Biamanga National Park is a

protected area Protected areas or conservation areas are locations which receive protection because of their recognized natural, ecological or cultural values. There are several kinds of protected areas, which vary by level of protection depending on the ena ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, south of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and north of Bega. The park forms part of the

Ulladulla to Merimbula Important Bird Area The Ulladulla to Merimbula Important Bird Area comprises a strip of coastal and subcoastal land stretching along the southern coastline of New South Wales, Australia. It is an important site for swift parrots. Description The 2100 km2 Im ...

because of its importance for

swift parrot The swift parrot (''Lathamus discolor'') is a species of broad-tailed parrot, found only in southeastern Australia. The species breeds in Tasmania during the summer and migrates north to south eastern mainland Australia from Griffith- Warialda ...

s. Its name derives from Yuin elder Biamanga, aka "King Jack Mumbulla", after whom Mumbulla Mountain was also named. It is an important Aboriginal site for the

Yuin people The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, one or more of the Yuin language dialects. Sub-group ...

and a prominent landmark that can be seen from across the

Bega Valley The Bega Valley Shire is a local government area located adjacent to the south-eastern coastline of New South Wales, Australia. The Shire was formed in 1981 with the amalgamation of the Municipality of Bega, Imlay Shire and Mumbulla Shire, wi ...

, also known as Biamanga. Proclaimed in 1994 and extended in 1997, the park covers . It is seen by the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

as "part of a single cultural landscape" with the

Gulaga National Park Gulaga National Park is a national park on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, about north of Bermagui. The park is dominated by Gulaga, also known as Mount Gulaga (formerly Mount Dromedary). The former Wallaga Lake National Park, ...

, and also has cultural links to

Umbarra Umbarra, or King Merriman (died 1904) was an elder of the Djirringanj/Yuin people of the Bermagui area on the South Coast of New South Wales. Although Aboriginal people traditionally did not have kings or chiefs, only elders, the white colo ...

(Merriman Island),

Barunguba Montague Island (Barunguba) is a continental island contained within the Montague Island Nature Reserve, a protected nature reserve that is located offshore from the South Coast region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The nearest town l ...

(Montague Island), and

Dithol Pigeon House Mountain ( Aboriginal: ''Didthul'') is a mountain at an elevation of on the Budawang Range that is situated within the Morton National Park, located on the South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The prominent remnant of ...

(Pigeon House Mountain). In November 2021 Mumballa Mountain was ascribed the

dual name Dual naming is the adoption of an official place name that combines two earlier names, or uses both names, often to resolve a disagreement over which of the two individual names is more appropriate. In some cases, the reasons are political. Some ...

of Biamanga.

Geology

The mountain is the remnants an ancient

shield volcano A shield volcano is a type of volcano named for its low profile, resembling a warrior's shield lying on the ground. It is formed by the eruption of highly fluid (low viscosity) lava, which travels farther and forms thinner flows than the more v ...

, and

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

rock formations and

boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In c ...

s are visible along the course of Mumbulla Creek.

History

The park lies in the lands of one of the

Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...

peoples, who have inhabited the area for thousands of years.

20th century

Extensive

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

was taking place in the area up until the 1970s, and in 1967 some of the rock was blasted with dynamite in the interests of improving television reception, and a television transmitter tower for

WIN-4 WIN is a television station serving southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. It is the flagship station of the WIN Television network. History Programming WIN Television broadcasts its programming from Nine Network, incl ...

was built on the mountain. After concerns had been raised by local people, the NSW Government set up an advisory committee in 1977 to investigate the

woodchipping Woodchips are small- to medium-sized pieces of wood formed by cutting or chipping larger pieces of wood such as trees, branches, logging residues, stumps, roots, and wood waste. Woodchips may be used as a biomass solid fuel and are raw material ...

industry and in the same year 1977

Guboo Ted Thomas Edwin "Guboo" Ted Thomas (29 January 1909 – 19 May 2002), a Yuin man, was a prominent Aboriginal leader. He toured Australia with a gumleaf orchestra during the Great Depression of the 1930s, played rugby league and became a respected eld ...

, a Yuin elder, led a protest against the destruction of the forest on Mumbulla Mountain. On 15 July 1980, the

New South Wales Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party. The Governme ...

declared an area of around an "

Aboriginal place The ''National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974'' is the legislation passed by the New South Wales Parliament with the explicit intent of conserving the's natural and cultural heritage of the state of New South Wales; fostering public appreciation, u ...

" and a "Protected Archaeological Area" under the ''

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974 The ''National Parks and Wildlife Act 1974'' is the legislation passed by the New South Wales Parliament with the explicit intent of conserving the's natural and cultural heritage of the state of New South Wales; fostering public appreciation, u ...

'' (NSW). The park was proclaimed in 1994 and extended in 1997.

21st century

Further protests against logging activities took place in 2010. On 30 November 2021 Mumballa Mountain was ascribed the

of Biamanga. CC-BY icon

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
licence.

Description

The park covers . It is seen by the

as "part of a single cultural landscape" with the Gulaga National Park.

Flora and fauna

There are

monkey gum ''Eucalyptus cypellocarpa'', commonly known as mountain grey gum, mountain gum, monkey gum or spotted mountain grey gum, is a species of straight, smooth-barked forest tree that is endemic to southeastern Australia. It has relatively large, lanc ...

s and

ribbon gum ''Eucalyptus viminalis'', commonly known as the manna gum, white gum or ribbon gum, is a species of small to very tall tree that is endemic to south-eastern Australia. It has smooth bark, sometimes with rough bark near the base, lance-shaped to c ...

along the creeks, and the park is home to

chef's cap correa ''Correa baeuerlenii'', commonly known as chef's-hat correa, or chef's cap correa, is a species of dense, rounded shrub that is endemic to the south-east of New South Wales, Australia. It has egg-shaped leaves and pendulous, greenish yellow fl ...

, an

endangered species An endangered species is a species that is very likely to become extinct in the near future, either worldwide or in a particular political jurisdiction. Endangered species may be at risk due to factors such as habitat loss, poaching and inv ...

. The park forms part of the

, identified as such by

BirdLife International BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats. BirdLife International's priorities include preventing extinction of bird species, identifying and safeguarding ...

because of its importance for

Azure kingfisher The azure kingfisher (''Ceyx azureus'') is a small kingfisher in the river kingfisher subfamily, Alcedininae.Pizzey, Graham and Doyle, Roy. (1980) ''A Field Guide to the Birds of Australia.'' Collins Publishers, Sydney. Description The azure ...

s and

superb fairywren The superb fairywren (''Malurus cyaneus'') is a passerine bird in the Australasian wren family, Maluridae, and is common and familiar across south-eastern Australia. It is a sedentary and territorial species, also exhibiting a high degree of se ...

s abound in the park.

Management

Biamanga has been jointly managed by the traditional owners and the National Parks and Wildlife Service NSW since 2006. The traditional custodians are represented by two

Local Aboriginal Land Council The NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) is the peak representative body of Aboriginal Australians in New South Wales. It has the mandate, under the ''Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983'' (NSW), to develop land rights among Aboriginal people in New ...

s, the Merrimans and Bega LALCs, which own the title to the land and lease it back to the

for use as a

national park A national park is a nature park, natural park in use for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state dec ...

Aboriginal significance and sites

The mountain and surrounds have important cultural links to

(Merriman Island),

(Montague Island), and

(Pigeon House Mountain). The mountain is of particular significance to the people of

Wallaga Lake Wallaga Lake is an estuarine lake in Bega Valley Shire in New South Wales, Australia, the largest lake in southern NSW. It is located between Bermagui to the south and between Tilba Tilba to the north, situated beneath Mount Gulaga, in the tra ...

. The park contains important Aboriginal sites, in particular Biamanga, also known as Mumbulla Mountain, which is part a large

ceremonial A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin, via the Latin ''Glossary of ancient Rom ...

and cultural track on the South Coast of New South Wales that includes other

Aboriginal sacred site Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

s of particular importance to the

peoples. The mountain was named after Yuin leader King Jack Mumbulla, aka Jack Mumbler, whose "tribal" name was Biamanga. King Jack would spend time communing with the ancestor spirits on the highest peak of the mountain and send

smoke signal The smoke signal is one of the oldest forms of long-distance communication. It is a form of visual communication used over a long distance. In general smoke signals are used to transmit news, signal danger, or to gather people to a common area ...

s for his people to see.

Initiation ceremonies Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformation ...

were held by Yuin people at various spots on the mountain, with the last recorded one held there in 1918. It has been described as a "men's law mountain". Independent evidence of the sacredness of the site was provided in 1964 by linguist

Luise Hercus Luise Anna Hercus , , (16 January 1926 – 15 April 2018) was a German-born linguist who lived in Australia from 1954. After significant early work on Middle Indo-Aryan dialects (Prakrits) she had specialised in Australian Aboriginal languages si ...

and by musician and linguist Janet Mathews, but only made publicly available in the late 1970s; as well as by notes made much earlier by Alfred William Howitt, an ethnologist who attended a Yuin initiation ceremony in 1883. The Biamanga protest site is of additional significance both to Yuin and to all other

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, "as a representation of embodying the Australian Aboriginal campaign for land rights and Aboriginal self-determination.

References

{{Authority control National parks of New South Wales South Coast (New South Wales) Protected areas established in 1994 1994 establishments in Australia Important Bird Areas of New South Wales Bega Valley Shire Australian Aboriginal freehold title Australian Aboriginal culture