Boodjamulla National Park, in north-western Queensland, has a vibrant present and a past that stretches back into deep time.
![Moments In Time](https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/8158/269830/5ab0e11ede5c1/Moments-In-Time.jpeg)
A JOURNEY INTO THE past can take a lifetime – or a heartbeat.
We’re walking into the unknown, up a hill no-one has walked for perhaps decades, perhaps centuries. As we skirt tussocks of spinifex and clusters of eucalypts, acacias and figs, aiming for a soaring red cliff, Jarrod Slater, an Indigenous ranger at Boodjamulla National Park, in north-western Queensland, is optimistic we’ll find fragments of the past we’re looking for.
“Life wasn’t that different back then – still had to eat, still had to drink water,” he says of his ancestors, traces of whose presence we’re searching for in this remote section of the park. “Instinctively, I’d go to that valley – there’s shelter, a load of food and water. We aren’t that different from the old people.” The place we’re heading for appears to have the essential elements for life – and more: “If you were camping up there, you’d feel pretty safe with an 80 or 90m cliff behind you. It’s a good lookout, too.”
We’re seeking evidence of Australia’s First People in an area of Boodjamulla where features are unnamed, except in the unofficial rangers’ argot (Gaffer’s Knob, the Great Wall of China). Our highest hope is to find art on the towering rock walls.
Bush-bashing into the wilderness, I feel like stout Cortez in the Keats poem, staring out “with a wild surmise” to find potential new realms of gold. But reality keeps intruding on the poetic ideal. Spinifex, as its name suggests, is very spiky. As we crash through clumps of the stuff, it’s this quality that most impresses itself painfully upon me, despite my guide’s enthusiasm for its other notable properties.
This story is from the March -April 2018 edition of Australian Geographic Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the March -April 2018 edition of Australian Geographic Magazine.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
![Loveday Internment Camp, SA A](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/8pOBGzzEV1720610674716/LOVEDAY-INTERNMENT-CAMP-SA-A.jpg)
Loveday Internment Camp, SA A
DURING WORLD WAR II, civilians n Australia deemed \"enemy aliens\" - mostly those of German, Italian and Japanese descent were housed in internment camps.
![THE STORYTELLERS OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/WHSAxDSPt1720610442232/THE-STORYTELLERS-OF-THE-GREAT-BARRIER-REEF.jpg)
THE STORYTELLERS OF THE GREAT BARRIER REEF
More than 100 dedicated Master Reef Guides are sharing the GBR's most important stories with visitors in a bid to inspire its greater protection.
![A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/NZNv016_x1720609712329/A-BEAUTIFUL-DISASTER.jpg)
A BEAUTIFUL DISASTER
Does last summer's mass coral bleaching event sound a death knell for Australia's beloved Great Barrier Reef? \"Not on my watch!\" is the message coming from he army of heartbroken, but resolute, marine scientists who've responded to the crisis by doubling down on their research.
![AROUND AUSTRALIA IN 44 DAYS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/0QML8xZ481720609103064/AROUND-AUSTRALIA-IN-44-DAYS.jpg)
AROUND AUSTRALIA IN 44 DAYS
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the first aerial circumnavigation of Australia. Aviator Michael Smith retraces the flight in his unique amphibious flying boat, Southern Sun, starting and finishing at RAAF Base Point Cook, on Melbourne's Port Phillip, taking in 15,000km of vast, diverse and stunning coastline in between.
![CLEAR-CUTTING KOALA COUNTRY](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/2vFaQE1FB1720608238442/CLEARCUTTING-KOALA-COUNTRY.jpg)
CLEAR-CUTTING KOALA COUNTRY
More than 3000sq.km of forests on NSW's Mid North Coast have been earmarked for the Great Koala National Park. But there's still work to be done before this proposed reserve becomes the safe haven koalas desperately need.
![MORE THAN QUOKKAS](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/KYd8yW3-S1720607671434/MORE-THAN-QUOKKAS.jpg)
MORE THAN QUOKKAS
Sure, you can't avoid those cute little marsupials that made Rottnest Island world-famous, but there's so much more to life on this ocean-ringed jewel off the Western Australian coast.
![A WILD POLO TUSSLE](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/sbNLOorXP1720607036737/A-WILD-POLO-TUSSLE.jpg)
A WILD POLO TUSSLE
It's an event reminiscent of a Banjo Paterson poem. For 35 years, in the High Country 200km east of Melbourne, city polo players have gathered annually at Cobungra, Victoria's largest cattle station, to vie with a rural team for the Dinner Plain Polo Cup.
![Ancient know-how meets a modern challenge](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/YyhXHxaSs1720606873667/ANCIENT-KNOWHOW-MEETS-A-MODERN-CHALLENGE.jpg)
Ancient know-how meets a modern challenge
Contemporary marine park management is infused with traditional knowledge to tackle new threats on the Great Barrier Reef.
![LOOKING FOR TJAKURA](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/MR-1B9mAt1720606489592/LOOKING-FOR-TJAKURA.jpg)
LOOKING FOR TJAKURA
The search is on across Australia's deserts for a culturally important vulnerable lizard.
![RESCUING THE CHUDITCH](https://reseuro.magzter.com/100x125/articles/8158/1743306/znbEvHilK1720605744857/RESCUING-THE-CHUDITCH.jpg)
RESCUING THE CHUDITCH
After intensive planning, recovery for this endangered marsupial species is being stepped up to secure its future.