Living Pics

This is an apostle bird sitting on a cypress fence post at Mungo National Park in the far south west of NSW. I was there to record a program for ABC Radio National.

Well, this was a lake 10,000 years ago... Lake Mungo filled and dried many times.  The sands that surround the lake bed contain mega-fauna fossils, the earliest human ritual burials and evidence of human habitation going back 50,000+ years. This is a place where the vastness of human and pre-human history opens up before you.

These sandy deposits started to erode when The Lake was used by graziers to run sheep. What's left are called 'residuals'.  They show the different ages of the deposits in their colours.  They also hold the bones of ancient creatures and ancient humans.

The Menindee Lakes are close to Kinchega National Park which is, in turn, quite close to Broken Hill in the far west of NSW. These lakes hold water from the Darling River and provide for the needs of Broken Hill.  Water birds are everywhere at this oasis in the arid lands.

This pair of Western Grey Kangaroos were just near the campground at Mungo National Park early in the morning. That's when they feed because it's just too hot when the sun gets up.

Desert plants can be wonderful.  This blue bush caught the rising sunlight early in the morning just outside the Shearers' Quarters where we were staying.

Back in the 50s, Mungo was a working sheep station.  Its woolshed was built at the turn of the 20th century by Chnese miners returning north to China from the goldfields.  It is built from the termite-resistent timber from the local cypress pine trees.