Non-indigenous people have been associated with the land called Kakadu since the 1820s. Non-indigenous settlement of Northern Australia impacted on indigenous communities in many ways. Changes included the introduction of water buffalo, missionaries, pastoral activity, mining, forestry and tourism..
What is Kakadu National Park important facts?
It is Australia's largest National Park and is approximately the size of Israel. Kakadu is home to 68 mammals (almost one-fifth of Australia's mammals), more than 120 reptiles, 26 frogs, over 300 tidal and freshwater fish species, more than 2 000 plants and over 10 000 species of insects..
What is the spiritual significance of Kakadu?
Kakadu represents an outstanding example of where the landscape is embedded in the continuing and developing cultural tradition of indigenous communities. The Aboriginal people have an important spiritual bond with the land..
Why is it important to for Kakadu National Park to be protected?
The largest national park in Australia and one of the largest in the world's tropics, Kakadu preserves the greatest variety of ecosystems on the Australian continent including extensive areas of savanna woodlands, open forest, floodplains, mangroves, tidal mudflats, coastal areas and monsoon forests..
Kakadu National Park is renowned for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5,000 recorded art sites illustrating Aboriginal culture over thousands of years. The archaeological sites demonstrate Aboriginal occupation for at least 20,000 and possibly up to 40,000 years.
Kakadu National Park is a living cultural landscape with exceptional natural and cultural values. Kakadu has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, and many of the park's extensive rock art sites date back thousands of years.
How many rock art sites are there in Kakadu National Park?
The ‘Stone Country’ of Kakadu National Park boasts over 5,000 known Aboriginal rock art sites, with some archaeologists believing that there might be up to 15,000 total sites in the park – the greatest known concentration of rock art in the world
What is the oldest living culture in Kakadu?
Ours is the oldest living culture on earth
Aboriginal people are called Bininj in the north of the park and Mungguy in the south
Some of us live in Kakadu’s towns and others live in more remote parts of the park, but all of us have a deep spiritual connection to our country
The land and its people have always been linked
Why is Kakadu a National Park?
The largest national park in Australia and one of the largest in the world’s tropics, Kakadu preserves the greatest variety of ecosystems on the Australian continent including extensive areas of savanna woodlands, open forest, floodplains, mangroves, tidal mudflats, coastal areas and monsoon forests
Kakadu National Park is a living cultural landscape with exceptional natural and cultural values. Kakadu has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 50,000 years, and many of the park’s extensive rock art sites date back thousands of years. Kakadu’s rock art provides a window into human civilisation in the days before the last ice age.Kakadu became a NationalPark in 1979, and was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981, one of the first in Australia. It is one of only four places in Australia inscribed for both cultural and natural values, recognised as ‘a living cultural landscape with exceptional natural and cultural values’.
The park is dual World Heritage-listed for its outstanding natural and cultural values. Kakadu is Aboriginal land. Our people have kept it healthy for thousands of years. Today, we work hand-in-hand with Parks Australia to manage Kakadu, using a mix of traditional ways and modern science.
It is highly ecologically and biologically diverse; hosting a wide range of habitats and flora and fauna, Kakadu is fully protected by the EPBC Act. It also includes a rich heritage of Aboriginal rock art, including highly significant sites, such as Ubirr.The park is a living cultural landscape. Its archaeological sites record the skills and way of life of Aboriginal people over tens of thousands of years. Kakadu’s rock artdocuments Indigenous creation storiesand makes up one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the world.
Cultural significance of kakadu national park
A World Heritage Site is a location that is listed by UNESCO as having outstanding cultural or natural value to the common heritage of humanity. The World Heritage Committee has designated 37 World Heritage Sites in Oceania. These are in 14 countries, with the majority of sites located in Australia. The first three inscriptions from the region, the Great Barrier Reef, Kakadu National Park and the Willandra Lakes, were in 1981—three years after the list's creation. The region contains the world's three largest sites: Phoenix Islands Protected Area, Papahānaumokuākea, and the Great Barrier Reef. In addition, the Tasmanian Wilderness is one of only two sites that meet seven out of the ten criteria for World Heritage listing.
The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage
National heritage register of Australia
The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and historic places, including those of cultural significance to Indigenous Australians such as Aboriginal Australian sacred sites. Having been assessed against a set list of criteria, once a place is put on the National Heritage List, the provisions of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 apply.
