Darwin · Litchfield · Kakadu · Katherine

Top End Trails

Our journey through the Northern Territory, one waterfall, sunset and croc-free swimming hole at a time.

Adventure progress

The trail

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Whose traditional lands are these?

Every stop on this trail is on someone's traditional lands, lived on and cared for over tens of thousands of years. Tap a card to turn it over and read a story these peoples share.

Darwin & Surrounds

The Larrakia

Darwin stands on the traditional lands of the Larrakia. They are Saltwater People, their lives and stories woven around the harbour, the tides and the sea, with trade routes that connected them to the Tiwi, Wadjiginy and Djerimanga peoples and far beyond. Larrakia people remain the custodians of this coast today.

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A Larrakia story

Old Man Rock

Off the beaches of Darwin lies a flat shelf of rock the Larrakia call Dariba Nunggalinya, or Old Man Rock, seen only at low tide. It is the resting place of a powerful ancestor, and a place where young Larrakia men were once taught the law. It is a serious, sacred place: the old people warn that if it is disturbed or interfered with, the ancestor stirs and sends great storms and trouble to the country. It is watched over, and respected, to this day.

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Litchfield

Koongurrukun, Mak Mak Marranunggu, Werat & Warray

Litchfield sits on the traditional lands of four peoples: the Koongurrukun, Mak Mak Marranunggu, Werat and Warray. Their ancestral spirits formed this landscape and remain within it, and the great sandstone Tabletop Range at the heart of the park holds deep spiritual importance.

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Stories held on Country

The Tabletop Range

The creation stories of these four peoples are held by the communities themselves, and many are not ours to tell. What is shared is this: the ancestral spirits made this whole landscape, the falls, the rock and the creatures, and are still present in it. The Tabletop Range is sacred, and some places are kept from visitors out of respect, like the base of Tjaetaba Falls where swimming is not allowed for cultural reasons. Travelling here means walking gently on a living, spiritual place.

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Kakadu

Bininj & Mungguy

Bininj in the north, Mungguy in the south: Kakadu's Traditional Owners have lived on these lands for more than 60,000 years, and their rock art is one of the longest historical records left by any people on Earth. Among the most powerful figures painted there is the Rainbow Serpent, a creation ancestor whose image watches over Ubirr.

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A Bininj story

The Rainbow Serpent

In the beginning came Warramurrungundji, the Earth Mother, who rose from the sea and travelled the land, making the people, giving them their languages and teaching them how to live, before turning herself into stone. With her travelled the Rainbow Serpent, a great and powerful being who wound across the country, gouging out the rivers and waterholes and shaping the escarpment. She rests now in the quiet waterways, peaceful unless disturbed, and at Ubirr she painted her own image on the rock so people would remember she is always near.

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Katherine & Nitmiluk

The Jawoyn

Nitmiluk is the traditional land of the Jawoyn people. The name means "place of the cicada dreaming", from the song of Nitmi the cicada in the Creation time. The park was handed back to the Jawoyn in 1989 and has been jointly managed ever since, and Jawoyn stories tell of the Rainbow Serpent dwelling in the deep pools of the gorge.

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A Jawoyn story

How the river was made

In the Creation time a dragon-like being named Nabilil travelled this country, carrying water and fire sticks in a dilly bag under his arm. He camped at the mouth of the gorge, and hearing the song of Nitmi the cicada, he named the place Nitmiluk. Further upstream he was ambushed by Walarrk, the Cave Bat, and in the struggle he dropped his dilly bag and spilled the water, and that spilled water ran out to fill the streams and make the Katherine River. In the deep green pools lives Bolung, the Rainbow Serpent, whose waters are treated with great care so as not to disturb her.

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These stories are shared publicly by their communities. We tell them here with respect, and pay our respects to Elders past and present.