A national park in Australia's Red Centre that's home to Kings Canyon and an important Indigenous cultural site has been placed on the federal heritage list.
Watarrka National Park, 300km west of Alice Springs, sits on the traditional lands of the Anangu Aboriginal people.
The group has a deep connection to the site and has cared for the Tjukurrpa/the dreaming for tens of thousands of years and it continues to be a place where Anangu traditions, customs and beliefs are handed down from generation to generation.
The park has also been recognised for its abundance and diversity of native plants and animals.
It is home to more than 690 known plant species including the swamp lily, water penny beetle and aquatic pennywort, which is endemic to the park.
These species, which have affinities to animals present 18,000 years ago in a much wetter era, show the importance of Watarrka’s local aquifers in sustaining permanent surface water.
Watarrka is also a renowned international tourist attraction known for its dramatic landscape.
This includes Kings Canyon, described as a living plant museum, and Mereenie Sandstone geometric patterns formed over 400 million years.
Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek says Watarrka is one of the most visited parks in the Alice Springs region and supports rare and threatened plant species.
“By including Watarrka National Park on the National Heritage List, we are supporting traditional owners to protect and manage the park’s natural and cultural values for future generations," she said on Wednesday.
The National Heritage List gives the park greater recognition for its natural and cultural values and unique ecology, helping ensure it is better protected and managed.
It also recognises the park's living cultural landscape that is a physical manifestation of the Tjukurrpa and is protected by the songs, ceremonies, and culture of Anangu ngurraritja.
Watarrka joins the Wurrwurrwuy stone arrangements, Wave Hill Walk Off Route, Hermannsburg Historic Precinct, Uluru-Kata Tjuta and Kakadu National Parks on the National Heritage List in the Northern Territory.
Kings Canyon is known for its 300-metre high sandstone walls, palm-filled crevasses and views that stretch across the desert.
