What is Kakadu's significance?

Kakadu's significance lies in being one of the world's leading examples of joint management between a national government and Traditional Owners, of outstanding biological richness, and of human cultural continuity. It is one of only a handful of places worldwide listed by UNESCO for both natural and cultural values.

The park covers about 19,800 square kilometres in the Top End of the Northern Territory and contains six landform regions, more than 1,600 plant species, 280 bird species, 60 mammal species, 117 reptile species, 25 frog species, and at least 10,000 insect species. Key habitats include the Arnhem Land stone country, monsoon rainforest patches, savanna woodland, floodplains, estuaries, and tidal flats.

Kakadu's cultural importance stems from at least 65,000 years of continuous Aboriginal occupation. Madjedbebe rock shelter just east of the park was shown by 2017 dating work to contain artefacts at least 65,000 years old, the earliest evidence of human occupation in Australia. Ubirr, Nourlangie (Burrungkuy), and many other rock-art sites within the park preserve layers of paintings spanning thousands of years, including representations of animals now extinct in the area, contact-period European ships and rifles, and continuing ceremonial life.

Kakadu was inscribed on the World Heritage List in three stages between 1981 and 1992. Most of the park is owned in inalienable freehold by the Bininj and Mungguy Traditional Owners and leased back to the Australian government for use as a national park. The board of management has a majority of Aboriginal members. The park has also been a flashpoint for environmental debate around the Ranger uranium mine (1981 to 2021) and the proposed Jabiluka mine, which Mirarr Traditional Owners successfully blocked in the late 1990s.