Kakadu History

The History of Kakadu

The history of Kakadu reaches back many tens of thousands of years. The name Kakadu was probably given to the people of the Alligator River region by anthropologist and biologist Sir Baldwin Spencer. It is the name of the language of the Aboriginal people who traditionally lived in the north western section of what is now Kakadu National Park. The word Kakadu is sometimes also spelt as Kakudju or Gagadju.

Among the earliest historical records of European contact with the inhabitants of the Kakadu area are the visits of Baldwin Spencer in 1912, the visit of N. B. Tindale in 1928 and the American-Australian Scientific Expedition to Arnhem Land in 1948. UNESCO published a book of paintings from the Kakadu area in 1954.

On 5 April 1979, the Commonwealth Commission of Inquiry into the Ranger Mining Proposals decided to set aside 6000 square km of Arnhem Land under the National Parks and Wildlife Act. This area was subsequently listed by the World Heritage and became Kakadu National Park, now one of the most important Heritage regions in Australia. Kakadu currently covers an area of 1,307,300 hectares of land.