Thursday, 25 July, 2024

wukalina Walk, a member of Discover Aboriginal Experiences, has been named one of TIME's 2024 World's Greatest Places.

Vetted by TIME's editors and correspondents around the world, this exclusive list features 100 extraordinary destinations to explore, stay and visit. The award by TIME is highly coveted and reaches a global audience of 120 million (via TIME's print magazine, website and socials). Editors choose with an eye towards those offering new and exciting experiences.

wukalina Walk is a multi-award winning Indigenous/palawa-owned tourism experience. Led by Aboriginal guides, the walk offers a rare window into Tasmania/lutruwita's Aboriginal culture.  For the first two nights, hikers sleep at the architecturally designed standing camp, krakani lumi (resting place), in domed-ceiling huts designed to reflect the shape of the palawa shelters that once lined the east coast of Tasmania/lutruwita. The third night is spent in a beautifully repurposed and restored lightkeeper's cottage at the most northern end of larapuna (Bay of Fires). 

A group of up to 10 people are led on foot by Aboriginal guides to learn about land and sea Country. wukalina guides have lived experience and thousands of generations of Ancestral connections to the knowledge they share. They share their knowledge and perspectives as they lead travellers through bushland and along the coastline of wukalina (Mt William National Park) and larapuna (Bay of Fires). Hikers learn about the colonial history of Tasmania/lutruwita, and the brutal treatment of the palawa people. But the tour highlights their resilience, strength of culture, language and the ongoing connection that the palawa community has to Country.

wukalina Walk is a proudly Blak-owned business and different to anything else offered in Tasmania, and anywhere in the world. wukalina Walk was winner of the 2023 Australian National Tourism Awards for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Tourism Experience.

“Sharing our stories and our history on cultural homeland is an integral part of the experience,” said Clyde Mansell, Tasmanian palawa Aboriginal Elder and founder of wukalina Walk.

“It also allows us to increase employment, involve our young people and contribute to our self-determination, by creating more opportunities for the palawa community.”

“We've had comments over the years where guests have said it's changed their lives and their whole thinking about how they should relate to Aboriginal people,” said Mansell.

Discover Aboriginal Experiences is a flagship suite of extraordinary Australian Aboriginal-guided experiences. Travellers learn about and connect with the diverse histories, cultures and languages of Aboriginal peoples, which date back more than 65,000 years. 

Each member in this collective is considered a leader in Aboriginal tourism, with more than 200 experiences from over 48 businesses around Australia, all led by Aboriginal guides. Please see the following pages for further details on other experiences in the collective.

wukalina images here. Photo credit: Rob Burnett.

For further information contact:

Nicole Mitchell – Tourism Australia

Executive Officer Discover Aboriginal Experiences

T: +61 410 499 525

E: nmitchell@tourism.australia.com

W: discoveraboriginalexperiences.com 

In North America – Julie Earle-Levine in New York

PR for Discover Aboriginal Experiences

E: Julie@julieearle.net

ADDITIONAL DISCOVER ABORIGINAL EXPERIENCES IN AUSTRALIA -

CULTURAL SITE

Jarramali Rock Art Tours explores a 20,000-year-old outback museum of rock art.   

The 'Magnificent Gallery' – in Quinkan Country near Laura, Far North Queensland – has been recognized by UNESCO as one of the 10 most significant rock-art sites in the world. “I can show you the whole structure of our society by looking at that gallery,” says Kuku Yalanji man Johnny Murison. Johnny was working as a carpenter when he and a cousin made an astonishing discovery while out bush in northern Queensland. “We were four-wheel driving, chasing rock art, and when we found this rock art we were like, 'Whoa, this is awesome,'” recalls Murison. “Because of the location of this particular gallery, we were like, 'Mate, this would rival Kings Canyon [in Central Australia], flamin' Arnhem Land and the Kimberley. We've got a crown jewel right here.'” So inspired was Murison by his discovery of this ancient outback art gallery – thought by archaeologists to be 20,000 years old – he decided right then and there to launch a tourism venture. Jarramali Rock Art Tours showcases the Quinkan rock art within the so-called 'Magnificent Gallery'.

NATIONAL PARK / CULTURAL SITE

Kakadu National Park, in Kakadu, Northern Territory, is a World heritage-listed home to Aboriginal peoples for more than 65,000 years. It is about half the size of Switzerland and a habitat for approximately a third of all bird species in Australia. Travellers can experience the park and its flora and fauna at night with an Indigenous guide on a new Stargazing Boat tour, which intertwines the ancient wisdom of Bininj knowledge with classical constellations. Discover the night life and nocturnal sounds of the billabong while learning the history of the world as told in Dreaming stories and illustrated in the stars.  Alternatively, spend time with the local Indigenous community on the new Kakadu Billabong Safari Camp tour. 

NATIONAL PARK / CULTURAL SITE  

Wintjiri Wiru, a spectacular light show involving 1,000 drones and Anangu culture, at Uluru, Northern Territory, brings to life a chapter of the Mala ancestral story and was developed in close consultation with Anangu custodians. The show was designed and produced by world-

renowned media architecture studio RAMUS, with the goal of illuminating the Central Desert with a spectacle of lights, projections and lasers shining on the spinifex and mulga. This is the first time this kind of technology has been used to share Anangu culture and is a new experience for Uluru.

WALKING TOUR

Wula Gura Nyinda's 3 day World Heritage Walking Tour at Shark Bay, Western Australia, is a new walking tour of two national parks located in the Shark Bay World Heritage area – Francois Peron National Park and Dirk Hartog Island. Learn about local Aboriginal culture and history, spot wildlife, explore spectacular natural landscapes and sit under the stars listening to the ancient sounds of the digeridoo. This is a rare opportunity to spend time on Country with an Indigenous guide and to really 'feel Country'. 

OUTDOOR DINING EXPERIENCE

Tali Wiru is fine dining under the Southern Desert sky, with Uluru as a backdrop. Each dish in a four-course meal showcases native produce in an innovative way, using Indigenous herbs and spices. A local Aboriginal storyteller shares insights about Anangu culture and history. Dinner might be pressed wallaby with fermented quandong, or roasted toothfish nestling beside coastal greens, desert oak and fermented muntries.

A collection of royalty-free Aboriginal tourism images and video are available here. Please search Discover Aboriginal Experiences in the search menu.

ENDS