WEST KIMBERLEY PLACE REPORT - Department of Sustainability ...

(Mowaljarlai and Malnic 1993). Other manifestations of the Wunggurr Snake include
rock formations, islands, reefs, and waves in the sea (Blundell et al. 2009).
Within the Fitzroy River catchment there are four distinct expressions of the
Australia-wide Rainbow Serpent tradition. In the jila-kalpurtu domain of the Fitzroy
catchment on the northern edge of the Great Sandy Desert, water flows are principally
underground and the Rainbow Serpent (kalpurtu) is said to exist in the underground
structure of the channels, linking excavated waterholes and other water sources of
significance. Places like Kurrpurrngu (Cajibut Springs), Mangunampi and Paliyarra
are exemplars of this expression of the Rainbow Serpent. The phenomenon of
Galaroo, on the other hand is linked to flowing surface water, in the form of major
rivers, and to long and deep permanent waterholes in broad river channels, like Geikie
Gorge (Danggu). The Rainbow Serpent of the Wanjina-Wunggurr belief system has
an especially strong association with discrete pools of water, and is also associated
with the sea and Wanjina in religious narratives and painted rock art sites. The
Woonyoomboo-Yoongoorroonkoo narrative of the lower Fitzroy primarily tells the
story of the creation of the lower Fitzroy River and its floodplains and its links to the
sea.
The Fitzroy River and a number of its tributaries, together with their floodplains
and the jila sites of Kurrpurrngu, Mangunampi, Paliyarra and Kurungal,
demonstrate four distinct expressions of the Rainbow Serpent tradition
associated with Indigenous interpretations of the different ways in which water
flows within the catchment and are of outstanding heritage value to the nation
under criterion (d) for their exceptional ability to convey the diversity of the
Rainbow Serpent tradition within a single freshwater hydrological system.
CRITERION (e) – The place has outstanding heritage value because of the place's
importance in exhibiting particular aesthetic characteristics valued by a community
or cultural group
WEALTH OF LAND AND SEA
Inspirational landscapes
The Kimberley is promoted in tourist literature as an iconic outback destination with
'some of Australia's most spectacular and remote scenery' (Vaisutis et al. 2009). The
distinctiveness and high aesthetic value of the Kimberley's landscapes has also been
recognised by their incorporation into Tourism Australia's National Landscapes
Program (Tourism Australia 2010). This program promotes Australian landscapes
which have an iconic and very high aesthetic appeal. These aesthetic characteristics
are used to powerful effect in travel destination branding and marketing.
The Kimberley region of Western Australia makes a powerful contrast with the places
experienced by most Australians in their daily lives, who live in the temperate, more
densely populated south and east of the continent.
The Kimberley is part of the tropical savanna region of northern Australia. This area
has a tropical climate with a distinctive monsoonal wet season lasting up to five
months of the year between November and March. The region is remote with a very
low population density with 75 per cent of the population living in three major
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