Mungo National Park
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Mungo National Park New South Wales |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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Mungo Lunette, looking south towards Mildura, 2007.
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 Mungo National Park
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| Nearest town or city | Pooncarie |
| Coordinates | 33°44′56″S 143°08′08″E / 33.74889°S 143.13556°ECoordinates: 33°44′56″S 143°08′08″E / 33.74889°S 143.13556°E |
| Established | 6 April 1979 |
| Area | 1,109.67 km2 (428.4 sq mi) |
| Managing authorities | NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service |
| Website | Mungo National Park |
| See also | Protected areas of New South Wales |
The Mungo National Park is a protected national park that is located in south-western New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The 110,967-hectare (274,210-acre) national park is situated approximately 875 kilometres (544 mi) west of Sydney in the Balranald Shire. Mungo National Park is the traditional meeting place of the Muthi Muthi, Nyiampaar and Barkinji Aboriginal Tribes. People are no longer able to climb the sand dunes as stricter rules have been enforced.
The national park is part of the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Willandra Lakes Region, an area of 2,400 square kilometres (930 sq mi) that incorporates seventeen dry lakes. The seventeen dry lakes are not all called mungo but are all declared world heritage, also the creek that used to flow into mungo is being preserved as a sacred site. The national park is about 75 kilometres (47 mi) south-east of Pooncarie, 110 kilometres (68 mi) north-east of Mildura, Victoria and approximately 145 kilometres (90 mi) south-west of Ivanhoe. The roads to, in or around the park may become hard to travel in 2-wheel-drive cars but with care can be navigated in suvs or 4x4's.
The central feature of Mungo National Park is Lake Mungo, the second largest of the ancient dry lakes. The Mungo National Park is noted for the archaeological remains discovered in the park. The remains of Mungo Man, the oldest human remains discovered in Australia, and Mungo Lady, the oldest known human to have been ritually cremated, were both discovered within the park. They were buried on the shore of Lake Mungo, beneath the 'Walls of China', a series of on the South eastern edge of the lake.
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Wikipedia