Adnyamathanha Tour: Ron enjoys the Outback region of South Australia

The Flinders Ranges is country that Charles Darwin would have had a field day with trying to explain the story of an ancient land that gave birth to some of the strangest and most intriguing animals on the planet.

The big Red and Western Grey Kangaroos are all at home in the Central Flinders and so too is our travelling companion and Ranger, Arthur Coulthard. He often takes visitors into country, which his Adnyamathanha ancestors roamed for generations. But the roo he loves the most is the shaggy-haired thickset Euro. It's called 'Munga' by the Adnyamathanha people and it's a 'natural' in this rocky terrain.

The open stretch where the roos graze today was once covered with calytris pines and river redgums. They gave way to the white fellas' wheat and barley crops and sheep paddocks. And with pastoralism and cropping came the destruction of much of Adnyamathanha culture. But some features of this country have remained intact and so too there spiritual presence.

To the Adnyamathanha people, Wilpena Pound is where the two Dreamtime serpents who created much of this country finally coiled together having started their journey in the country where Arthur was born, Vulkathanha, also known as the Gammon Ranges.

"Adnyamathanha" means "hills" or "rock" people and in the valleys and gorges the Adnyamathanha wandered ever deeper always in step with the rhythm of the seasons.

The next stop on our Adnyamathanha cultural tour are the gorges of the Central Flinders. There are three main gorges, Bunyeroo, Brachina and Parachilna. That is where the Adnyamathanha people used to head in summer because they knew there would be water and with water there'd be tucker.

In a small mound of rocks just metres from the Oraparinna Creek ancient carvings tell the story of a gathering probably thousands of years ago. Emu tracks, roo tracks - they're hammered into stone just as they were hammered into the consciousness of the Adnyamathanha people in their never ending search for food. And these "hills" people knew where to find it and that magnet for all wildlife - water.

"Now you can see why those rock engravings are so close by," said Arthur. "This would have been a classic place for the Adnyamathanha people to meet. In the Adnyamathanha language it's called Paravertina - for the white fellas Dingley Dell."

For the hills people this place was a veritable super market - plenty of berries and roots and water. And with water, the Adnyamathanha could be assured of bigger game like emus. According to Arthur, Emus were sought after tucker and so too were their eggs.

You are likely to spot plenty of these amazing flightless birds on your travels through the various gorges but it's in spectacular Brachina Gorge that one of the marvels of the Flinders comes to life - if you can spot them.

The Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies blend in perfectly here amid the crumpled red ridges of Brachina. Geologists the world over come here to unravel mysteries contained in layers of sedimentary rock pushed skyward by tectonic forces from deep below. In this buckled and contorted home the yellowfoots make rock hopping an artform.

The Yellow Footed Rock Wallaby is sacred to Arthur and his people. They were only to be eaten at ceremonial times by those who'd completed their initiation rites. Sadly for the Adnyamathanha those ceremonies have ceased.

"Today, we've got no fully initiated people left for the Adnyamathanha people," said Arthur.

But scan the vastness of Brachina Gorge and you can't help but be inspired. In country like this you feel like a dot in the landscape - overwhelmed by the vastness of it all. But for Arthur, the connection to this land is intense because of tradition and because of his birth under a blazing Flinders sky at Italowie Gorge.

"I was born on the western side of the gorge under a big old mallee tree," said Arthur. "And that's why I think I like the Flinders so much - this is where I'll always be."

Arthur's Adnyamathanha tour takes in the Gorges of the Central Flinders. To book contact 8648 4727 or contact Wilpena Pound Resort.

Adnyamathanha Tour
Central Flinders Ranges
Contact Arthur Coulthard on 8648 4727
Wilpena Pound Resort 8648 0004

Published 2nd September 2007