan is a table mountain consisting of sandstone and a conglomerate with a length of about 18 km and 6.5 km width. It rises 200 to 400 m above the surrounding landscape. Its plateau is only accessible in three places.
Table Mountain emerged as a ditch filled with coarse-grained sands and quartz-containing sediments , formed by diagenesis into a rock that was resistant to erosion and was then exposed to the elements of the less resistant material that surrounded it.
Weathering processes also took place on the Ngarrabullgan, creating landscape forms such as valleys, hollows and other forms. On the plateau there is next to billabongs a lake that is permanently filled with water.
Flora and fauna
Eucalyptus grow on the plateau as well as in the lower surrounding area, furthermore Spinifex , ( Triodia microstachya and Xanthorrhoea johnsonii ), ( Alphitonia excelsa ). Edible plants such as the water lily ( Nymphoides indica ), nonda plum ( Parinari nonda ), karanda plum ( Carissa sp. ), Cocky apple ( Planchonia careya ), ( Cassytha rufa ), sugar cane grass ( Heteropogon triticeus ) and ( Ficus ) thrive on the plateau obliqua ). Ten of the plants growing on the plateau and its slopes are rare and eight are endemic.
Mountain viewed from the north
Vegetation on the mountain
Vegetation around the mountain
In the high-lying and inaccessible area there are no medium-sized or large mammals, and there are relatively few birds or snakes; the fauna of the amphibians and reptiles is, however, richer. There are 8 frog, 55 reptile, 99 bird and 20 mammal species.
Aboriginal
16 archaeological sites on and around Table Mountain have been preserved, two of which, according to scientific research, show that the Aborigines lived there for at least 37,000 years. Most of the sites date back to settlement after the last ice age 3500 years ago. According to archaeological findings, the Aborigines left the plateau 600 years ago.
They did not leave the mountain because life was no longer possible there or because of deteriorated climatic or environmental conditions, but because of an evil spirit. The spirit of creation Eekoo created the current shape of the mountain and the lake, Lake Koongarra , in the dream time . This dreamtime story is a rare example of Aboriginal historical accounts that can be substantiated with archaeological evidence. The spirit left its essence there, its being, which makes people who stay there or who visit the mountain sick and also kill them.
The first Europeans came to this area in 1872 during the Australian gold rush of the 1870s that brought 35,000 Europeans and Chinese there and destroyed Aboriginal life. They were driven out and fled the plain from the police and settlers on Table Mountain. There is a report of the Elders of Djungan, Samuel Wason, were massacred over a cave on the south side of the mountain, in the Aborigines. In 1882 there was the political idea of Pacification and the landowner John Byrnes brought the Djungan into the European settlement and fed them. Then about 150 Aborigines settled in a camp 8 km from Ngarrabullgan.
In 1907 a coal deposit was discovered at Ngarrabullgan, and in 1921 about 300 people lived there. On September 19, 1921, an explosion occurred in the coal mine, killing 75 coal workers; an event that the Aborigines traced back to Eekoo. As early as 1914, and later in the 1940s, the Aborigines had protested against the disruption of the Ngarrabullgan. The mine finally closed in the 1950s.
Long after the traditional "owners" were partly driven from their ancestral areas or taken to Aboriginal mission stations , they returned to their land and culture. John Grainer, the chairman of the Kuku Djungan Aboriginal Corporation , today emphasizes the importance of the mountain and the continuity of the Djungan culture.
Rock carving
Aboriginal camp
Monument protection
On the plateau are two of the oldest known Aboriginal archaeological sites in Queensland, Nonda Rock and Ngarrabullgan Cave . In 2006, Table Mountain was registered as The Mount Mulligan Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Area in Queensland. The Ngarrabullgan was declared a national monument by the Australian government on May 12, 2001 and entered on the Australian National Heritage List . The protected area covers 17,935 hectares .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b environment.gov.au : Ngarrabullgan, Mount Mulligan Rd, Dimbulah, QLD, Australia , in English, accessed October 30, 2011
- ↑ Roger Cribb: Report to ANPWS and the Kuku Djungan Aboriginal Corporation on the Ngarrabullgan Heritage Survey Project: May 21 - August 31, 1993 . Canberra 1993.
- ↑ derm.qld.gov.au ( Memento of the original from August 11, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Mount Mulligan Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Area , in English, accessed October 30, 2011
