first to be listed on the Australian con-
tinent. 240,000 hectares taking in the
Mungo National Park, a place of the
greatest significance.
Mungo provides a picture of con-
tinual human habitation of the Aus-
tralian continent, approximately
50,000 years, perhaps the most oldest
continual existence known anywhere
on Earth and it’s what was discovered
that shook the scientific community.
Almost 50 years ago, Jim Bowler,
a geomorphologist, stumbled across
the remains of a young woman. The
bones were badly burnt, crushed and
burnt again. The discovery demon-
strated that this was a ritual burial,
a cremation. Researching and test-
ing provided evidence that the bones
were at least 25,000 years old. The
remains of this young woman were
known to be the oldest cremation ever
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discovered. It was proof that the early
indigenous Australia’s were extremely
self-aware, and perhaps much more
advanced than other humans of the
same period. Today, this discovery is
known as Mungo Lady.
Five years later, Dr Bowler found
more remains, and not far from the
original discovery. This was deter-
mined to be a male of around 50 years
of age; extremely old for a human of