Unesco World Heritage Parks Codexery

Kakadu National Park

World Heritage site with ancient rock art and diverse ecosystems.

Kakadu National Park

Dietmar Rabich · CC BY-SA 4.0

Kakadu National Park covers 19,804 km², making it Australia's second largest national park.[1][2] The park's name likely comes from a mispronunciation of Gaagudju, an Aboriginal language of the region.[3] Aboriginal people have continuously occupied the Kakadu area for around 60,000 years.[4]

Quick Facts

Location
Northern Territory
Established
5 April 1979
Visitation num
250,000
Visitation year
2002
Nearest city
Jabiru
Governing body
Director of National Parks; Aboriginal traditional owners (the Kundjeyhmi, Kunwinjku and Jawoyn peoples)

Facts from the source article.

Geography and history

Most of Kakadu was under a shallow sea about 140 million years ago, with the escarpment formed from ancient sea cliffs.[5] Four major river systems drain the park: the East Alligator, West Alligator, Wildman, and entire South Alligator Rivers.[6] The first confirmed foreign exploration near Kakadu was Abel Tasman's 1644 Dutch expedition, though he likely did not see the coast.[7] In 1705, Dutchman Maerten van Delft sailed into Van Diemen Gulf but did not map Kakadu's shoreline.[8]

English navigator Phillip Parker King conducted the first detailed coastal survey of the region in 1818.[9] Ludwig Leichhardt became the first European to explore Kakadu overland in 1845, following Jim Jim Creek and the South Alligator River.[10] Leichhardt recorded amicable interactions with Aboriginal residents, who guided his party and traded goods.[10][11] Pastoralists claimed much of Kakadu's flat land from 1877, establishing cattle stations such as Gerowie, Goodparla, and Gimbat.[12]

The plateau is topped by an escarpment that reaches a height of 330 meters and stretches for about 500 kilometers along the park's eastern boundary, continuing into Arnhem Land.[5] Because he saw many crocodiles and thought they were alligators, King gave the three Alligator Rivers their names.[9]

What the cited sources add

Leichhardt's 1847 journal describes the Kakadu scenery as of a "remarkable picturesque character".[13][11] King's 1827 narrative confirms that the Gulf explored was named "The Great Bay of Van Diemen" by three Dutch vessels in 1705.[14] King's account also records that trepang was valued at forty to fifty dollars per picol in 1818.[14] Leichhardt's journal records that his party exchanged items with local people and that he documented their personal names, linguistic terms, dwellings, food sources, and methods of hunting.[13][11]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kakadu National Park Northern Territory, Australia", United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre – World Heritage Sites (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Kurmelovs, "Munga-Thirri-Simpson desert declared Australia's biggest national park after 10-year campaign", The Guardian, 25 November 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Kakadu National Park, NT", Aussie Towns, 13 May 2015; Spencer, "Native Tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia", Library of Alexandria, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Gibson, "Nearly half of Kakadu National Park to be handed back to Aboriginal traditional owners", ABC News, 24 March 2022 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Landforms of Kakadu Stone Country", Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 15 April 2008 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: BMT WBM, "Ecological Character Description for Kakadu National Park Ramsar Site.", Australian Government Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities., 2010 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "The Tasman Map", State Library of New South Wales, 2 October 2015 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Tent, "The 1705 van Delft expedition to northern Australia: a toponymic perspective", International Journal of Cartography, 2019, p. 6–37; King, "Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia", Murray, 1827 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  9. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Alligator Rivers Aboriginal, Wetlands, Mangroves Britannica", www.britannica.com; King, "Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia", Murray, 1827 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  10. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: National Museum of Australia, "National Museum of Australia - Leichhardt expedition", www.nma.gov.au; Leichhardt, "Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia from Moreton Bay to Port Essington", T & W Boone, 1847 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  11. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Leichhardt, "Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia from Moreton Bay to Port Essington", T & W Boone, 1847 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  12. Wikipedia, "Kakadu National Park" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTHERN TERRITORY.", The South Australian Advertiser, 27 August 1877, p. 7 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  13. Leichhardt, "Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia from Moreton Bay to Port Essington", T & W Boone, 1847. facts only, no text reused. archive.org
  14. King, "Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia", Murray, 1827. facts only, no text reused. gutenberg.net.au

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Kakadu National Park (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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