Tunnel Creek National Park is a national park

National park

A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...

 in the Kimberley region of Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

, 1845 kilometres (1,146.4 mi) northeast of Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

 and 390 km (242.3 mi) east of Broome

Broome, Western Australia

Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...

. The natural cave through which Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek is a creek located within the grounds of Tunnel Creek National Park in the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Along with Geikie Gorge and Windjana Gorge, Tunnel Creek is part of an ancient barrier reef that developed during the Devonian Period...

 flows is a major attraction of the park.

Many aboriginal rock paintings and speleothem

Speleothem

A speleothem , commonly known as a cave formation, is a secondary mineral deposit formed in a cave. Speleothems are typically formed in limestone or dolostone solutional caves.-Origin and composition:...

s are present in the cave decorating the walls. The cave was the hideout of the aboriginal warrior

Warrior

A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...

, Jandamarra

Jandamarra

Jandamarra or Tjandamurra , also known as "Pigeon", was an Indigenous Australian of the Bunuba people who led one of the few organised armed insurrections documented against European settlement in Australia.- Background :...

 who was killed outside the entrance of the cave in 1897.

Geography

The park is located in the Napier Range

Napier Range

The Napier Ranges are located in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The range is south of and runs parallel to the King Leopold Range.They feature the impressive Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek and Geikie Gorge that were formed over 350 million years ago as part of a limestone reef.The...

 and covers an area of 91 hectares (224.9 acre). The range is composed of limestone

Limestone

Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....

 and is the remains of a Devonian

Devonian

The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...

 reef

Reef

In nautical terminology, a reef is a rock, sandbar, or other feature lying beneath the surface of the water ....

 system formed around 350 million years ago.

The tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway, completely enclosed except for openings for egress, commonly at each end.A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. Some tunnels are aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations or are sewers...

 component of Tunnel Creek has a length of approximately 750 m (2,460.6 ft) that runs underground and it one of the oldest cave systems in Western Australia. The reef was first exposed around 250 million years ago and the first cave systems began to form, the present cave systems were created about 20 million years ago.

The cave reaches a maximum height of 12 m (39.4 ft) and has a maximum width of 15 m (49.2 ft). The creek was once known as "The Cave of the Bats" with at least five species of bat

Bat

Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...

 inhabiting the cavern. There are large pools of water on the floor of the cave in which freshwater crocodile

Freshwater Crocodile

The freshwater crocodile , also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, Johnston's crocodile or colloquially as freshie, is a species of reptile endemic to the northern regions of Australia...

s have been found. The pools indicate that the water table

Water table

The water table is the level at which the submarine pressure is far from atmospheric pressure. It may be conveniently visualized as the 'surface' of the subsurface materials that are saturated with groundwater in a given vicinity. However, saturated conditions may extend above the water table as...

 is only just below the present floor surface and water only flows through the area after heavy rainfall.

External links

• Some Photos of Tunnel Creek (German page)

See also

• Protected areas of Western Australia
  Protected areas of Western Australia
  Western Australia is the second largest subnational entity in the world. It contains no fewer than 1224 separate Protected Areas with a total area of 170,610 km²...
  
  
• The Kimberley