Destinations > Burringurrah

Winters are usually beautiful with clear blue skies and the autumn months are likely to be full of storms as the tail end of cyclones make their way down the Western Australian coast. Summer can be unbearably hot, with temperatures hovering around 50? Celsius. Spring is the time when one of the major differences between Uluru and Mt Augustus makes itself apparent. Where Uluru is almost completely bare of vegetation, Mt Augustus enjoys a patchy covering of native plant life. If there have been good rains, wildflowers such as pink and white everlastings and purple mula-mulas form a carpet around the rock. There are several plant species which grow only on the mountain itself, including some very rare hibiscus, mula-mula and foxglove. Sturt desert peas also flourish around the rock in season.

The mountain certainly has the same mystique about it as Uluru. There are a number of trails and most people climb at least some section of the rock. There are two ways to the summit; one is a very difficult walk up a boulder strewn gorge, the other follows the recently marked Rangers trail. This hike, however, makes the climb up Uluru look like a stroll. The twelve kilometres to the summit and back takes most people five or six hours. When Francis Gregory first climbed the rock he wrote that the trek to the summit took "two hours of heavy toil." He reported the view from the summit was so clear he could take bearings to the hills more than 160km away.

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There is a 49km drive around the base of the sandstone and quartz massif, which features caves and rocky creek gorges. Water draining off the rock feeds groves of white barked river gums and there is permanent water at Cattle Pool on the Lyons River. This pool attracts all manner of bird life, such as swans, ducks, corellas and kookaburras.

Like Uluru, Mt Augustus holds a special significance for the original inhabitants of the surrounding land. The Wadjeri tribe are the custodians of the area, and their traditional name for Mt Augustus is Burringurrah. The Wadjeri would often return to the base of the rock because of the natural springs and permanent waterholes they found there.

The name Burringurrah comes from a local aboriginal legend, in which a young boy named Burringurrah was undergoing his initiation into manhood. The process was strict and rigidly enforced, and Burringurrah broke tribal law by running away from the initiation. He was pursued by the tribesmen, who speared him in his right thigh, and then hit him with a mugurrah (fighting stick) when he tried to crawl away. Burringurrah died lying on his belly with his left leg bent up beside his body. Approaching Mt Augustus from the south, you can see Burringurrah lying in his final resting pose. The place where the spear broke off, leaving a stump, is now known as Edney's Lookout. The geological fracture lines at the western end of the mountain are said to indicate Burringurrah's wounds. This would have been a solemn message for the Wadjeri people.

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