The western shore of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf is a line of sandstone cliffs. At the top of these cliffs, near an abundant fresh water supply, is an area that has been described as the “Lost City”. It is an arrangement of sandstone columns that are the remaining fragments of the top layer of the plateau after fault lines running through the rock structure have allowed deep alleyways to be eroded, leaving these columns standing in lines like buildings in a modern city. This satellite image shows the rock structures.
The columns themselves are deeply eroded too, with deep ledges, and caves, and in places undercut at ground level.
These structures provide excellent shelter from the weather. Black stains show where water runs over the rocks in the wet season, so it can be seen that while some would be wet, most provide good shelter from rain. They provide cool shade, and situated at the top of the seaside cliffs, there is usually a cool breeze blowing.
While we could almost feel the presence of crowds of people over tens of thousands of years, we didn’t have to look far to find the evidence of their occupation of this area.
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