Dive into the heart of the Wildflower State.

There’s much to love about boomerangs and bush tucker, however many people seem to believe that’s where Aboriginal tourism starts and ends. But that’s just scratching the surface, especially in Western Australia, where some of the world’s oldest living cultures date back more than 60,000 years. From mud crabbing and women’s healing ceremonies to rock art galleries older than the pyramids, learn stories and traditions, both ancient and modern, from this generation’s custodians on one of these exceptional First Nations tours and experiences.

1. Follow the journey of the tide drifters

Where: Jawi Country, Cygnet Bay, Dampier Peninsula

“We were the first paddleboarders," says Jawi woman Rosanna Angus as we navigate King Sound’s Middle Passage in a powerboat. Home to impressive whirlpools and the world’s highest tropical tides, Jawi people once crossed these treacherous waters on biel biel (small rafts made from mangrove wood) to hunt, fish and trade on the mainland. “They perfected the art of navigation, from the stars to the tides." Named Australia’s Top Tour Guide in 2023, Angus, who owns Oolin Sunday Island Cultural Tours, shares stories of the tide drifters and her experiences growing up in a mission on Ewuny (Sunday Island), on a 4.5-hour tour.

2. Some of the world’s oldest petroglyphs

Where: Murujuga Country, Burrup Peninsula, Pilbara

Granted UNESCO World Heritage status for its First Nations cultural heritage, Murujuga’s petroglyphs (rock engravings) are older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. There are more than one million engravings – some as old as 50,000 years – and, unlike those famous monuments overseas, this site’s significance and stories haven’t been lost. They’re held by the area’s traditional custodians, the Ngarda-Ngarli peoples. Learn more about them on a 1.5-hour rock art tour at Nganjarli (previously known as Deep Gorge) with Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation. 

3. A healing experience for women

Where: Djugun and Yawuru Country, Broome

The day is slipping towards sunset, and the otherworldly Reddell Beach is awash with deep pinks when a smiling Pat Torres emerges from behind a sand dune. I’m here for a two-hour healing experience exclusively for women, which the Djugun Jabirr Jabirr Elder offers through Jarndu Ngaank Tours (she also runs other experiences, open to everyone). Torres leads me through water and smoking ceremonies before we settle in for an enlightening chat over a thermos of tea made from Davidson plums, a native superfood.

4. A lesson in Bardi-Jawi survival skills

Where: Bardi-Jawi Country, Dampier Peninsula

The Kimberley is known for its rust-red earth and turquoise waters, but Bardi-Jawi man Bolo Angus wants to show you some of its other faces. The owner of Southern Cross at Lullumb, Angus shares the diverse landscapes of his ancestral homeland on a fascinating four-hour cultural walk, which begins on a salt marsh and meanders through mangroves, paperbark forests and along creeks. We drink from a freshwater spring, search for crustaceans and learn which rocks are best used as tools and cooking mortars.

5. Kayak with dugongs and other sea creatures

Where: Guthaaguda, Shark Bay

There’s no denying Shark Bay, 800 kilometres north of Perth, is special. The area is UNESCO World Heritage-listed for its vast sea-grass beds, dugong population and stromatolites (layered rock-like structures that are among the oldest life forms on our planet). The best way to experience it is on an 8-hour tour with Nhanda and Malgana man Darren “Capes" Capewell, who runs Wula Gura Nyinda Eco Cultural Adventures. It begins with a 4WD tour, with stops to follow animal tracks and find bush medicine, before you slip into a kayak and head out on the water in search of manta rays, dolphins and the elusive dugong.

6. A lesson in ancient traditions, from ochre to coolamons

Where: Ngarinyin Country, East Kimberley

One of Australia’s most extraordinary stays, El Questro is a privately owned parcel of wilderness in East Kimberley that encompasses sandstone ranges, rainforest, salt flats and thermal springs across 700,000 acres. In 2022, 165,000 hectares of land were returned its traditional owners, the Ngarinyin people. Now, El Questro guests can join a two-hour experience, Injiid Marlabu Calls Us, that includes timeless rituals such as a burning and cleansing ceremony, storytelling and song-sharing, and explains the symbolic importance of charcoal and ochre, and the coolamon (a shallow vessel used for carrying things).

7. See Perth through an entirely new lens

Where: Karrgatup, Mount Eliza and Kings Park, Perth

Did you know that many of Perth’s roads were built on the tracks trodden for millennia by the Noongar people? Or that the banks of the Derbarl Yerrigan (Swan River) were lined with paperbark trees less than 200 years ago? A Noongar guide from Go Cultural Aboriginal Tours & Experiences leads guests on a 90-minute walk at Karrgatup (Mount Eliza and Kings Park), sharing the first story of this land, traditional Noongar life and song, and points out some of the park’s native flora along the way. The Aboriginal-owned and operated business also offers a moving 60-minute tour of Wadjemup (Rottnest Island).