Description of the attraction
Lichfield National Park, covering an area of 1,500 square kilometers, is located near the town of Batchelor, 100 kilometers southwest of Darwin. More than 260 thousand people visit the park every year.
According to the beliefs of the natives of the Mak Mak Marranunggu, Verat and Varai tribes inhabiting these places, the marvelous landscape, plants and animals of the park were created by the souls of their ancestors, who still live here.
Protected in 1986, the national park is named after Frederick Henry Litchfield, one of the earliest explorers of Australia's Northern Territories in the mid-19th century. He was a member of the first European expedition to the northern tip of the mainland to establish a settlement on Iscape Cliff at the mouth of the Adelaide River. All previous attempts to establish a permanent settlement there have failed. The expedition reached what is now known as Lichfield National Park in September 1865. The discovery of copper and tin here led to the creation of several small mining enterprises, and later, in the 1870s, agriculture began to develop. Mineral mining was stopped only in 1951 after severe flooding flooded most of the mines. Today, the remains of an old tin mine are preserved in Bamboo Bay as a reminder of the difficult living conditions of the pioneers of these places. In 1948, in the northwestern part of the park, deforestation began - cypress and Lichhardt pine, and in 1949, uranium deposits were discovered on the eastern border of the park - there was opened the first fully operational uranium mine in Australia, Ram Jungle, which existed until 1971.
Today, Lichfield National Park is a large wildlife reserve in northern Australia. The central sandy plateau is covered with rich woodlands dominated by various types of eucalyptus trees, as well as plants with unusual names - Banksia, Grevillea and Terminalia. The islets of the relict monsoon forest grow violently in deep narrow gorges, created over thousands of years by the force of water falling from sheer cliffs. Here you can see lilies and graceful orchids growing among pandanas and sandalwood trees.
Among the wild animals living in the park are mountain kangaroos, wallabies, sugar flying squirrels, brush-tailed possums, marsupial mice, black and red flying foxes, dingo dogs. The caves near Tolmer Falls are home to rare orange common leaf-stalks.
Lichfield is also home to hundreds of bird species. Black kites and other birds of prey are frequent visitors during the dry season. Yellow and fig orioles, Pacific cuckoo, glittering drongo, eastern broad-mouthed and rainbow bee-eater inhabit the secluded spots near the falls.
Popular tourist destinations - Wangi Falls, Tolmer, Florence Falls and Bewley Rockhole - are favored by birds and reptiles. Honey suckers, fig orioles and Torres Strait pigeons share fruit and berries with nocturnal mammals such as the northern speckled marten, brown bandicoot and brush-tailed possum. The Finniss River is home to huge saltwater crocodiles. Another popular place for visitors is termite mounds. These wedge-shaped mounds, created by magnetic termites, are arranged strictly in a north-south line.
Most of the park's attractions are connected by an asphalt road and are easily accessible.
