Anbangbang Billabong lies in the shadow of Burrunggui (Nourlangie Rock) within Kakadu National Park and is a good place to view a wide range of wildlife. Large numbers of waterfowl and wading birds inhabit the billabong and many wallabies can be found grazing around the water's edge. There is a walking trail around the circumference of Anbangbang Billabong with many picnic areas.
The Anbangbang Billabong is overlooked by the Nawurlandja and Burrunggui plateaux. In the wet season, it is fed by runoff from these, as well as by overflow from Nourlangie Creek; however during the dry season it is cut off. [1]
Like much of Kakadu, Anbangbang Billabong is home to a particularly large variety of bird life. The fluctuating water levels draw waterfowl such as magpie geese, pelicans, darters, spoonbills and brolga. Other fauna known to frequent the billabong include wallabies, file snakes, long-necked turtles, dingoes and goannas. [1]
Mangroves lining the billabong support populations of freshwater mussel. Adjacent woodlands play host to a different ecosystem again. The nearby Nawurlandja plateau supports local populations of short-eared rock-wallaby and chestnut-quilled rock pigeon, among other species. [1]
The swelling billabong promotes seasonal growth of sedges, grasses, water lilies, and freshwater mangrove line the water's edge. Swamp areas support many types of paperbark, in particular the weeping paperbark, silver-leaved paperbark and broad-leaved paperbark. [1]
The woodlands surrounding the billabong are a lush habitat with an abundance of plant species. Darwin woollybutt and Darwin stringybark dominate, with large populations of fan palms, the kapok Cochlospermum fraseri , red apples, wattle and Pandanus . [1]
Like much of Kakadu, the Anbangbang Billabong region's climate is monsoonal. The region's Aboriginal owners recognise six seasons, however these can be reduced to vastly differing dry and wet seasons where the billabong is respectively depleted and replenished. [2]
Anbangbang Billabong has a marked, 2.5 km (1.6 mi) circular walk, popular with tourists to Kakadu National Park, but accessible only during the dry season. [3] It is a hotspot for bird watching during the late dry and early wet seasons due to the abundance of birdlife. [4] The nearby Nourlangie plateau (Burrunggui) and Anbangbang shelter are of particular interest for their Aboriginal rock art [5] [6] and 20,000-year human history. [7]
A creation story of the people of the area tells that the Anbangbang Billabong landscape was formed by a pair of short-eared rock-wallabies, known in a local language as badbong, who are responsible for cutting crevices in the rock and parting the trees for the billabong. [8] [9] This origin tale is commemorated in an Aboriginal name for nearby Nourlangie Rock, Badbong Bawardedjobgeng, more often known as Burrunggui from the Kundjeyhmi language name. [10] [11]
The meaning of the name Anbangbang is not known. [10]
In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Mamaragan or Namarrkon is a lightning Ancestral Being who speaks with thunder as his voice. He rides a storm-cloud and throws lightning bolts to humans and trees. He lives in a puddle.
Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, 171 km (106 mi) southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded living there in the 2016 Australian census.
The wandering whistling duck is a species of whistling duck. They inhabit tropical and subtropical Australia, the Philippines, Borneo, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.
Terminalia ferdinandiana, most commonly known as the Kakadu plum and also called the gubinge, billygoat plum, green plum, salty plum, murunga, mador and other names, is a flowering plant in the family Combretaceae, native to Australia, widespread throughout the tropical woodlands from north-western Australia to eastern Arnhem Land. Used as a traditional bush food and bush medicine for centuries, the fruit has especially high levels of vitamin C.
Alligator Rivers is the name of an area in an Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory of Australia, containing three rivers, the East, West, and South Alligator Rivers. It is regarded as one of the richest biological regions in Australia, with part of the region in the Kakadu National Park. It is an Important Bird Area (IBA), lying to the east of the Adelaide and Mary River Floodplains IBA. It also contains mineral deposits, especially uranium, and the Ranger Uranium Mine is located there. The area is also rich in Australian Aboriginal art, with 1500 sites. The Kakadu National Park is one of the few World Heritage sites on the list because of both its natural and human heritage values. They were explored by Lieutenant Phillip Parker King in 1820, who named them in the mistaken belief that the crocodiles in the estuaries were alligators.
Gunbalanya is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about 300 kilometres (190 mi) east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwinjku. At the 2021 Australian census, Gunbalanya had a population of 1,177.
Bininj Kunwok is an Australian Aboriginal language which includes six dialects: Kunwinjku, Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi, Manyallaluk Mayali (Mayali), Kundedjnjenghmi, and two varieties of Kune. Kunwinjku is the dominant dialect, and also sometimes used to refer to the group. The spellings Bininj Gun-wok and Bininj Kun-Wok have also been used in the past, however Bininj Kunwok is the current standard orthography.
The agile wallaby, also known as the sandy wallaby, is a species of wallaby found in northern Australia and southern New Guinea. It is the most common wallaby in north Australia. The agile wallaby is a sandy colour, becoming paler below. It is sometimes solitary and at other times sociable and grazes on grasses and other plants. The agile wallaby is not considered threatened.
The black wallaroo, also known as Woodward's wallaroo, is a species of macropod restricted to a small, mountainous area in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia, between South Alligator River and Nabarlek. It classified as near threatened, mostly due to its limited distribution. A large proportion of the range is protected by Kakadu National Park.
The short-eared rock-wallaby is a species of rock-wallaby found in northern Australia, in the northernmost parts of the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is much larger than its three closest relatives, the eastern short-eared rock-wallaby, the nabarlek and the monjon.
Nabarleks, are a tiny species of macropod found in northern Australia. They are a shy and nocturnal animal that resides in rocky hollows and forages in the surrounding area. Their diet is grasses, sedges, and ferns found in and around their scrub covered refuges. They are distinguished by a reddish tinge to the mostly grey fur and a distinct stripe at the cheek. They move with great speed and agility when observed, with a forward leaning posture and a bushy tail that arches over the back.
Burrunggui is located in an outlying sandstone formation of the Arnhem Land Escarpment within the Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the traditional Country of the Gun-djeihmi speaking people and according to traditional owners, was shaped by Ancestral beings in the creation period of the Dreaming. It was included on the World Heritage Register. Kakadu National Park is included on UNESCO the World Heritage List due to its exceptional natural and cultural values.
The Jim Jim Falls is a plunge waterfall on the Jim Jim Creek that descends over the Arnhem Land escarpment within the UNESCO World Heritage–listed Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Jim Jim Falls area is registered on the Australian National Heritage List.
This is a list of plants commonly found in Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory of Australia. Where known, common names are given in English and in Gun-djeihmi, a commonly spoken indigenous language in the area, are given in parentheses.
The white-throated grasswren, also known as Yirlinkirrkirr in the local language, is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to northern Australia, found only in West Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory (NT).
Melaleuca argentea, commonly known as the silver cadjeput, silver-leaved paperbark, silver cajuput, or mardderr in the Kunwinjku language, is a plant in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae and is endemic to northern Australia. It is a common tree along river banks or around swamps in the tropics. It has papery bark and weeping foliage and has been the subject of important scientific research.
The Goomadeer River is a river in the Northern Territory, Australia.
The Bininj are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. The sub-groups of Bininj are sometimes referred to by the various language dialects spoken in the region, that is, the group of dialects known as Bininj Kunwok; so the people may be named the Kunwinjku, Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi (Gundjeihmi), Manyallaluk Mayali, Kundedjnjenghmi and Kune groups.
The Ngormburr, also known as Murumburr and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory.
Kundjeyhmi is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kundjeyhmi are Bininj people, who live primarily in Kakadu National Park. Kundjeyhmi is considered an endangered dialect, with young speakers increasingly switching to English, Aboriginal English, Kunwinjku and Australian Kriol. Kundjeyhmi has a number of lexical and grammatical features that differ from the larger Kunwinjku and Kuninjku dialects.
