March. April 81an Abor iginal ranger who, despite his youth, is viewed by his
peers as an Elder.
“Barkindji people would meet in this valley for ceremony
to learn about their Dreamtime stories before coming up here
for initiation,” Keanu says as he leads us past dozens of rock
engravings, each with their own significance.
“The river and landscape were created by Natji, the Dream-
time rainbow serpent,” Keanu says, pointing to two water
holes – the Natji’s footprints.
“After initiation they would leave their hand stencils in the
caves on the other side of the valley.”
This display of stencils is one of the most impressive in the
country and their main threat today is no longer art thieves but
the outback’s proliferation of feral goats. Despite the installation
of barriers, the goats rub against the cave walls, the oil on their
skin causing the stencils to fade.
What makes Keanu’s tour particularly engaging isn’t only
his detailed knowledge of local lore but also his understanding
of natural history. He points out, for example, some fossilised
droppings that are partially obscured above one rock overhang
and explains that they belong to a stick-nest rat, a species that
has been locally extinct for at least 100 years.
Before we leave, Keanu explains that some Wilcannia
Barkindji people believe the Natji’s final resting place is at White
Cliffs where its droppings are sacred and can’t be touched by
some Barkindji people. “White people call them opals,” he adds.White Cliffs
Given this revelation, it’s not surprising that the majority of
White Cliffs’ 100 residents are non-Indigenous Australians –
lifestylers lured by the prospect of digging up a chunk of precious
crystal coal seam opal, first discovered here in the 1880s.
Colourful characters such as 55-year-old Rob Dyson,
who stopped at the town’s caravan park with his wife Shirley,
10 years ago, and decided to stay.
Rob is now caretaker at the same van park and when not
trying his luck on the opal fields he runs bus tours of White
Cliffs in what appears to be one of the only registered vehicles
in town.
Our first stop is a jewellery shop made entirely of beer bottles.
“Sadly, all the bottles are empty,” Rob muses.A view inside White Cliff’s aptly named
White House – a chic underground
mansion built in an old opal mine.
Its tunnels, now hallways, are rendered
and painted white.The only way to see the ancient rock art and hand
stencils at Mutawintji NP is with certified guides,
such as Indigenous ranger Keanu Garni Bates.There’s no shortage of raw materials with which to
build a beer-bottle dwelling in White Cliffs. This one’s a
jewellery shop.“I was taught about plants,
trees, animals and birds before
I could count to 10.”