Mulka's Cave and why Wave Rock is important to Indigenous Australians

The cave near Wave Rock that draws people north is Mulka's Cave, at a second granite outcrop called the Humps. The Shire's brochure puts the Humps approximately 16 km north of Wave Rock, while Australia's Golden Outback places the cave 18 kilometres north, off Lovering Road.^2,12 Wave Rock Management describes it as a 15 minute drive.¹³ The road is sealed for most of the way, so an ordinary car can make the trip.¹⁴

The brochure's directions are simple. Drive 1 km west from Wave Rock as if heading back to Hyden, turn right at the T-junction onto Lovering Road, turn left onto Bates Road 16 km later, then follow it for 1.5 km and turn left into the reserve.¹⁵ There are public toilets and rubbish bins in the Humps car park.¹⁶ Wave Rock Management lists Mulka's Cave as included in the Wave Rock entry pass, so keep your ticket from the main car park.¹⁷

Allow time for more than the cave. The Humps have their own walking trails, and the brochure counts the cave's art among the state's most important Aboriginal rock paintings.² Wave Rock Management's travel advice applies here as much as anywhere: a wide-brimmed hat, long sleeves, sunscreen and plenty of water.¹⁸ The outcrop is exposed and the bush around it is quiet, with very little shade on the bare granite.

At the Humps, the Gnamma Trail is the best introduction to how people lived here. It runs 1,220 metres, with ten interpretive panels drawn and worded by local Noongar elders and artists.²¹ Along it are rock holes, or gnamma, and a lizard trap that Noongar people are thought to have used for centuries.⁵⁹ The second trail, the Kalari, takes its name from the Noongar word for the small lizards that live on the rock.⁶⁰

Gnamma holes were vital in this dry country. Wave Rock Management describes them as natural cavities in hard rock, especially granite, acting as water tanks refilled by rain runoff.⁶¹ People laid sticks, leaves and flat rocks across the narrow openings to keep animals out and slow evaporation.⁶² When you see a hollow full of rainwater on the granite, you are looking at a resource that once decided where families could travel and camp.

Plants and birds carried meaning too. Sheoaks grow both at the foot of Wave Rock and by the back exit of Mulka's Cave, and their wood was often shaped into shields and utensils.⁶³ The red-capped robin appears in Aboriginal stories and was called Pinny Pinch or Cubbie, meaning friend.⁶⁴ The quandong was an important food, valued as a substitute for meat.⁶⁵ Look out for each of them as you walk, and the bush around the Humps starts to read like a pantry and a toolshed.