Wilpena Pound Resort, Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, SA © Ian Routledge

The Adnyamathanha Elder and guide draws on 65,000 years of wisdom at Wilpena Pound Resort, an Indigenous-owned and -operated retreat in South Australia’s majestic Flinders Ranges, 440 kilometres (275 miles) north of Adelaide/Tarntanya.  

“Our Adnyamathanha country is very rich in history,” Mick says. “Our people have been connected with the land since times began. We’re walking and talking and seeing 800 million years of Creation.” 

Wilpena Pound Resort, Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, SA © Tourism Australia

Seeing the land through Aboriginal eyes 

On walking tours around Wilpena Pound – a natural amphitheatre covering more than 8,000 hectares (19,770 acres) – Mick gives visitors the chance to glimpse the land through Aboriginal eyes. 

“My father used to say you have to crack open your intellectual box, your mind, to see the world spiritually,” he says. “You could be coming here for 30 or 40 years, but until I say, ‘See those two serpents lying down?’, you might not see them,” he says of the pair of powerful Akurra serpents whose bodies today form the sides of Wilpena Pound.  

Wilpena Pound Resort, Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, SA © Tourism Australia

Finding his calling 

Mick worked as an archaeologist before joining Wilpena Pound Resort in 2016. He began running cultural tours soon after, just as the surrounding national park was renamed Ikara-Flinders Ranges, ikara being the Adnyamathanha word for ‘meeting place’.  

As one of the Traditional Custodians of Ikara-Flinders Ranges, Mick sees his role as an interpreter of the land. While hiking to spiritual Arkaroo Rock, he tells the Creation story of Wilpena Pound, depicted in ochre and charcoal on cliff walls visitors pass by. “Adnyamathanha is made up of two words: adnya means rock and matha is people. We are the rock people.”