The beauty of the Bungle Bungles

When most people think of a gigantic rock formation in the Australian outback, their mind no doubt leaps straight to Uluru. However, the Bungle Bungle Range in Western Australia’s Purnululu National Park is 60 times bigger and, some would argue, a more exciting experience.

Words: Michelle Hespe

Although I visited the Bungle Bungle Range more than a decade ago, the memory of the experience has never dimmed – it is still one of the most spectacular natural formations I have ever seen in the world.

There is nowhere else on the planet where you can see hundreds of enormous, tiger-striped, bulbous sandstone mounds rising 250 metres out of the stark savannah grasslands in an equally stunning 2,400 square kilometre national park.

The Bungle Bungles (as it’s commonly known) was formed over 360 million years ago when sand and gravel were deposited during the Devonian period. The sand was left by rivers flowing from the north-east, while at the same time gravel from eroding mountain ranges to the north-west was also being deposited into the range.

The quartz sandstone eroded over a period of 20 million years into the remarkable series of beehive-shaped cones that we see today, the steeply sloped surfaces marked by regular horizontal bands of dark-grey Cyanobacteria.

The Bungle Bungles are, by far, the most outstanding example of cone karst in sandstones anywhere in the world. Put more simply, the range is the sediment of an old river bed, which was laid down in layers, compressed into sandstone, and eventually raised to form mountains. Oxidisation of iron in the sandstone gives the range its beautiful orange and red colours.

The sandstone is also very soft, so the raging waters of the wet seasons have carved out creeks and deep canyons, rifts, chasms and gorges. Don’t miss the gob-smackingly beautiful circular Cathedral Gorge – created by a massive whirlpool that forms during the wet season.

Indigenous heritage

The Bungle Bungles is a magical place where the Aboriginal Giji and Jaru people (the Traditionl Custodians of Purnululu National Park) have lived for more than 20,000 years. Some believe up to 40,000 years is more accurate.

The name Purnululu comes from the Aboriginal Gija people, meaning ‘fretting sands’ – aka sandstone. In the Indigenous language, a word is repeated if there are many of the thing being described.

The traditional lifestyle of these tribes changed when the first colonial explorers – guided by surveyor Alexander Forrest (who, interestingly, was the Mayor of Perth twice) – began an exploration of the Kimberley in 1879. He and his team were searching for mineral resources and land for grazing livestock. They discovered gold in Halls Creek in 1885, which led to Western Australia’s first gold rush.

Some of Australia’s most famous Aboriginal artists, including Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie (now both deceased), come from this country.

Past, present, future

For such an incredible, sprawling, dominant natural phenomenon, it’s hard to believe that non-Indigenous people only discovered the Bungle Bungles in 1983, when a film crew captured this part of Western Australia’s rugged wilderness for their documentary Wonders of Western Australia.

Purnululu National Park was established in 1987, and word of its wonders spread like wildfire around the globe. In 2003 it gained World Heritage status for its ‘outstanding universal natural heritage values.’