For Tanya Charles, Mungo is one of the greatest places on earth.
“To me it’s an ancient museum that talks about true history, the way our people survived through hunting and gathering, but it also talks about good years and bad years," she told NITV's The Point.
“The people out here, they’ve been through ice ages and our people have survived so much.
"It’s just unbelievable how deadly our people are.”
The Mutthi Mutthi woman has been walking the Country since she was a little girl, first under the guidance of her grandmother.
Tanya Charles has walked this Country since she was a little girl. Source: NITV The Point
Now, she’s a ranger.
One memory from her childhood stands out: the time watched a sunset in Mungo with her grandmother Nanna Kelly.
“As it got dark, there was this crying and it was a wailing, crying," she recalled.
"I took off over to nan and said ‘Can you hear that nan?’ and nan said ‘Can you hear it?’ and I said ‘yes nan, I can hear that woman crying, she’s wailing’ and the others couldn’t hear it.
“I said ‘What is it nan?’, and she said it was Lady Mungo crying to come home.
“She said ‘you round that mob up and we’re gonna get back on the bus and go round to shearers quarters and I’m going to start my letter to the minister to have Lady Mungo returned to Country.’”
It was the start of a journey, one that would take many years.
'Tears of our people'
The fight her grandmother started is finally coming to an end.
The federal environment minister Sussan Ley has announced approval for the reburial of the remains of 108 Aboriginal people, including Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, which were removed from the National Park half a century ago.
On the morning of the announcement, heavy clouds rolled over Mungo, and Ms Charles watched as rain drops fell from the sky.
“I was really emotional because I’ve seen the first Elders come out here and start that fight for the return of our people and I’ve seen a lot of Elders after them too,” she said.
“I’ve seen them all fight but I’ve seen them all pass too, which is quite sad, and I know the rain from the sky today is the tears from all our people that passed on and never got the opportunity to see the final end of this fight.”
Mutthi Mutthi woman and chair of the Willandra Lakes Regional World Heritage Area Aboriginal Advisory Group Patricia Winch said she is glad to still be around to see the reburial.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley visited Mungo to make the announcment. Source: NITV The Point
“I’ve lost four sisters in the time that this has been going on,” she said.
“One sister not so long ago, just fell short of this announcement, just before Christmas, who was a very big voice on this Aboriginal Advisory Group (AAG).
"Her name was Mary Pappin, and I wish she was here with us today but she’s not.
“I’m just happy that I’m going to be able to see it in my lifetime and not hand it onto the next generation.”
'Let their spirits go'
The remains of Mungo Lady were removed in 1968, followed by the remains of Mungo Man six years later. Theirs are the oldest ritual burials ever recorded by humans.
Mungo Lady was returned to Country in 1992, while the remains of Mungo Man were only repatriated five years ago, in 2017.
Since then, they’ve been kept at the National Park's visitor centre.
Ms Winch said the AAG, made up of representatives from the Paakintji, Mutthi Mutthi and Ngyiampaa people, will decide over the next few months how and when the remains would be reburied
She would like it done as soon as possible.
“We’re going to be taking them out of that room and letting their spirits go,” she said.
“One thing that mum said to us, ‘your Aboriginality is your spirituality, your spirituality is your Aboriginality’ and we had the spirituality back then, 40,000 years ago in the ceremonies that were held to bury Mungo man and Mungo lady- the oldest cremation in the world.
“We’ve got this spirit, and that’s all fresh in us and now we can move on to the next level and do the right thing.”
But some Traditional Owners do not believe reburial would be the best outcome for Mungo man and Mungo lady.
Michael Young says the Minister's decision amounts to destruction of heritage. Source: NITV The Point
Paakintyi man Michael Young said he wants a keeping place built for the remains.
“We’ve been talking about a keeping place for over 25 years,” he said.
“There has been [talk of] reburial and there were other options as well, but when I was on the AAG it was about the keeping place.
“The keeping place would then be for the custodians to link up the education and jobs for the community here and continue the stories that Mungo man and Mungo woman and all the other 106 remains have given us and will give us in the future.”
'Destruction of heritage'
For Mr Young, reburial of these remains equates to cultural heritage destruction.
“The federal minister has just killed what is left of World Heritage in Australia by doing this,” he said.
“She will allow the destruction of heritage and our heritage obviously is at the top of the list.
“We have ancient lakes out there. You can imagine sitting at the edge of a lake, seeing all the fireplaces, the canoes, the laughter, the ceremonies, the smoke rising up.
“We even had megafauna out there that we’re still finding… To do this will kill a lot of that scientific work and knowledge that we want, that we’re eager for, because we need to decolonise as well.”
Mr Young expressed disappointment with the consultation process.
Paakantyi people are recognised as the Native Title holders over the majority of Mungo National Park but Mr Young said he felt his people had been left out of the discussions leading up to this decision, with the minister only consulting with the AAG.
However, federal environment Minister Sussan Ley said no one had been left out of the process.
“No one was ignored, everyone was listened to, everyone was heard,” she said.
“Overwhelmingly the consultation that I conducted through the process, which saw this decision made at the national level... the response from that consultation supported today’s outcome.
“It makes sense, it was the right decision.”
*For more on this story, tune into NITV’s current affairs program The Point at 7.30pm on Tuesday, or later on SBS and SBS On Demand.
