The Indigenous Story of Mt Mumbulla – NSW
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In 1984 the NSW Government declared the area to be protected as an Aboriginal Place under Nation al Parks legislation. The site description includes:
Biamanga (Mumbulla Mountain) is the central feature of Biamanga Aboriginal Place, which is part of a large ceremonial and cultural pathway on the south coast that includes Gulaga (Mt Dromedary), Umbarra (Merriman Island), Barungba (Montague Island), and Dithol (Pigeon House Mountain).
Biamanga can be seen from across all of the Bega Valley and draws Aboriginal people back to the area. The highest peak on Biamanga is the Dreaming place of the Yuin leader King Jack Mumbulla. He used to sit and meditate on the top of the mountain and send smoke signals to his people in the valley below. The Yuin people of the south coast held initiation ceremonies at a number of sacred sites on the mountain. The last initiation ceremony was held there in 1918.
Some Yuin people remember tribal Elders who were initiated on the mountain, and who passed traditional information about the mountain’s sacred sites on to them. Initiated men would go to sacred sites on the mountain to meditate and communicate with the spirits. The battle to protect sacred sites from logging revitalised cultural knowledge in the local Aboriginal community. The Yuin Tribal Council chose to name the place after the deceased elder, Jack Mumbler whose ‘tribal’ name was Biamanga
Today the area is managed jointly by the Aboriginal owners and the NSW National Park s and Wildlife Service.
Other National Parks on the Sapphire Coast – Fishing on the Sapphire Coast – Fishing at Narooma – Mimosa National Park