Watarrka Nationwide Park, the enduring and dramatic panorama between Uluru-Kata Tjuta Nationwide Park and Mpwarnte/Alice Springs within the Northern Territory, has been added to Australia’s Nationwide Heritage Checklist.
The inclusion, formally inscribed in June 2024, acknowledges Watarkka’s excellent significance to Australia’s tradition and surroundings and its place as a residing cultural panorama for the standard homeowners, Anangu ngurraritja.
Areas included on the Nationwide Heritage Checklist are protected beneath the Atmosphere Safety and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), the Australian Authorities’s nationwide surroundings legislation.
Why is Watarkka Nationwide Park vital?
Eponymous for Watarkka/Kings Canyon, the nationwide park options dry, purple landscapes and massive sandstone cliffs, with contemporary waterholes, plentiful vegetation and 360 million-year-old rocks.
‘Out-of-this-world’, and ‘breathtaking’ are phrases our writers have used to explain their time there. The richly biodiverse panorama inside the George Hill Vary is residence to 690 species of native vegetation, together with a set of uncommon and endangered species, equivalent to Amperea spicata (George Hill Vary cliff-bush), discovered solely within the space.
For Anangu ngurraritja, Watarrka is the bodily illustration of Tjukurrpa/the Dreaming, when ancestral beings introduced the world into existence. They proceed to watch and apply conventional legislation, ceremonies, and enterprise on these sacred grounds, as has been performed for hundreds of years.
Visiting Watarkka Nationwide Park
Even in case you’ve by no means visited, it’s possible you’ll be accustomed to Watarkka’s iconic scenes from the 1994 Australian basic, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the place the central characters accomplished the Rim Stroll wearing drag.
Since then, the realm has risen in reputation and visitation; seeing greater than 250,000 guests annually, in keeping with the Division of Local weather Change, Power, the Atmosphere and Water. These days, Aboriginal-led cultural excursions, dawn hikes, artwork installations, and helicopter rides are just a few methods to expertise the magic of Watarrka.
Wartarkka is 320km southwest of Mpwarnte/Alice Springs, the closest township and home airport.
Function picture by Tourism NT/Mitchell Cox
