DISCOVER Hat Head

Nature Trails of the Macleay is a diverse collection of  walking, biking and 4WD trails that span across the Macleay. Offering a natural experience for everyone, the network of trails are not just connected by their respective locations but also by their rich Indigenous roots.

Learn more about the history of Hat Head, then journey out to experience it yourself by exploring the nearby trails and points of interest described below.

Muurrayi Bunda

The Tree of Life

Long ago a quarrel broke out between the coastal people and the inland group. It was over a White Fig tree which is rare in this area.

Many people came from the west to the east where the Muurrayi Tree was. The coastal group, on the eastern side of the tree, and the inland group, on the western side, were all eating figs.

Then one of the coastal people looked at the western side of the tree.

Well! The figs on the western side are bigger. Those inlanders have been eating all the big ones and we’ve only been left with the small ones here. Take a look around the other side!

The inland group saw what was happening and called out… they are stealing our figs… they’ve taken them. This tree belongs to us… it’s ours.

The coastal people replied… No, the Ancient One came from where he swells and left that for us, not you.

The argument continued and the Great One heard and saw all this.

You have become evil… I will take it away.

He pulled the tree out of the ground and took it away. Some men tied themselves to the tree with vines and they all went up into the sky to where the tree was planted.

In different versions of this story there are at least three places for the tree’s location as it was supernaturally taken from one place to another.

One place is a cleft in the rock in Hat Head National Park. Another is a large sand hollow near the present-day blowing club.

We acknowledge the source of this story, the Dreaming Story Collection and Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative. We also acknowledge that the spelling of Dhanggati/Dunghutti may vary.

There are many versions to Dreaming stories passed from generation to generation, however, all versions have the same moral. Muurrayi graphic by Jason Ridgeway.