Watarrka National Park is Now on the National Heritage List

 

Watarrka National Park, the iconic and dramatic landscape between Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and Mpwarnte/Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, has been added to Australia’s National Heritage List.

The inclusion, officially inscribed in June 2024, acknowledges Watarkka’s outstanding significance to Australia’s culture and environment and its place as a living cultural landscape for the traditional owners, Anangu ngurraritja.

Locations included on the National Heritage List are protected under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), the Australian Government’s national environment law.

Why is Watarkka National Park significant?

Eponymous for Watarkka/Kings Canyon, the national park features dry, red landscapes and enormous sandstone cliffs, with fresh waterholes, abundant vegetation and 360 million-year-old rocks.

‘Out-of-this-world’, and ‘breathtaking’ are phrases our writers have used to describe their time there. The richly biodiverse landscape within the George Hill Range is home to 690 species of native plants, including a collection of rare and endangered species, such as Amperea spicata (George Hill Range cliff-bush), found only in the area.

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For Anangu ngurraritja, Watarrka is the physical representation of Tjukurrpa/the Dreaming, when ancestral beings brought the world into existence. They continue to observe and practice traditional law, ceremonies, and business on these sacred grounds, as has been done for thousands of years.

Visiting Watarkka National Park

Even if you’ve never visited, you may be familiar with Watarkka’s iconic scenes from the 1994 Australian classic, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, where the central characters completed the Rim Walk dressed in drag.

Since then, the area has risen in popularity and visitation; seeing more than 250,000 visitors each year, according to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. Nowadays, Aboriginal-led cultural tours, sunrise hikes, art installations, and helicopter rides are just some ways to experience the magic of Watarrka.

Wartarkka is 320km southwest of Mpwarnte/Alice Springs, the closest township and domestic airport.

Feature image by Tourism NT/Mitchell Cox