Clinton is a descendant of the Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people, who are the Traditional Owners of the coastal and inland areas of the West Pilbara region encompassing areas such as the City of Karratha, Dampier Archipelago, Murujuga National Park and Millstream-Chichester National Park.
Clinton has spent his entire life learning from his Elder’s and family about the traditional ways of his people including speaking Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi languages, he has also been initiated in his people’s Aboriginal Law Ceremony (Birdarra) and is an active member in his cultural responsibilities of looking after his ngurra (country).
Clinton started Ngurrangga Tours to educate and immerse people in the ways of his culture and history so that they could understand more about Pilbara Aboriginal culture and country. Ngurrangga Tours mostly operates from Karratha and offers visitors a unique experience of the Pilbara through the eyes of a traditional owner.
Guests are given the opportunity to learn about bush foods and medicines, explore stunning locations, view and understand ancient rock art in the world’s largest outdoor rock art gallery, hear traditional stories and listen to traditional songs sung using the wirra (boomerang).
Clinton is passionate about raising the profile of the Burrup Peninsula; located in Murujuga National Park. It is one of Australia’s most significant heritage sites and an important cultural place for Aboriginal people. The Burrup Peninsula is on the National Heritage register and is home to up to a million Aboriginal rock carvings, some dating back 40,000 years. Despite this, it is relatively unknown worldwide and even in Australia.
Murujuga—translated as “hip bone sticking out”. On the far northwest coast of Australia, the red, rocky Burrup Peninsula juts into the sea from the port town of Dampier. Together with the surrounding islands of the Dampier archipelago and the waters in between, this is Murujuga country, as it’s known in the local Ngarluma-Yaburara language.
Two ancient archaeological sites were found—underwater—in 2019, and reported in 2020. They date back to 7,000 and 8,500 years ago, when water inundated the dry land where they sat. They are the first submerged sites of Aboriginal cultural heritage found on Australia’s exceptionally broad continental shelf.
Archaeologists believe that these underwater sites are just the first of many; there could be millions more artifacts out there on the seabed. Around two million square kilometers of land around Australia was lost to rising seas after the last ice age, about the same area as modern-day Mexico. The scientific thinking echoes Indigenous lore: that these now-submerged landscapes, often called sea country, hold some of Australia’s oldest histories.
You can see more or book a tour with Clinton here.