Demboong Banan Lookout Trail (500m)

Behind Kununurra's irrigated plains, Mirima National Park rises in a jumble of orange sandstone ridges, narrow gullies and pocket valleys that feel strikingly separate from the surrounding town. The rock here belongs to an older Kimberley landscape, with layered sandstone weathered into domes, cliffs and amphitheatres that are often compared with a smaller inland version of the Bungle Bungle country. It is a compact park, about 2,000 hectares, but its folded terrain gives it a much bigger presence on the edge of the Ord Valley.

The setting helps explain why this patch of country stands out. Kununurra sits in the far north-east of Western Australia, where the East Kimberley shifts between river flats, savanna woodland and rugged stone ranges. Mirima preserves one of those ranges right beside town, so the contrast is immediate: irrigated farmland and urban streets give way to spinifex, boabs, eucalypts and fragile sandstone surfaces darkened in places by algae and lichens. Seasonal rain has cut chasms and drainage lines through the range, shaping the enclosed feel of the valleys and the abrupt rock walls above them.

This is Miriwoong Country, and the park holds long-standing cultural importance for the Miriwoong people. Mirima is not simply a scenic outcrop but part of a lived cultural landscape, with caves, rock shelters, art sites and other places carrying deep significance. The broader East Kimberley also reflects that continuing connection through joint management arrangements between the state and Miriuwung and Gajerrong organisations across nearby conservation areas, linking the protection of country with language, cultural knowledge and on-ground care.

Although it sits close to town, the park remains a useful introduction to the wider Kimberley rather than a detached urban reserve. Its sandstone landforms, savanna vegetation and strong cultural presence all echo larger patterns seen across the region, just in a more concentrated form. For walkers, that means the backdrop to any hike here is bigger than the park boundary: Mirima gives a readable, close-up glimpse of the East Kimberley's stone country and of the enduring Aboriginal connection that shapes it.