Skip to main content

Ritual Fireplaces date back 12,000 years

At the request of Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), a team of world-class scientists, researchers, and land managers from Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of Adelaide, the University of Melbourne, the University of Waikato, the University of New England, the University of Savoy, together with Rock Art Australia have partnered to further explore the area around an unearthed ritual site in Clogg’s Cave, Gippsland.

These findings, of what appear to be ritual fireplaces are believed to date back at least 12,000 years, as they reflect the ritual installations documented in nineteenth-century ethnography.

Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy, includes on-Country community cultural heritage research training and public education initiatives.

READ IT HERE

Community Driven Archaeological Research on GunaiKurnai Country

In November 2025, Russell Mullett presented via video link at Rock Art Australia’s annual Science Advisory Council Workshop.

As the Registered Aboriginal Party Manager for Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation under the Aboriginal Heritage Act, Uncle Russell shared important context and provided an update on the GunaiKurnai-led Australian Research Council Linkage project.

Junction of the Buchan and Snowy Rivers

As part of the project, PhD student Hugh Cowie is exploring the historical artwork Junction of the Buchan and Snowy Rivers, created in 1867 by artist Eugene von Guérard. The colour lithograph (right) depicts the landscape where the Buchan and Snowy Rivers meet in East Gippsland.

Several archaeological sites investigated through the project, including Balley Hooley and One Tree Hill, are located within the artwork. Excavations at these sites are revealing evidence of long-term GunaiKurnai occupation and activity in this area.

Through this approach, Hugh Cowie brings together art, history, archaeology, and GunaiKurnai cultural knowledge. The result is a richer understanding of the landscape shown in von Guérard’s 1867 image: not simply a landscape, but a living place connected to generations of GunaiKurnai people.

Image: Eugene von Guérard, Junction of the Buchan and Snowy rivers, Gippsland, Victoria (1867), colour lithograph. One Tree Hill 1 is located at the top of the mountain at the far left of this scene. Balley Hooley 1 is the extending river flat at the very junction of the two rivers at right mid-scene.
Emerging Researchers are Exploring New Ways of Seeing GunaiKurnai Country

Best Paper in Australian Archaeology Award

Nine months into this 5-year project, the team uncovered remarkable insights into the archaeology and rock art of the limestone country near Buchan, East Gippsland (Victoria). This discovery has offered a rare and powerful glimpse into the physical and spiritual practices of the GunaiKurnai’s old people, capturing ancient gestures and cultural knowledge preserved in stone.

These impressions, preserved in soft, glitter-coated cave walls, are thought to be ritual gestures made by mulla-mullung spiritual healers who entered the deep cave with firelight. The grooves reflect deliberate, sacred movements, some even made by children lifted to the ceiling, and are not linked to domestic activity. This discovery offers a rare and powerful glimpse into the physical and spiritual practices of First Nations peoples, capturing their gestures and cultural knowledge in stone.

 

A paper on this topic, Finger flutings at New Guinea II Cave, lower Snowy River valley (Victoria), GunaiKurnai country, published in Australian Archaeology (lead author: Dr Madeleine Kelly), received the Best Paper in Australian Archaeology Award at the 2025 Australian Archaeological Association Annual Conference.

READ IT HERE

Image (left): Close-up of finger flutings. Photo by Bentley Dean, courtesy of the GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation.

THE CONVERSATION, July 2025 ‘Precious finger traces from First Nations ancestors revealed in a glittering mountain cave in Australia. ‘ 

The Earth Above

The Earth Above is an extraordinary immersive full-dome experience weaving together ancient knowledge, deep memory, and cutting-edge technology.

Watch the video recording of the creators of The Earth Above: A Deep Time View of Australia’s Epic History taking audiences at the Adelaide Fringe Festival 2025 behind the scenes and into the world of the Mulla-mullung (clever men and women) of Cloggs Cave.

WATCH IT HERE
Image: On stage, Uncle Russell Mullett, Bruno David, and the remarkable Pappin family from Mutthi Mutthi Country reflected on what it means to carry these stories beyond Country and into new spaces.

Site Visit

In early September, 2024, project partners, of the new Australian Research Council five-year project: Before and after the Last Ice Age: GunaiKurnai archaeology along the Snowy, including  lead researcher, and RAA Science Advisory Council member, Professor Bruno David met at the foothills of the Australian Alps, at the invitation of Russell Mullett and his team at Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), and the Gunaikurnai Traditional Owner Land Management Board.

The delegation was invited to explore significant sites, including Steamer Landing and Sperm Whale Head on the Gippsland Lakes, Eagle Point Bluff, Buchan Caves Reserve (one of 14 national parks and reserves jointly managed by GLaWAC and Parks Victoria), and Cloggs Cave. This area is notably home to the remarkable discovery of two small, perfectly preserved fireplaces that reflect the ritual installations documented in nineteenth-century ethnography, confirming ritual activity dating back at least 12,000 years.

Published Papers

Finger flutings at New Guinea II Cave, lower Snowy River valley (Victoria), GunaiKurnai country

Madeleine Kelly, Bruno David, Olivia Rivero Vilá, Diego Garate Maidagan, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Russell Mullett, Jessie Birkett-Rees, Fiona Petchey, Aoife Barker, Lee J. Arnold, Helen Green, Joanna Fresløv, GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation 

Events, trends and the ‘Pompeii Premise’: Telling stories of the Old Ancestors in Australian archaeology

Bruno David, Jessie Birkett-Rees, Ashleigh J. Rogers, Fiona Petchey, Amy Mosig Way, Russell Mullett, Joanna Fresløv, Augustine Unghangho, Ian Waina, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, & GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation

Cloggs Cave pollen sequences, GunaiKurnai Country, East Gippsland (SE Australia): 25,000 years of cultural plant use and changing environments

Elle Grono, Bruno David, Janelle Stevenson, Joanna Fresløv, Russell Mullett, Benedict Keaney, Catriona Graham, Jeremy Ash, GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, Matthew C. McDowell, Fiona Petchey, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Ashleigh J. Rogers, David M. Kennedy

Archaeological evidence of an ethnographically documented Australian Aboriginal ritual dated to the last ice age

Bruno David, Russell Mullett, Nathan Wright, Birgitta Stephenson, Jeremy Ash, Joanna Fresløv, GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation, Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Matthew C. McDowell, Jerome Mialanes, Fiona Petchey, Lee J. Arnold, Ashleigh J. Rogers, Joe Crouch, Helen Green, Chris Urwin & Carney D. Matheson

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

DONATE NOW