Who lives in Kakadu national park?
Aboriginal people
Kakadu is a living cultural landscape. It has been home to Aboriginal people for more than 65,000 years. Ours is the oldest living culture on earth.
Why is Kakadu national park significant?
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 art documents Indigenous creation stories and makes up one of the longest historical records of any group of people in the world.
How many Aborigines live in Kakadu?
500 Aboriginal people
About 2,000 people lived in the Kakadu area before the arrival of non-Aboriginal people. Now there are about 500 Aboriginal people living in 18 outstations dotted throughout the park.
Do people live in Kakadu?
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.
What’s special about Kakadu?
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.
What is the history of Kakadu National Park?
The park, which covers an area of some 7,700 square miles (20,000 square km), lies in the area of the Alligator Rivers. The region was first protected as an Aboriginal reserve in 1964 and as a wildlife sanctuary in 1972. It was redesignated as a national park in 1979 and was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981.
What is the Aboriginal name for Kakadu?
Gagudju
The name Kakadu was suggested to recognise Gagudju, an Aboriginal language which used to be spoken in the park. A new stretch of woodland, called Koongarra (Kunkarra), was recently added to Kakadu National Park.
What happened to Kakadu?
For years, Kakadu’s natural environment has been degrading and popular tourist sites have been closed with little warning. Kakadu — billed as a jewel in Australia’s tourism crown — is falling into disrepair, and traditional owners say the federal body that runs the park is to blame.
What Aboriginal country is Kakadu?
Kakadu is Australia’s largest land-based national park, 250km west of Darwin and east of the vast Arnhem Land plateau. It is a place of living culture used by Mirarr and other Bininj (Aboriginal people) every day.
Why is Kakadu called Kakadu?
It was a time when Australians were becoming more interested in declaring national parks for conservation and in recognising the land interests of Aboriginal people. The name Kakadu was suggested to recognise Gagudju, an Aboriginal language which used to be spoken in the park.
What is unusual about Kakadu National Park?
Kakadu is famed for its extraordinary amount of bird species. In the park alone, there are around 280 different species, which makes up around a third of the entire population of bird species in Australia.
How old is Kakadu?
More than 65,000 years – we are the oldest living culture on earth.