4 of Australia’s Top First Nations-led Walking Tours

Australia’s landscapes are full of beauty – but it’s by delving into the stories and history etched into them over tens of thousands of years that you’ll gain a deeper appreciation of their splendour. From hidden beaches in the Northern Territory to the lush rainforest canopies of Queensland and cultural trails that wind through regional Victoria, these immersive First Nations-led walking tours offer a powerful way to connect with Country. Each step is an education, a ceremony and a chance to see Australia not just as it is, but as it always has been.

Stroll along remote beaches in the Top End

Australia has more than 10,000 beaches but Ngalarrkpuy (Lonely Beach) on the Miwatj (East Arnhem Land) coast stands out, with two powdery coves converging at a rugged island surrounded by impossibly turquoise waters. Fittingly, yours will likely be the only footprints on this stretch of sand – access here is only granted by the Traditional Custodians. 

This pocket of the Northern Territory, 51 kilometres south of Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula, is the spiritual home of the Yolŋu, whose stories and traditions are revealed through compelling journeys with Bawaka Experience. On this two-hour tour, you’ll learn about Yolŋu kinship systems, bush foods and the seven seasons that guide life in this region, and also participate in traditional activities such as weaving, spear-fishing and crabbing.

At an ancient fish-trapping site called Bungugunglu, you’ll discover an ingenious food source used for millennia. “But only to capture what was needed – never more – to ensure sustainability of resources,” says Timmy Djawa Burarrwaŋa, founder of the Bawaka Aboriginal Corporation and a Custodian of this land.

While tour guests are welcome to spend the day at Bawaka, why not spend a night to absorb as much of the region's culture and beauty as possible? There are six double or triple beachfront cabins, safari tents with air mattresses and a BYO-tent campsite with access to the communal camp kitchen and shared bathrooms.

“This pristine beach is part of our ancestral lands, rich in both cultural and natural heritage,” says Burarrwaŋa. “Coming on a tour with us is not just about taking photos –  it’s about building our friendship.”

Explore Queensland’s tropical wilderness

Kuku Yalanji man Juan Walker is a legend in Tropical North Queensland, having operated guided tours here for more than 20 years. There’s not much he doesn’t know about Manjal Dimbi (Mossman Gorge) and its surrounds within the World Heritage-listed Kaba Kada (Daintree Rainforest), one of the oldest of its kind on the planet. 

This part of the state, 78 kilometres north of Cairns, is home to some 3000 different plants and a third of Australia’s species of mammals, from tree kangaroos to platypuses. Small groups explore this diverse environment on half- or full-day Walkabout Cultural Adventures tours led by Walker, whose knowledge is encyclopaedic. Along the way, visitors learn about the traditional use of native flora for food, medicine, tools and shelter. You’ll also have the opportunity to taste seasonal bush tucker and hear Dreaming stories, including the legend of Kurriyala – the snake whose slithering created the waterways of Mossman Gorge.

There are opportunities to get hands-on, too. Depending on the tides and season, guests might collect shellfish, attempt spear-fishing, learn the secrets of throwing a boomerang or spear and perhaps even catch a mud crab to cook over the fire.  

On the edge of Daintree National Park, just a 10-minute drive from Mossman Gorge, Silky Oaks Lodge is a luxury eco-retreat of treehouse-style suites overlooking the Mossman River. The lodge works with Walkabout Cultural Adventures to organise tours for guests, and you can even request a private tailored one.

Help regenerate native Country in Victoria

Some 160 kilometres north of Naarm (Melbourne) on Taungurung Country, Euroa Arboretum (“the Arb”) today is a lush patchwork of grassy woodlands and wetlands where birdlife and native fauna thrive. But for more than 150 years it was a sheep station and the land was degraded by millions of hooves. It then became a VicRoads depot during construction of the Hume Freeway bypass.

In 1993, the land was given to the people of Euroa and, thanks to the work of the Arb team and Taungurung community, the habitat is being regenerated to its pre-colonial state, as you’ll discover on the three-hour interactive Wawa Euroa walk along the Daanak Trail. The trail itself, launched in 2022, is a collaborative project between the Taungurung People and the Euroa Arboretum, with signage and QR codes that activate recordings of Taungurung stories and language.

The experience begins with a traditional Welcome Smoking Ceremony to cleanse and protect before visitors set off along the Daanak Trail and learn about seasonal native plants and their uses in bush medicine, cultural practices and food. Before the tour wraps up, there’s a morning tea showcasing native ingredients – you might be served wattleseed and white-chocolate muffins or damper with quandong jam or native honey – accompanied by a yarn with a Taungurung Elder. It presents a great chance to broaden your understanding of the land, its people and their enduring connection to Country, and to reflect on the community-driven shift from agriculture to environmental and cultural revitalisation.

To extend your journey through this historic region – which was once a target for legendary bushranger Ned Kelly and his gang – book into the Euroa Butter Factory, just a six-minute drive from Euroa Arboretum. Sitting alongside the Seven Creeks, it’s a beautifully restored bed-and-breakfast with just six rooms at the foot of the Strathbogie Ranges.

See Sydney through an ancient lens

As you wander past modern wonders such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge on The Rocks Aboriginal Dreaming Tour, Aunty Margret Campbell’s stories will take you back to a time when Warrane (Sydney Cove) looked very different. 

“Before colonisation, Indigenous peoples would watch out for the whales they considered a spiritual ancestor,” says Campbell. “They’d also bring fish here to cook over their campfires. These stories are sitting right here – but most people can’t see them.”

For 90 minutes, Campbell – an Elder from the Dunghutti Jerrinja Nation – adds depth and context to the city’s gleaming skyscrapers by sharing generational stories and highlighting important Aboriginal landmarks, including the sacred midden that lies beneath Tubowgule – the site now occupied by the Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point. With the current city overlaid by a vision of Warrane, visitors acquire a deeper understanding of the Gadigal People’s connection to their ancestral lands and how it continues to resonate within the concrete jungle.

SEE ALSO: 8 First Nations Experiences Around Australia That Take You Deeper