Domestic Asian water buffalo, which are now an established feral population and invasive environmental pests, were released into the area in the late 19th century.

Feral pigs, cats, red foxes and rabbits are further examples of invasive species, all of which compete with and wreak havoc upon the sensitive, unique ecosystems of the Northern Territory, and of the whole of Australia.

Ludwig Leichhardt was the first land-based European explorer to visit the Kakadu region, in 1845 on his route from Moreton Bay in Queensland to Port Essington in the Northern Territory.

Their main aim was to harvest trepang (sea cucumber), turtle shell, pearls and other prized items to trade in their homeland.

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 operated as a dairy farm.

[citation needed] The first mineral discoveries in the Top End were associated with the construction of the Overland Telegraph line between 1870 and 1872, in the Pine Creek – Adelaide River area.

Following receipt of a formal proposal to develop the Ranger site, the Commonwealth Government initiated an inquiry into land use in the Alligator Rivers region.

In the mid 1990s a similar debate over additional uranium mining at Jabiluka[10] was prevented by a campaign and blockade initiated by the Gundjeihmi Aboriginal Corporation.

The escarpment rises 330 m (1,080 ft) above the plateau and extends approximately 500 km (310 mi) along the eastern edge of the park and on into Arnhem Land.

[14] There are six main landforms in Kakadu National Park: the Arnhem Land plateau and escarpment complex, known as the stone country; the outliers; the lowlands; the southern hills and basins; the floodplains; and the tidal flats.

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.

In Victoria the Kakadu Action Group (KAG) was formed by Lindsay Mollison at the Melbourne offices of the Australian Conservation Foundation where regular meetings were held.

[27] Local First Nations Gaagudju man Big Bill Neidjie was an important leader in the campaign against the proposed Jabiluka mine and the inclusion of the area in the park.

Day-to-day management of Kakadu is carried out by people employed by Parks Australia, which is a branch of the Australian Government's Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities.

On 24 March 2022 a ceremony took place today to mark the formal handback by Minister for Indigenous Affairs Ken Wyatt of nearly half of the park to Aboriginal traditional owners.

These are the Limingan/ Minitja, Murumburr, Karndidjbal,[31] Yulhmanj,[32] Wurngomgu, Bolmo, Wurrkbarbar, Madjba,[33] Uwinymil, Bunidj, Djindibi, Mirrar Kundjeyhmi and Dadjbaku peoples.

Kakadu's flora is among the richest in northern Australia with more than 1700 plant species recorded which is a result of the park's geological, landform and habitat diversity.

The environment referred to as the "Stone Country" features "resurrection grasses" that are able to cope with extreme heat and long dry spells followed by periods of torrential rain.

The southern hills and basins support several endemic plants that are only found in Kakadu such as Eucalyptus koolpinensis near Jarrangbarnmi (Koolpin Gorge).

[40][41] There is a remarkable variety and concentration of wildlife, including:[citation needed] The diverse environments of Kakadu National Park supports a great array of animals, a number of which have adapted to particular habitats.

Smaller common mammals are northern quolls, brush-tailed phascogales, brown bandicoots, black-footed tree-rats, and black flying foxes.

Some 11,246 km2 of Kakadu's savanna habitats has been identified by BirdLife International as an Important Bird Area (IBA) because it supports populations of the endangered Gouldian finch, the vulnerable red goshawk, the near threatened partridge pigeon and chestnut-backed button-quail, and the restricted-range hooded parrot and rainbow pitta.

The Kakadu Savanna IBA also supports varied lorikeets, northern rosellas, silver-crowned friarbirds, white-gaped, yellow-tinted, white-lined, bar-breasted and banded honeyeaters, sandstone shrike-thrushes, white-browed robins, canary white-eyes, and masked and long-tailed finches.

[44] Waterbirds include large populations of magpie geese, wandering whistling ducks, green pygmy geese, comb-crested jacana, black-necked stork, Australian pelicans, little black cormorant, Australian darter, nankeen night herons, pied herons, black bittern, sarus crane and brolga.

Freshwater crocodiles are easily identified by their narrow snout and a single row of four large boney lumps called "scutes" immediately behind the head.

On October 22, 2002, a twenty-four-year-old female German tourist was killed by a saltwater crocodile assault while swimming in Sandy billabong with other foreign backpackers including her sister.

Among the insect groups are grasshoppers, beetles, flies, termites, butterflies and moths, bees, wasps, ants, dragonflies and damselflies, caddisflies, non-biting midges and mayflies.

Anbangbang Billabong lies in the shadow of Nourlangie Rock and is inhabited by a wide range of wildlife which would have sustained traditional Aboriginal people well.

Controlled burning is practised by the national park in consultation with traditional owners who have used fire as a land management tool for thousands of years.

The significance of these creatures to the local aboriginal people, as well as the success of the film, inspired the design of the Gagudju Crocodile Hotel in Jabiru.