AcharyaChanakya/simple-wikipedia huggingface dataset:
Hot pants, or 'short shorts', are a fashion item from the 1960s which is still popular today. They first appeared as a design item in so-called 'Swinging London'. The trend for shorter, brighter shorts for young women was started by designers in London such as Mary Quant.
Running or gym shorts are worn by girls as normal wear in some places. Many gym shorts have an inlay made of a comfortable fabric such as cotton, similar to swim shorts (swimming trunks). These are designed to be worn without underwear.
If a person cuts off the legs of a pair of jeans, that's known as a 'cut-off'.
The character Daisy Duke from "The Dukes of Hazzard" was known for wearing low cut blue jeans. The popularity of the character led to the term "Daisy Dukes" being used for short shorts.
Mini-skirt
The mini-skirt, or miniskirt, is a skirt well above the knees, close to the buttocks. If the top and skirt are all-in-one, then it is a minidress. Microskirts are "extremely" brief, and usually worn only for publicity events.
Mini-skirts were invented by Mary Quant, who also invented, or promoted, hot pants. There is disagreement as to who came up with the idea first; some say André Courrèges or John Bates. The short- and ever-shorter skirt was evolving already among fashion-minded young women: the designers who adapted it just helped spread the style. In Quant's case, she gave it the name. Mary Quant named the mini-skirt after her favorite make of car, the Mini. She loved the car so much, she had one designed especially for her.
Austrian Grand Prix
The Austrian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race. The first event was held in 1964 at a race track on the Zeltweg Airfield. The track was deemed too dangerous. It was narrow and very bumpy. Spectators complained of poor viewing areas. The FIA removed the race from the F1 calendar until a better circuit was built.
From 1970 until 1987, the event was held at the Österreichring, near Zeltweg. In 1975, it was called the European Grand Prix. In 1987, the FIA decided that the circuit was too dangerous. The race was dropped for a decade.
In 1995 and 1996, the track was modified and brought up to modern standards. The race returned to F1 in 1997. The circuit was renamed the A1-Ring, after a sponsor. Most of the new track is in Spielberg. Spielberg was now used as the location of the Grand Prix. The final Austrian Grand Prix was held in 2003. The Grand Prix returned to the Formula One calendar in 2014.
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Shared win with Kurt Ahrens, Jr.
<nowiki>*</nowiki> Built by Cosworth, funded by Ford (except 1967)
<nowiki>**</nowiki> Between 1998-2001 built by Ilmor, funded by Mercedes
Lucretia Coffin Mott (January 3, 1793 – November 11, 1880) was an advocate for women's rights in the United States. She was one of the first people in the U.S. to do so. She also spoke on ending slavery in the United States. She was one of the leaders of the anti-slavery movement in Philadelphia. She was a Quaker, and was a minister for several years. She was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts. She helped with women's involvement and the Seneca falls convention.
Luxembourg Grand Prix
The Luxembourg Grand Prix () was a Formula One motor race for two years in the 1990s. The FIA created the Luxembourg GP to keep a race at Nürburgring, and allow the European GP to be held in another country.
The FIA only allowed one Formula One per country. They would allow a second race within a country if it had a different Grand Prix name. For several years, the German Grand Prix had been held at Hockenheimring, and the European Grand Prix at Nürburgring. There was unease that the Nürburgring was being given a monopoly for the European GP. The border of Luxembourg lies about 50 miles away from the Nürburgring track.
Mexican Grand Prix
The Mexican Grand Prix (Gran Premio de Mexico) is a Formula One motor race held at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City. It first appeared as a non-championship event in 1962 before being held as a championship event from 1963-1970, 1986-1992 and since 2015.
Shared win with Trevor Taylor
Moroccan Grand Prix
The Moroccan Grand Prix was a Grand Prix motor racing event. It began in 1925 in Casablanca, Morocco. The official name was "Casablanca Grand Prix".
In 1930, the race was moved to the new Anfa Racecourse. There was no race in 1933. There were no races between 1935 and 1953. When it returned in 1954, it was held on a circuit at the city of Agadir for sports cars.
A new circuit at Ain-Diab near Casablanca was ready for the 1957 Moroccan Grand Prix Formula One race. This race did not counttoward the World Championship. The only World Championship F1 race was in 1958. The race was marred by the death of Stuart Lewis-Evans. This was the last Grand Prix organized in Morocco.
"No driver won the Moroccan Grand Prix more than one time.
Typesetting is the making of block-printed writing which is formed by using types grouped from sorts.
Typesetting uses the earlier steps of designing a font and storing it in some manner. Typesetting is the taking of the stored letters (called "sorts" in mechanical systems and "glyphs" in digital systems) and the ordering of them in the manner of a language's orthography for showing them on a page.
During the letterpress era, moveable type was composed by hand for each page. Cast metal "sorts" were grouped into words and lines of text and tightly bound together to make up a page image called a "forme". All letter faces were set to the same height, to form an even surface of type. The forme was mounted in a machine press, inked, and an impression made on paper.
The diagram at right shows a cast metal sort: a face, b body or shank, c point size, 1 shoulder, 2 nick, 3 groove, 4 foot. Wooden printing sorts were in use for centuries in combination with metal type.
Copies of formes were cast when expecting later printings of a text, freeing the costly type for other work. In this process, called stereotyping, the entire forme is pressed into a fine matrix such as plaster of Paris or papier mâché called Flong to create a positive, from which the stereotype forme was cast of type metal.
Hand composing was rendered commercially obsolete by continuous casting or "hot-metal" typesetting machines, such as the Linotype machine and Monotype at the end of the 19th century. The Linotype, invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler, enabled one machine operator to do the work of ten hand compositors by automating the selection, use and replacement of sorts, with a keyboard as input. Later advances, such as the typewriter or computer, pushed the state of the art even farther ahead. Still, hand composition and letterpress printing did not fall completely out of use. Since the introduction of digital typesetting, it has seen a renewal as an artisanal pursuit. However, it is a very small niche within the larger typesetting market.
Phototypesetting or "cold type" systems first appeared in the early 1960s and rapidly displaced continuous casting machines. These devices consisted of glass disks (one per font) that spun in front of a light source which selectively exposed characters onto light-sensitive paper. Originally they were driven by pre-punched paper tapes. Later they were hooked up to computer front ends.
One of the earliest electronic photocomposition systems was introduced by Fairchild Semiconductor. The typesetter typed a line of text on a Fairchild keyboard that had no display. To verify correct content of the line it was typed a second time. If the two lines were identical a bell rang and the machine produced a punched paper tape corresponding to the text. With the completion of a block of lines the typesetter fed the corresponding paper tapes into a phototypesetting device which mechanically set type outlines printed on glass sheets into place for exposure onto a negative film. Photosensitive paper was exposed to light through the negative film, resulting in a column of black type on white paper, or a galley. The galley was then cut up and used to create a mechanical drawing or paste up of a whole page. A large film negative of the page is shot and used to make a plates for offset printing.
Before the 1980s, almost all typesetting for publishers and advertisers was done by specialist typesetting companies. These companies performed keyboarding, editing and production of paper or film output, and formed a large component of the graphic arts industry. In the United States, these companies were in rural Pennsylvania, New England or the Midwest where labor was cheap, and paper produced nearby, but still within a few hours' travel time of the major publishing centers.
In 1985, desktop publishing became available, starting with the Apple Macintosh, Aldus PageMaker (and later QuarkXPress) and PostScript. Improvements in software and hardware, and rapidly-lowering costs, popularized desktop publishing and enabled very fine control of typeset results at much lower cost than the minicomputer-based systems. At the same time, word processing systems such as Wang and WordPerfect revolutionized office documents. They did not, however, have the typographic ability or flexibility required for complex book layout, graphics, mathematics, or advanced hyphenation and justification rules ("H and J").
By the year 2000, this industry segment had shrunk because publishers were now capable of integrating typesetting and graphic design on their own in-house computers. Many found that the cost of maintaining high standards of typographic design and technical skill made it more economical to out-source to freelancers and graphic design specialists.
The availability of cheap, or free, fonts made the conversion to do-it-yourself easier but also opened up a gap between skilled designers and amateurs. The advent of PostScript, supplemented by the PDF file format, provided a universal method of proofing designs and layouts, readable on major computer and operating systems.
IBM created and inspired a family of typesetting languages with names that were derivatives of the word "SCRIPT". Latter versions of SCRIPT included advanced features such as automatic generation of a table of contents and index, multi-column page layout, footnotes, boxes, automatic hyphenation and spelling verification.
SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) was based upon GML (IBM Generalized Markup Language). GML was a set of macros on top of IBM SCRIPT.
The arrival of SGML/XML as the document model made other typesetting engines popular. Such engines include Datalogics Pager, Penta, Miles 33's OASYS, Xyvision's XML Professional Publisher (XPP), FrameMaker, Arbortext, YesLogic's Prince, QuarkXPress and Adobe InDesign. These products allow users to program their typesetting process around the SGML/XML with the help of scripting languages. Some of them, such as Arbortext Editor and XMetaL Author, provide attractive WYSIWYG-ish interfaces with support for XML standards and Unicode to attract a wider spectrum of users.
During the mid-1970s Joseph Ossanna, working at Bell Laboratories, wrote the troff (said as "tee-roff") typesetting program to drive a Wang C/A/T phototypesetter owned by the Labs; it was later enhanced by Brian Kernighan to support output to different equipment such as laser printers and the like. While its use has fallen off, it is still included with a number of Unix and Unix-like systems and has been used to typeset a number of high-profile technical and computer books. Some versions, as well as a GNU work-alike called groff, are now open source.
The TeX system, developed by Donald E. Knuth at the end of the 1970s, is another widespread and powerful automated typesetting system which has set high standards, especially for typesetting mathematics.
Swinging London
Swinging London is a catch-all term applied to the fashion and cultural scene which flourished in London, in the 1960s.
It was a phenomenon which emphasized the young, the new and the modern. It was a period of optimism and hedonism, and a cultural revolution. One catalyst was the recovery of the British economy after post-World War II hard times had lasted through much of the 1950s. Journalist Christopher Booker, a founder of the satirical magazine "Private Eye", recalled the "bewitching" character of the swinging sixties: "There seemed to be no one standing outside the bubble, and observing just how odd and shallow and egocentric and even rather horrible it was".
"Swinging London" was defined by "Time" magazine in its issue of 15 April 1966, and celebrated in the name of the pirate radio station, "Swinging Radio England", that began shortly afterward. However, "swinging" in the sense of hip or fashionable, had been used since the early 1960s. In 1965, Diana Vreeland, editor of "Vogue" magazine, said "London is the most swinging city in the world at the moment".
Although "The Beatles" came from Liverpool, "The Rolling Stones", and the rest of the new culture was London-based. Most of the new fashion designers, models and photographers were young, and packed into a small area in Soho around Carnaby Street, W1., and another area round the King's Road, Chelsea.
During the time of Swinging London, fashion and photography were featured in "Queen" magazine, which drew attention to fashion designer Mary Quant.
The model Jean Shrimpton was another icon and one of the world's first supermodels. She was the world's highest paid and most photographed model of the time. Shrimpton was called "The face of the '60s", in which she has been considered by many as "the symbol of Swinging London", and the "embodiment of the 1960s". Other popular models of the era included Veruschka, and Twiggy. Twiggy was called "the Queen of Mod", a label she shared with others, such as Cathy McGowan, who hosted the television rock show, "Ready Steady Go!" from 1964 to 1966.
Mod-related fashions such as the miniskirt stimulated fashionable shopping areas such as Carnaby Street and the Kings Road, Chelsea. The fashion was a symbol of youth culture.
The British flag, the Union Flag, became a symbol, assisted by events such as England's home victory in the 1966 World Cup. The Mini car (launched in 1959) was used by a fleet of mini-cab taxis highlighted by advertising which covered their paintwork.
Tosca is an Italian opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini. It was first performed in Rome on January 14, 1900. The libretto was written by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. It was based on Victorien Sardou's play "La Tosca". "Tosca" was a great success.
The story happens in Rome in the year 1800. Some years before, Rome was ruled by the pope. But Napoleon invaded Rome and made it a republic. This republic was ruled by seven men called "consuls". But Napoleon had problems with Austria and the French had to leave, so Rome was conquered by people from Naples. Because of that, the new government decided to arrest people from the previous government. In 1800 Napoleon decided to return to Rome because he had just defeated the Austrian army in the north. The battle they fought was called the "Battle of Marengo".
On the 17th of June, 1800, Scarpia, general of the secret police, is sending republicans to prison. One of the republicans, Angelotti, flees prison and gets inside the church of Sant' Andrea della Valle. Angelotti used to be one of the consuls. In this church, he meets another republican called Cavaradossi. Cavaradossi hides Angelotti in a secret place.
Later, Scarpia enters the church. Scarpia can’t find Angelotti, but meets a woman called Tosca there. She is the singer, and Cavaradossi's lover. Scarpia tricks Tosca into going to Cavaradossi’s house, and has his soldiers follow her.
Scarpia hears that his soldiers can’t find Angelotti, but have arrested Cavaradossi. Scarpia then tortures Cavaradossi, but Cavaradossi doesn’t confess where Angelotti is. So Scarpia calls Tosca, and shows her her lover’s tortured state. Tosca tells him where is the secret place Angelotti was hidden.
Then, a message comes saying that Napoleon has won the Battle of Marengo. Cavaradossi is happy, because there will be a new republican government. Scarpia is furious and condemns Cavaradossi to death.
Tosca begs Scarpia to save her lover's life. Scarpia demands that Tosca gives herself to him in exchange. As Scarpia goes to touch Tosca, she stabs him to death with a knife from the table.
Tosca runs to Cavaradossi in the prison at the castle Sant'Angelo. But, the firing squad shoot Cavaradossi. When Scarpia’s soldiers try to arrest Tosca for Scarpia's murder, she kills herself by jumping from the castle.
Caesars Palace Grand Prix
The Caesars Palace Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race in 1981 and 1982. Nissan/Datsun was a presenting sponsor of both races.
When Watkins Glen left the F1 schedule after 1980, the Caesars Palace GP took its place. The track was set up in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel. It was surprisingly well set up for a temporary circuit. It was wide enough for passing, provided ample run-off areas filled with sand, and had a surface that was as smooth as glass. Its counter-clockwise direction put a tremendous strain on the drivers' necks. 1982 was the end of Formula One racing in Las Vegas. The races had drawn only tiny crowds.
In 1983 and 1984, CART ran Grands Prix races on the same circuit.
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km southeast of Darwin. It is the second largest national park in the world. It covers an area of . It is about 200 kilometres from north to south, and more than 100 kilometres from east to west. It is the size of Slovenia, about one-third the size of Tasmania, or nearly half the size of Switzerland. The Ranger Uranium Mine, one of the biggest Uranium mines in the world, is inside the park.
The name Kakadu comes from "Gagadju", the name of an Aboriginal language spoken in the northern part of the Park. Kakadu National Park has many different ecological areas, and many different plant and animal species. The main natural features protected within the National Park include:
Kakadu National Park is famous for the richness of its Aboriginal cultural sites. There are more than 5000 recorded art sites showing Aboriginal culture over thousands of years. The archaeological sites show that Aboriginals have lived here for at least 20 000 and possibly up to 40 000 years.
The cultural and natural values of Kakadu National Park were recognised internationally when the Park was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is an international list of places that are have outstanding cultural or natural values of international significance. Kakadu was listed in three stages: Stage 1 in 1981, Stage 2 in 1987, and the entire Park in 1992.
About half of the land in Kakadu is aboriginal land under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. Most of the remaining land is currently under claim by Aboriginal people. The areas of the Park that are owned by Aboriginal people are leased by the traditional owners to the Director of National Parks to be managed as a national park. The remaining area is Australian Government land controlled by the Director of National Parks. All of Kakadu is declared a national park under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.
The Aboriginal traditional owners of the Park are descendants of various clan groups from the Kakadu area. Their lifestyle has changed in recent years, but their traditional customs and beliefs remain very important. About 500 Aboriginal people live in the Park; many of them are traditional owners. All of Kakadu is jointly managed by Aboriginal traditional owners and the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment and Water Resources through a division known as Parks Australia. Park Management is directed by the Kakadu Board of Management.
Kakadu was set up at a time when Australians were becoming more interested in national parks for conservation and in recognising the land rights of Aboriginal people. A national park in the Alligator River region was proposed as early as 1965. In 1978 the Australian Government took over the titles of various pieces of land that now makes up Kakadu National Park.
Kakadu National Park was made a park in three stages between 1979 and 1991. Each stage of the Park includes Aboriginal land under the Land Rights Act that is leased to the Director of National Parks or land that is subject to a claim to traditional ownership under the Land Rights Act. Most of the land that was to become part of Stage One of Kakadu was given to the Kakadu Aboriginal Land Trust under the Land Rights Act in August 1978. In November 1978, the Land Trust and the Director signed a lease for the land to be managed as a national park. Stage One of the Park was declared on 5 April 1979.
Stage Two was declared on 28 February 1984. In March 1978, a claim was lodged under the Land Rights Act for the land included in Stage Two of Kakadu. The land claim was partly successful. In 1986, three areas in the eastern part of Stage Two were given to the Jabiluka Aboriginal Land Trust. A lease between the Land Trust and the Director of National parks was signed in March 1991.
In 1987, a land claim was made for the land in the Goodparla and Gimbat pastoral leases that were to be included in Stage Three of Kakadu. The other area to be included in Stage Three, the Gimbat Resumption and the Waterfall Creek Reserve, were later added to this land claim. The need to create the park in stages was due to the debate over whether mining should be allowed at Guratba (Coronation Hill) which is located in the middle of the area referred to as Sickness Country. The traditional owners’ wishes were ultimately respected and the Australian National Government decided that there would be no mining at Guratba.
In 1996, the land in Stage Three, apart from the former Goodparla pastoral leases, was given to the Gunlom Aboriginal Land Trust and leased to the Director of National Parks to continue being managed as part of Kakadu.
The Chinese, Malays and Portuguese all claim to have been the first non-Aboriginal explorers of Australia’s north coast. The first surviving written account comes from the Dutch. In 1623 Jan Carstenz made his way west across the Gulf of Carpentaria to what is believed to be Groote Eylandt. Abel Tasman was the next explorer to visit in 1644. He was the first person to record European contact with Aboriginal people. Almost a century later Matthew Flinders surveyed the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1802 and 1803.
Phillip Parker King, an English navigator entered the Gulf of Carpentaria between 1818 and 1822. During this time he named the three Alligator Rivers after the large numbers of crocodiles, which he thought were alligators.
Ludwig Leichhardt was the first land-based European explorer to visit the Kakadu region, in 1845 on his way from Moreton Bay in Queensland to Port Essington in the Northern Territory. He followed Jim Jim Creek down from the Arnhem Land escarpment, then went down the South Alligator before crossing to the East Alligator and going north.
In 1862 John McDouall Stuart travelled along the south-western boundary of Kakadu but did not see any people.
The first non-Aboriginal people to visit and have long term contact with Aboriginal people in northern Australia were the Macassans from Sulawesi and other parts of Indonesia. They travelled to northern Australia every wet season, probably from the last quarter of the 17th century, in sailing boats called praus. They came to harvest trepang (sea cucumber), turtle shell, pearls and other prized items to trade in their homeland. Aboriginal people helped in harvesting and processing the trepang, and in collecting and exchanging the other goods.
There is no evidence that the Macassans spent time on the coast of Kakadu. There is evidence of some contact between Macassan culture and Aboriginal people of the Kakadu area. Among the finds from archaeological digs in the Park are glass and metal pieces that probably came from the Macassans, either directly or through trade with the Coburg Peninsula people.
The British attempted a number of settlements on the northern Australian coast in the
early part of the 19th century: Fort Dundas on Melville Island in 1824; Fort Wellington at Raffles Bay in 1829; and Victoria Settlement (Port Essington) on the Coburg Peninsula in 1838. They wanted to secure the north of Australia before the French or Dutch, who had colonised islands further north. The British settlements all failed for a variety of reasons, such as lack of water and fresh food, sickness and isolation.
It is difficult to assess the impact of these settlements on the local Aboriginal people and the type of relationship that developed between them and the British. Certainly, some Aboriginals worked at the settlements. Exposure to new sickness was an ever-present danger. As in other parts of Australia, disease and the disruption it caused to society devastated the local Aboriginal population.
Water buffalo have had a big influence on the Kakadu region as well. By the 1880s the number of buffaloes escaped from early settlements had grown so much that hunting them for skins and horns was economically successful.
The industry began on the Adelaide River, close to Darwin, and moved east to the Mary River and Alligator Rivers regions.
Most of the buffalo hunting and skin curing was done in the dry season, between June and September, when buffaloes gathered around the remaining billabongs. During the wet season hunting stopped because the ground was too muddy to follow the buffalo and the harvested hides would rot. The buffalo hunting industry became an important employer of Aboriginal people during the dry-season months.
Missionaries had a big influence on the Aboriginal people of the Alligator Rivers area. Many of the people lived and went to school at missions. Two missions were set up in the region in the early part of the century. Kapalga Native Industrial Mission was started near the South Alligator River in 1899, but lasted only four years. The Oenpelli Mission began in 1925, when the Church of England Missionary Society accepted an offer from the Northern Territory Administration to take over the area, which had been used as a dairy farm. The Oenpelli Mission operated for 50 years.
Some writers and anthropologists say that missionaries, in trying to ‘civilise and institutionalise’ Aboriginal people, forced them to give up their lifestyle, language, religion, ceremonies and change the whole way they lived. Others say that, although they might not have used the best methods to achieve their goal, the missionaries did care about the Aboriginal people at a time when wider Australian society did not.
The pastoral industry made started slowly in the Top End. Pastoral leases in the Kakadu area were progressively given up from 1889, because the Victoria River and the Barkly Tablelands were better pastoral regions.
In southern Kakadu much of Goodparla and Gimbat was claimed in the mid-1870s by three pastoralists, Roderick, Travers and Sergison. The leases were later passed on to a series of owners, who were all unsuccessful. In 1987 both stations were taken back by the Commonwealth and added to Kakadu National Park.
There was a sawmill at Nourlangie Camp, begun by Chinese workers, probably before World War I, to cut stands of cypress pine in the area. After World War II there were a number of small-scale activities, including dingo shooting and trapping, brumby shooting, crocodile shooting, tourism and forestry.
Nourlangie Camp was again the site of a sawmill in the 1950s, until the cypress pines were cleared. In 1958 it became a safari camp for tourists. Soon after, a similar camp was started at Patonga and at Muirella Park. People were flown in to hunt buffalo, crocodiles and fishing.
Crocodile hunters often made use of the bush skills of Aboriginal people. By copying a wallaby’s tail hitting the ground, Aboriginal hunters could attract crocodiles, making it easier to shoot the animals. Using paperbark rafts, they would track the movement of a wounded crocodile and get the carcass for skinning. The skins were then sold to make leather goods. Aboriginal people became less involved in commercial hunting of crocodiles once night spotlight shooting started. Freshwater Crocodiles have been protected by law since 1964 and Saltwater Crocodiles since 1971.
Minerals were found in the Top End during the building of the Australian Overland Telegraph Line line between 1870 and 1872, in the Pine Creek – Adelaide River area. A number of short mining booms followed.
The building of the North Australia Railway line helped the mining camps, and places such as Burrundie and Pine Creek became permanent settlements. The mining camps and new settlements drew many Aboriginal people away from Kakadu. No Aboriginal people are known to have worked in the mines but their access to alcohol and other drugs had a huge impact.
Small-scale gold mining began at Imarlkba, near Barramundi Creek, and Mundogie Hill in the 1920s and at Moline (previously called Eureka and Northern Hercules mine), south of the Park, in the 1930s. The mines employed a few local Aboriginal people.
In 1953 uranium was discovered in the South Alligator River valley. Thirteen small but rich uranium mines operated in the following decade, at their peak in 1957 employing over 150 workers. No Aboriginal people were employed at any of these mines.
Early in the 1970s large uranium deposits were discovered at Ranger, Jabiluka and Koongarra. The Australian Government began an inquiry into land use in the Alligator Rivers region. The Ranger Uranium Environmental Inquiry (known as the Fox inquiry) recommended that mining begin at the Ranger site. It also said that Jabiluka and Koongarra sites should be developed, and that a town be built to support the mines.(Fox et al. 1976, 1977). The Ranger mine and the service town at Jabiru have had many impacts on Aboriginal people. Aboriginal people have different opinions about mining.
Kakadu is in the tropics, between 12° and 14° south of the Equator. The climate is monsoonal,
with two main seasons: the dry season and the rain season. The 'build up' describes the change between the dry and the rain. During the dry season (from April/May to September), there are dry southerly and easterly trade winds. Humidity is relatively low and rain is unusual. At Jabiru, the average maximum temperature for June-July is 32 °C. During the 'build up' (October to December) conditions can be extremely uncomfortable with high temperatures and high humidity. However, 'build up' storms are impressive and with many lightning strikes. At Jabiru the average maximum temperature for October is 37.5 °C.
The rain season (January to March/April) has warm temperatures and rain. Most of the rain is caused by monsoonal troughs formed over Southeast Asia. Sometimes tropical cyclones cause very heavy rain over small areas. At Jabiru, the average maximum temperature for January is 33 °C. Annual rainfall in Kakadu National Park ranges from 1,565 mm in Jabiru to 1,300 mm in the Mary River region.
The Aboriginal people, the Bininj/Mungguy, named as many as six seasons in the Kakadu region:
Periods of torrential rain and long dry spells mean that Kakadu can change its appearance according to the season, so is a place deserving of more than one visit.
Kakadu has more than 2000 plant species, because of the different geological areas, landforms and habitats. Kakadu is also said to be one of the most weed free national parks in the world.
The different geographical areas of Kakadu have their own specialised plants. The area called ‘the Stone Country’ has ‘resurrection grasses’ that are able to survive extreme heat, and dry conditions followed by periods of heavy rain. Monsoon forests often develop in the cool moist gorges found in the stone country. The southern hills and basins support several endemic plants that are only found in Kakadu such as "Eucalyptus koolpinensis" near Jarrangbarnmi (Koolpin Gorge). Lowland areas form a large proportion of Kakadu National Park and are mainly covered in eucalypt-dominated open woodland with the ground layer consisting of a large range of grasses including spear grass, sedges and wildflowers.
The floodplains, which are flooded for several months each year, feature sedges such as spike rush as well patches of freshwater mangroves (itchy tree), pandanus and paper bark trees (Melaleuca). Varieties of water lilies, such as the blue, yellow and white snowflake, are commonly found in these areas. Estuaries and tidal flats are populated with varieties of mangroves, in fact 39 of the 47 Northern Territory species of mangrove are found in Kakadu. These are important for preventing erosion of the coast. Mangroves serve as feeding and breeding grounds for many fish species including the barramundi.
On the tidal flats behind the mangroves, hardy succulents (samphire), grasses and sedges grow. Isolated pockets of monsoon forest grow along the coast and river banks. These forests contain several impressive trees, among them the banyan fig, which can be recognised by its large, spreading aerial roots, and the kapok tree, which has a spiny trunk, large, waxy red flowers and pods full of cotton-like material.
The different areas of Kakadu National Park support a huge number of animals, a number of which have adapted to particular habitats. Some animals in the Park are rare, endangered, vulnerable or endemic. Because of the extreme weather conditions experienced in the Park, many animals are active only at particular times of the day or night or at particular times of the year.
About 62 mammal species have been seen in the Park. Most of them live in the open forest and woodlands and are nocturnal, making it difficult to see them. Others, such as wallabies and kangaroos are active in the cooler parts of the day and are easier to see. The larger mammals are Dingos, Antilopine Kangaroos, Black Wallaroos, Agile Wallabys, and Short-eared Rock Wallabys. Smaller common mammals are northern quolls, brush-tailed phascogales, brown bandicoots, black-footed tree-rats, and black fruit bats. Dugongs are found in the coastal waters. However, recent surveys have shown smaller numbers of nearly all mammals throughout Kakadu. This includes once common and widespread species such as northern quolls.
Kakadu’s many habitats support more than 280 species of birds. This is about one-third of Australia’s bird species. Some birds range over a number of habitats, but many are found in only one environment.
To date, 123 species of reptiles have been found in Kakadu. Being cold blooded, these animals need heat from an external source such as the sun to control their body temperature. This is not to say that reptiles are active only during the day; in fact, few snakes can withstand Kakadu’s midday heat and most are active at night.
Two species of crocodile live in Kakadu: the Freshwater Crocodile ("Crocodylus johnstonii") and the Estuarine, or Saltwater Crocodile ("C. porosus"). Freshwater Crocodiles have a narrow snout and a single row of four large boney lumps called ‘scutes’ immediately behind the head. Estuarine Crocodiles do not have these scutes and their snout is broader. The maximum size for a ‘freshie’ is 3 metres, whereas a ‘saltie’ can exceed 6 metres.
Kakadu’s 25 frog species are extremely well adapted to the region’s climatic extremes. Many remain dormant during dry times. At the start of the wet season, when the billabongs and swamps start to fill with water, the night air is filled with the sounds of frogs such as the northern bullfrog and the marbled frog. As the water builds up, frogs and tadpoles have plenty of food, such as algae, vegetation, insects, dragonfly nymphs, and other tadpoles. Not all of Kakadu’s frogs are found in the wetlands: many live in the lowland forests.
Fifty-one species of freshwater fish have been found in Kakadu’s waterways; eight of them have a restricted distribution. In the Magela Creek system alone, 32 species have been found. In comparison, the Murray–Darling river system, the most extensive in Australia, now supports only 27 native fish species. Although introduced fish have been found in most Australian waterways, none have been recorded in the Park.
Kakadu supports more than 10,000 species of insect including grasshoppers, beetles, flies, termites, butterflies and moths, bees, wasps, ants, dragonflies and damselflies, caddis flies, non-biting midges and mayflies. The great variety of insects is a result of the varied habitats and relatively high temperatures throughout the year.
Perhaps the most striking insect-created features in the Park are the termite mounds. The mounds in the southern part of the Park are particularly large and impressive. Leichhardt’s grasshopper, in colours of orange, blue and black, is perhaps the most spectacular insect found in Kakadu. It is also found on the Arnhem Land plateau and in Gregory National Park.
Kakadu has seen several invasive species threaten the native habitat, particularly in recent decades. Introduced fauna including the Water Buffalo, wild pig and more recently, the Cane Toad have had major effects on habitat. Invasive weeds include "Mimosa pigra", which covers 800 km² of the Top End, including vast areas of Kakadu, invasive paragrass displaces the native food of much of Kakadu's birdlife. "Salvinia molesta" has infested the Magela floodplain. Brumbies also inhabit areas of the National Park, including Yellow Water.
There are six main landforms in Kakadu National Park:
Each landform has its own range of habitats. Kakadu’s varied landscapes and the habitats they contain are features that contributed to its listing as a World Heritage Area.
Most of Kakadu was under a shallow sea about 140 million years ago, with the escarpment wall formed from sea cliffs and Arnhem Land from a flat plateau above the sea. Currently the escarpment rises 330 metres above the plateau and stretches 500 kilometres along the East edge of the park and on into Arnhem Land. The escarpment varies from near vertical cliffs in the Jim Jim Falls area to isolated outliers and stepped cliffs in the North.
Chasms and gorges form a network that cut through the rocky platforms on the plateau. The plateau top is a harsh, dry environment where water drains away quickly and top soil is scarce in most areas. Sparse pockets of open forest and woodlands have developed in these areas. However creeks have carved deep gorges in the escarpment in which tall monsoon forests grow. These areas form microclimates for plants and animals and often serve as a refuge during the dry season. Allosyncarpia ternata, a large shady tree found only in the Kakadu and Arnhem Land, is the main plant species.
The outliers are pieces of the Arnhem Land plateau that have become separated from the plateau by erosion. They were islands in the ancient seas that once covered much of Kakadu. The lowland plains stretch over much of the Top End and they make up nearly 70% of the Park. The soils are shallow and often are above large sheets of laterite (ironstone) and a thick profile of strongly leached rocks.
During the wet season, water carried down from the Arnhem Land plateau often overflows from creeks and rivers onto nearby floodplains. Alluvial soils carried in the floodwaters add nutrients to the floodplains. Nutrient-rich soils along with an abundance of water and sunlight make the floodplains an area of prolific plant and animal life. During the dry season the water drains into rivers, creeks and isolated waterholes or billabongs. Kakadu’s wetlands are listed under the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (the Ramsar Convention) for their outstanding ecological, botanical, zoological and hydrological features.
The southern hills and basins cover a large area in the south of the Park, including the headwaters of the South Alligator River. Rocks here have been exposed from beneath the retreating Arnhem escarpment; they are of volcanic origin and are extremely old (2500 million years). This landform is characterised by rugged strike ridges separated by alluvial flats.
Kakadu’s coast and the creeks and river systems under tidal influence (extending about 100 kilometres inland) make up this landform. The shape of the estuaries and tidal flats varies considerably from the dry season to the wet season. During the dry season tidal action deposits silt along the river beds and banks. During the wet season the river beds are eroded by the floodwaters and large quantities of fresh and saline water flow out across the tidal flats, where silt is deposited. Large silt loads are also carried out to sea, some of the silt being deposited as a nutrient rich layer on the sea floor, contributing to the muddy waters that characterise Kakadu’s coastline.
The estuaries and tidal flats are home to many plants and animals adapted to living in the oxygen-deficient saline mud. The dominant habitats are mangrove swamps and samphire flats. Where freshwater springs occur along the coasts and river banks, isolated pockets of coastal monsoon rainforests form.
The art sites of Ubirr, Nourlangie Rock and Nanguluwur are world famous as examples of Aboriginal rock art. These sites are found among the rocks that have given shelter to the Aborigines for thousands of years. The painting in these rock shelters were done for different reasons:
Ubirr is a group of rock outcrops in the northest of the Park, on the edge of the Nadab floodplain. There are several large rock overhangs that would have provided excellent shelter to Aboriginal people over thousands of years. Because it is close to the East Alligator River and Nadab floodplains, it means that there would have been plenty of food. This is shown in much of the rock art here. Animals shown in the main gallery include barramundi, catfish, mullet, goanna, snake-necked turtle, pig-nosed turtle, Rock-haunting Ringtail Possum, and wallaby and thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger).
There are also images of the Rainbow Serpent said to have created much of the landscape as well as mischievous Mimi spirits and the story of the Namarrgarn Sisters. Many stories connected to Aboriginal rock are highly complex and linked to other stories. Often the true meanings have been lost, but they all have a purpose which is usually to serve as a lesson or a warning to the young or to those passing through the area.
Nourlangie is located in an outlying formation of the Arnhem Land Escarpment. There are a number of shelters in this large outcrop linked by paths and stairways. The shelters contain several impressive paintings that deal with the Dreamtime. The stories connected to these artworks are known only to certain Aboriginal people and remain secret.
Anbangbang Billabong lies in the shadow of Nourlangie Rock and is home to a wide range of wildlife which would have sustained traditional Aboriginal people well.
Nanguluwur, a small art site near Nourlangie, has several rock art styles. These include hand stencils, dynamic figures in large head-dresses carrying spears and boomerangs, Namandi spirits and mythical figures, including Alkajko, a female spirit with four arms and horns. There is also an interesting example of ‘contact art’ showing a two-masted sailing ship with anchor chain and a dinghy trailing behind.
Humans have made major changes in the area during the 19th and 20th century. Introduction of water buffalo from Southeast Asia caused damage to the fragile floodplains and wetlands. Since then, buffalo have largely been removed from the area so the land is now recovering. Crocodile hunting which has been banned since 1972 made a huge impact on crocodile numbers. Since they have been protected, the crocodiles have recovered so successfully that some think there are now too many.
Mining has made changes to the landscape, but only one uranium mine (Ranger) remains. Mine operators are have to repair and replant the area when the mine closes. Some small scale logging took place in the early part of the 20th century, but little evidence of this remains. Tourism causes big changes to Kakadu National Park with hundreds of thousands of visitors arriving annually. Roads, tracks, signs, shelter, accommodation, telecommunications and other services must be provided to support this activity.
Fire is part of the landscape of Kakadu National Park. The Park has large areas of woodland and grassy plains that are subject to long periods of dry hot weather. The flora of the region has adapted to frequent fires. Fires in northern Australia are less threatening than in southern Australia as many of the trees are largely fire resistant while other plants simply grow back very quickly.
Controlled burning is practiced by the national park in consultation with traditional owners who have used fire as a land management tool for thousands of years. Fire is an important hunting tool for Aboriginal people using it to flush out prey. The other benefit is that once the fire has gone through an area the tender shoots of the fast regenerating grasses attract wallabies into a clearly defined area. Birds of prey such as Whistling Kites also rely on fire to flush out small animals and are usually found in large numbers circling a fire front. Other species such as white-throated grasswrens have declined because of too many fires. Aboriginal people understand that fire is necessary to ‘clean up’ the landscape and believe that many small fires are preferable to one large fire.
Kakadu National Park is a major tourist attraction in Australia’s north with more than 200,000 visitors a year. Kakadu’s dramatic landscape, Aboriginal cultural significance and diverse and abundant wildlife are what visitors come to see. There are many beautiful waterfalls and gorges within the Park that are popular with visitors such as Maguk, Gunlom, Twin Falls and Jim Jim Falls.
Kakadu National Park has some of the best examples of Aboriginal rock art in Australia. The sites of Nourlangie and Ubirr are among the most visited locations in the Park. It is possible to view some of Kakadu’s diverse wildlife at places like Yellow Water Billabong, Cooinda on board a wildlife cruise or at Mamukala Wetlands or Anbangbang Billabong. The Kakadu region is one of the world’s best for bird watching as about 30% of Australia’s bird species can be seen here.
Large saltwater crocodiles are also common at Yellow Water and the East Alligator River. The Crocodile Dundee movies were made here. Visitors need to be careful around crocodiles as they have been responsible for a number of fatal attacks. Fishing is a popular activity inside Kakadu National Park. The main species is Barramundi and the most popular locations are Yellow Water, the South Alligator and the East Alligator River. Hunting is not allowed in Kakadu National Park.
There are several places to stay in the Park, mostly found in the town of Jabiru, as well as a range of services to cater to visitor’s needs. Visitors can experience Kakadu National Park with a recognised tour operator or they can drive themselves. Many of the Park’s sites are can be reached by standard two wheel drive vehicles, but areas like Twin and Jim Jim Falls and Gunlom require four wheel drive vehicles. Visitors can experience Kakadu National Park via the Nature’s Way tourism drive which is a loop from Darwin to Jabiru then onto Katherine and back to Darwin covering about 900 km.
The Park is proclaimed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (the EPBC Act) and is managed through a joint management arrangement between the Aboriginal traditional owners and the Director of National Parks. The Director manages Commonwealth national parks through Parks Australia, which is a part of the Department of the Environment and Water Resources. Title to Aboriginal land in the Park is held by Aboriginal land trusts. The land trusts have leased their land to the Director of National Parks for the purpose of a national park for the enjoyment and benefit of all Australians and international visitors. Traditional owners have also expected that having their land managed as a national park would assist them in looking after their land in the face of growing and competing pressures. They saw a national park as establishing a way to manage the land that could protect their interests and be sympathetic to their aspirations. Parks Australia and the Aboriginal traditional owners of Kakadu are committed to the principle of joint management of the Park and arrangements to help this happen are highlighted in Kakadu’s Plan of Management.