Rockstars


Indigenous-led tourism experiences are central to getting a true taste of Queensland, discovers Karen Edwards


DESTINATIONS QUEENSLAND | AUSTRALASIA


t


Jarramali Rock Art Tours’ Johnny Murison with visitors in the Magnificent Gallery PICTURE: Tourism and Events Queensland/Phil Warring


travelweekly.co.uk 9 APRIL 2026 41


here’s an 8ft-tall kangaroo looming over me. He’s mid-hop, one eye focused on the horizon. I step closer to take in his unusually long hind legs and front paws sprouting six


digits. His white body, most likely painted using kaolin, a chalky type of clay, dominates the cavern that shelters me from the scorching Queensland sun. At least 450 images decorate the sandstone in an


area aptly named Magnificent Gallery. I make out spirit figures, emus, possums, barramundi, turtles and wallabies. According to my guide, Johnny Murison of Jarramali Rock Art Tours, some date back 2,000 years and are being considered for Unesco protection thanks to their global and cultural significance.


LAND OF MY FATHERS I’m deep within the Laura Basin in Tropical North Queensland, where Quinkan rock art sites chronicle the lives of the Kuku-Yalanji people. Like most of Australia’s Indigenous population, their story has been marred by forced removals, violence, disease and killings under British colonisation. At eight years old, Murison’s great-grandmother was taken from ²


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52