Elaine Meyers visits one of Australia’s last unspoiled wildernesses and Aboriginal art sites

You’ve probably never heard of Arnhemland, a sprawling national park located in the rural Northern Territory state of Australia. It is so remote that to get there you either fly one-and-a-half hours by light aircraft from the capital city Darwin, or drive two hours from Jabiru, a small town that you’ve also probably never heard of. Most visitors to Darwin don’t even make it as far as Arnhemland, heading instead to the closer Kakadu National Parks, which are more accessible but far less impressive.

In Arnhemland there are no paved roads, no land phone networks, no modern settlements—but plenty of bird and animal life, Aboriginal sacred sites, drawings, and burial grounds that date back thousands of years, and pristine wilderness as far as the eye can see. It’s heavily protected, with access to visitors strictly limited and by permit only.

Art Sites
Aboriginal culture believes that the world was created during a distant era known as Dreamtime, when creator spirits (the First People) traversed Australia and left natural formations, humans, animals, birds, plants and fish in their wake. Major Aboriginal spirits include the Rainbow Serpent, Baiame the hero, and Bunjil the eagle. Stories about the travels of these creator spirits abound in Aboriginal culture, and Aboriginal art depicts these stories in a variety of ways, and there are some stunning examples of these works all around Arnhemland. A short drive by Land Rover from the Davidson camp is the magnificent Rainbow Serpent site. From there you hike about 15-20 minutes, looking at some small drawings and a cave dwelling on the way. Drawn on the ceiling of the cave is huge and very detailed Rainbow Serpent - the best one of it’s kind in the area.

Further afield, about 20 minutes drive from the camp, is the major art site. This site is located in an escarpment that takes over an hour to explore. The hiking is tougher here, involving climbing some quite steep rocks and squeezing through narrow caves, but it’s certainly worth it. You get to see burial grounds with real human remains, tools, cave dwellings and several art sites, including a huge one with floor to ceiling paintings—left exactly as they were found, and probably how they’ve been lying for hundreds of years.

Nature
The natural scenery and wildlife here is truly amazing. You’ll learn about paper bark trees, see hundreds of bats, hear bird calls, spot wallabies and snakes if you’re lucky, and, from one side of the escarpment, get an absolutely breathtaking view of the billabong. Confident climbers should go right the top of the escarpment—you go up a rock face which is vertical but short with firm hand and footholds. The view of Mount Borradaile and its environs from there is unbeatable.

The Billabong
Another feature of this remote landscape is the breathtaking billabong. Davidson’s Arnhemland Safaris (see below) has a collection of boats that take guests there, usually for sunset sails. Out here you are in National Geographic territory, where a multitude of bird species inhabit marshy terrain, rocky cliffs jut into the sky, and fat barramundi slice through the water as crocodiles float serenely past. From the billabong you can also see Mount Borradaile, and from one vantage point you can look into the mouth of a large cave with many times the amount of art and artifacts in the major arts site. This is the mother of all Aboriginal sites, but it is off limits to visitors because it is so sacred. Nevertheless there is plenty of wildlife in the billabong to keep you riveted. With travelers getting ever more experienced, it is harder to find places that still impress. But Arnhemland is one of them. Its raw beauty and unspoiled Aboriginal sites makes it one of the few corners of the Earth that remains in its natural state. And with Arnhemland accorded heavy protection by the Australian government, it looks set to stay this way.