Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park

About

Cutta Cutta Caves Nature Park is a reserve covering 1,499 hectares of limestone Karst landscape near the town of Katherine, in Australia's Northern Territory. The park is easily accessible from the Stuart Highway, about 27 km (17 mi) south of Katherine, and features two show caves where guided tours are offered to the public, making it a popular tourist attraction. The caves are the only tropical examples in Australia which are open to the public.

Cutta Cutta Caves are associated with Barrac Barrac, or Diver Duck dreaming creation stories by the local Jawoyn Indigenous people. Other sources, such as Lonely Planet, claim Cutta Cutta is a Jawoyn word meaning "many stars", as they believe that caves are where the stars rest during the day; however, there does not seem to be a specific name for the formations in the documented or oral history. Evidence of occupation by the Jawoyn people can be found throughout the park with a number of campsites and stone artifacts identified.

At least one unnamed cave within the park shows evidence of man-made grooves on an interior wall some distance from the entrance, although it is widely understood that the Jawoyn people did not regularly enter the...