May 17-20, 2025
It’s 51 years since Keith visited Windjana with nothing more than a Main Roads station roads map for guidance; back then camping was just an area on the river bank and we put our small dinghy and outboard into the water to explore the Gorge. The campground now is a far cry from that with separate Generator and Quiet areas, multiple single toilets and shower blocks with solar heated hot water, such luxury!
Unfortunately, with the campground located back from the river it is no longer possible to get a view into the Gorge from the end and the image at the top is the first view available after you pass through a rock passage to get to the bank.
There are 2 walks available, the Savannah Trail, a 1km loop around the grasslands adjacent to the Gorge, and a 1.9km return trail into the Gorge:
Photo galleries of each walk here, click the image:
Tunnel Creek:
A visit to Windjana has to include the 36km drive to Tunnel Creek (unless you are driving through to Fitzroy Crossing). The short walk to the tunnel reveals the cliffs surrounding the entrance and then a scramble over rocks to get ot the entry itself. We opted not to walk in at this time but may well come back for another look.
Returning from Tunnel Creek we stopped in to look at the ruins of Lillimoora Homestead
Lillimooloora Homestead was the place where the battle for Bunuba lands in the 1890s first began.
As pastoral lands were taken up in the Kimberley, Aboriginal people were deprived of traditional hunting areas and forced to work on pastoral stations. Livestock made matters worse by trampling spiritually important sites. If Aboriginal people speared sheep they were chained around the neck and walked to Derby, where they worked off their sentence in chains.
Jandamarra, a Bunuba man from the Napier and Oscar ranges was jailed for spearing sheep, which interrupted his tribal education. On his return home, he was banished from Bunuba society because of having broken strict kinship rules. Cast out by his own people, Jandamarra befriended a shepherd called Richardson, who was subsequently appointed police officer at the Lillimooloora outpost near Bandilngan Windjana Gorge.
Jandamarra almost always accompanied Richardson on patrol. During one patrol with Richardson, Jandamarra helped capture 17 of his kinsmen and women but his tribal loyalties gained the upper hand. While resting at Lillimooloora Police Post, Jandamarra shot and killed Richardson, stole some guns and set the captives free. This subsequently led to an armed insurrection against the Europeans that lasted for three years.
Jandamarra was ultimately killed at Tunnel Creek, and the story boards there tell the tale.