| Kakadu National Park is located in the wet-dry
tropics 250 kilometers (155 miles) east of Darwin
in the Northern
Territory.
The Kakadu Board of Management has endorsed a new
vision for tourism in Kakadu National Park. The vision will
be used to reposition Kakadu as a unique World Heritage destination
with exceptional natural and cultural values.
ABORIGINAL CONNECTIONS
Kakadu National Park is managed jointly by its Aboriginal traditional
owners and the Director of National Parks. The traditional owners
are proud to share their country with visitors. Check out the 2010
ITBW Award Finalist Kakadu
Culture Camp, owned and operated by the Hunter family from Kakadu
National Park.
It was a dream of their late Grandfather to establish a camp where
Bininj (Aboriginal) people could live and work, and share their
culture, traditional heritage and amazing wildlife with tourists
from around the world. During the wet season -- Gudjewg -- the family
live at Bowali Creek in central Kakadu, and move to Djarradjin in
the dry season to operate the culture camp.
The name 'Kakadu' comes from an Aboriginal floodplain language
called Gagudju spoken in the north of the park. Although languages
such as Gagudju and Limilngan are no longer regularly spoken, descendants
of these language groups are still living in Kakadu. Contemporary
Aboriginal languages used in the Park include Kunwinjku from the
northeastern region, Gun-djeihmi from the central region and Jawoyn
from the southern region.
WORLD HERITAGE
Kakadu was declared a park in three stages. Stage one was declared
in 1979, stage two was declared in 1984 while stage three was declared
in successive stages from 1987-1991.
Kakadu National Park is a World Heritage listed place and has been
identified as a key element of Australia's great National
Landscapes.
CLIMATE CHANGE
A 2009 report
from the government's Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre
found that Kakadu is one of Australia's tourism icons most at threat
from the impacts of climate change.
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