Deep in the heart of Queensland cattle country, Mount Mulligan, or Ngarrabullgan in Djungan language, rises from the woody undulations of the surrounding savannah and presents an imposing rock face to the morning sun. At its base, a small group alights from a hardy 4WD buggy, and makes their way onto a thin, rocky track, en route to a hidden waterfall.
The Gorge Walk is one of many trails that give guests at Mt Mulligan Lodge a chance to immerse themselves in the rugged beauty of Queensland’s outback. Situated beside a lily-pad-fringed billabong, the lodge, accommodating just 28 guests, shares the surrounding 28,000ha with a working cattle station, a ghost town, swimming holes, and abundant wildlife.
While driving to Mt Mulligan Lodge is an option, the long-haul dirt road trip is best swapped for a 35-minute helicopter ride from Cairns Airport. Through the curved perspex nose of the bright red Nautilus Aviation helicopter, the coast gives way quickly after take-off to a broad expanse of undulating woodland. In time, Mount Mulligan’s ridge line comes into view then the chopper swoops past its oxidised flanks and drops smoothly to a helipad where a greeting party awaits, cool towels and refreshing drinks at the ready.
Four different room options are available, each with spotted-gum timber, dark-toned furnishings and private balconies facing the water of the billabong and Mount Mulligan beyond. The main pavilion, with its high, vaulted ceiling, and stone, steel and recycled beams, is ruggedly striking. Walls fold away to enable the easy flow of meals, drinks and cooling breezes between indoors and out, with large eaves providing cover for year-round outdoor dining.
The menu showcases the best of Queensland’s rich bounty and the chefs’ exceptional skills, delivering an array of diverse dishes. Dinner might begin with Moreton Bay bug with crustacean risotto and continue with a glazed duck breast with celeriac before concluding with a punchy lime iced kefir with fresh citrus. Breakfast starts at a respectable 8am, enabling early risers to return from sunrise tours that range from photography expeditions and waterfall hikes to the simplicity of enjoying an outback sunrise from a hilltop with a cup of tea and a lamington.
In the middle of the day, an ex-army Land Rover takes groups to see gentle floppy-eared Brahman cattle nosing about the bush, or guests can get behind the wheel of an all-terrain vehicle and tackle tracks and creeks to return dust-covered, smiling and ready for a swim.
At the base of the escarpment, the township of Mount Mulligan was established in 1912 when a coal mine opened. Over the next 45 years, the mine was abandoned, reopened and abandoned again and now it is just crumbling ruins that tell a sad story of loss – in 1921 it was the site of Queensland’s worst mining disaster when 75 men were killed.
The miners were, of course, not the first people to live and die in the area and high on the escarpment are two of the oldest known Aboriginal sites in Queensland, dating back 37,000 years. Along with many other shelter and cave sites, the area around the mountain constitutes one of the greatest densities of Indigenous sites in Queensland. All this is readily contemplated at the purpose-built Sunset Bar where, come evening, pre-dinner drinks are served as the ridge transforms into a formidable silhouette against a paling blue dusk.
When the landscape has disappeared into shadow, it’s time to be encapsulated by the warm glow of candlelight surrounding a table set on a grassy verge of the billabong. Under a canopy of distant planets shining bright against the immense void of space, ‘dinner under the stars’ is served.
Whether it’s witnessing Ngarrabullgan’s worn face turn crimson in the sunrise, watching a dragonfly land on a lotus flower in the billabong, or in quiet contemplation of vast savannah from a hilltop, it soon becomes apparent that Mt Mulligan Lodge is more than a luxury oasis in the remote Australian bush. It is an opportunity to connect with the timeless rhythm of an ancient land.
