The Bundian Way is an ancient pathway for Aboriginal people from Yuin, Ngarigo, Jaitmathang, Bidawal Country that provided safe passage between the coast and the high country.
Travel along the pathway allowed different tribal groups to gather on the shores of Turemulerrer (Twofold Bay) during the spring whale migration and ceremonial places near Targangal (Mount Kosciuszko) for the Bogong gatherings in summer.
Aboriginal people were early guides to the colonial surveyors and settlers. Travelling stockmen went on to use the Bundian Way when moving stock to fresh pastures, and today’s visitors can see many examples of two cultures using the one trail to access food, shelter and community.
Scarred trees and early examples of Aboriginal crop cultivation dot the track, and bimbola shells, an Aboriginal saltwater food, turn up many miles from the sea. Travellers may also see trees marked by colonial explorers, stockmen’s trails, huts and homestead ruins.
Today the Bundian Way is sometimes an established trail, sometimes a minor country road, and also a rough track through wilderness woodlands or tall forests. But always it is there. Always the Bundian Way, waiting to safely show people a route between the sea and the mountains.
In 2013 the NSW Government officially recognised the Bundian Way’s cultural, historical and wilderness significance with a Heritage listing.
