Mutawintji National Park geotrail
The Mutawintji National Park geotrail provides an interactive experience for visitors as they walk the bush trails and beautiful outback rocky landscapes in the park.
Mutawintji National Park Geotrail in far west NSW follows existing walking tracks to explore the park’s ancient geology and Aboriginal cultural significance.
Exploring the park with the NSW GeoTours app, you will be lead back through time as you see rock formations of Devonian age, rock art and fossils revealing evidence of life up to 500 million years ago.
Mutawintji National Park Geotrail provides an engaging learning experience for those of all ages, making it an ideal location for tourists, locals and educational excursions.
This project was delivered in partnership with NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, and with guidance from the Mutawintji Board of Management, Mutawintji Local Aboriginal Land Council, local Aboriginal elders, and members of the wider community.
To find out more about this exciting experience, watch the Mutawintji National Park Geotrail video:
NSW GeoTours App
Take yourself the Mutawintji National Park geotrail tour by downloading the free NSW GeoTours app on your smartphone or tablet (Android or Apple). Make sure you download the tour before going to Mutawintji as phone network access is very limited in the area.
Key points of interest on each section of the geotrail have been geotagged to pop up when you reach the site. Even though phone network access is mostly unavailable in the park, the smartphone in-built GPS can still locate where you are.
There are 4 tours to download, plus an introduction, with each tour designed to meet the needs of visitors. They are:
- Introduction, with an overview of the geotrail, geology and general information
- Western Ridge and Homestead Gorge (A walk back in time, stops 1-11)
- Mutawintji Gorge (The power of water, stops 12-13)
- Mutawintji Historic Site (Life and a changing landscape, stops 14-16). Note that the Historic Site requires an authorised guide to visit
- Split Rock walking track (Rocks under stress, stops 17-18)
Visiting the Mutawintji Historic Site
Mutawintji National Park is within the tribal lands of the Pantjikali and Malyankapa people. Mutawintji Historic Site protects a ceremonial centre for Aboriginal people from a wide region and contains important features such as creation places, rock engravings, stencils, paintings and evidence of past occupation.
Mutawintji Historic Site was where initiations, rain-making and other ceremonies were once held, attracting over 1000 people. Today Aboriginal people from around the region continue to gather here for cultural purposes and meetings.
The Mutawintji Historic Site is gated and accessible only via booking a guided tour. Further information about the site and booking tours can be found on the NSW National Parks website.
A dark sky place
When you camp overnight at Mutawintji you will be able to enjoy spectacular dark skies during the night. Guides on the Heritage Site Tour will be able to tell you about many stories relating to the southern night sky.
Accessibility
Access to the various parts of the geotrail is via pre-existing walking tracks and roads, most of which are unsealed. Some rocky sections of the walking tracks are steep and have steps or ladders to climb.
Further information
Mutawintji National Park geotrail brochure (PDF, 2.2 MB)
Geology of Mutawintji National Park 1:80 000 map
Geological Society of Australia, geotourism information