Who Visits Munibung Hill

Munibung Hill is attractive on many levels – she means a great deal to a lot of people:

  • Children and adults
  • Those aspiring to be fit and those engaged in fitness maintenance – runners, walkers, bike riders
  • Adventure loving to those seeking peace and quiet
  • Visitors from near and far – local, regional, state, national, international
  • Parents and grandparents
  • Artists and photographers
  • Nature lovers and carers
  • Science and history explorers
  • Foot travellers between suburbs or on the Great North Walk

Facilities

There are no public amenities such as picnic areas, bbq stations, tables, toilets; no information boards or signage showing directions or distances. There are no bike lockers or places to secure scooters.

From the east at Lakelands paths begin with cement paving and galvanised steel steps then peter out into steep badly eroded tracks. It is a similar experience from Macquarie Hills. From the central west at Speers Point, tracks have easier grades. Carry water and sunscreen, wear covered walking shoes and supervise children.

Getting there: Tracks and Walks

North-East – Macquarie Hills:
Lawson Road access gate to Lucilla Ridge, Blaxland Road and Macquarie Road (best for South Cardiff area);
Lakelands:
Grasmere Way and Ambleside Ave (off Hawkeshead Way)

North West – Macquarie Hills:
Hillview Crs and Kuraman Close (off Delaware Street)

South – Warners Bay:
Thompson Road (very steep, can be slippery, unmarked), Note: Rani Close (access overgrown with Lantana).

South West – Speers Point:
Quarry Road..

Central West – Boolaroo:
Sixth and Seventh Streets.

Public and private transport options: Train, Bus, Walk, Cycle, Car
Download  Maps and Tracks PDF

Entry from the north east can be from Blaxland Road or Macquarie Road, from Lucilla Ridge or from Lakelands. Images from L to R: Blaxland Road and beyond …

Lucilla Ridge can be reached from Lawson Road, Macquarie Hills. This is a steep badly eroded section.

Lakelands starting points … From L to R: Grasmere Way path and steps; Ambleside Drive near Hawkshead Way steps and path. Both lead to a central track where you turn left. 

The story of Munibung Hill

 

The story of Munibung Hill can be told from a number of points of view.  The First People’s story is vastly different from the European story.  One starts 62,000 years BCE, the other starts in 1788. There is a third story.  It is the Earth Story and it uses the timeline of the cosmos.  It can best be understood in terms of Big History or Deep Time.   There are references to each of these ways of knowing within this website narrative of Munibung 

A contemporary story —   A contemporary story

A First People’s story

A Big History story — Deep Time, Big HIstory

History of Parks

 

 

 

A Long List of Titles

Names in themselves tell stories. The First Peoples name was ‘scrubbed’ out, not so much that the sign was taken down, but that the new occupants did not respect the oral traditions or the ceremonial connections. It was therefore given names according to who was in possession of it at the time.

Munibung* Hill  was gazetted on 23 December 1977, but we cannot establish who proposed the name and why it was chosen. Presuming there was bush tucker present on Munibung Hill which species or variety of fruit was it?  But why not Kona-konaba, since the Hill was well known as a source of ochre.
*meaning ‘fruit’ according to some sources, though other sources** suggest another meaning.
**Cardiff High School magazine title was ‘Munibung’ stating that the meaning of the word was ‘the meeting of the tribes.’

For notes on Appropriate Terminology, Indigenous Australian Peoples, click on this link.

 

Notes on the Origins and Locations of Place Names

Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Hunter Valley, Liverpool Plains, New South Wales

https://www.jenwilletts.com/hunter_valley_place_names_M.html

Brooks’ Mountain  – Early name for Munibung Hill, Lake Macquarie

Hardys Hill and later Hawkins Hill– Name given to the hill at Speers Point which was the site of an old council quarry

Kona-konaba – Aboriginal name of the place where the stone called kona-kona is found. Name of a large mountain at the northern extremity of Lake Macquarie {Threlkeld}. Known as Murdering Gully.

Munibung Hill – earlier known as Brooks’ Mountain. Overlooking Lake Macquarie. Name gazetted 23 December 1977.

Murdering Gully – also called Burwood Gully (aboriginal name Kona-Konaba)