Purnululu National Park, National park in Kimberley region, Western Australia.
The Bungle Bungle Range covers 450 square kilometers (174 square miles) and consists of thousands of orange and black striped sandstone cones rising 250 meters (820 feet) above valleys with palms, gorges, and seasonal pools.
Following thousands of years of Aboriginal habitation, authorities declared the area a national park in 1987. UNESCO added it to the World Heritage list in 2003 for geological formations that originated during the Devonian period.
The name Purnululu comes from the Kija language, and Bungle Bungle may derive from a Kija word for sandstone or from a mispronunciation of the English "bundle". In 2022 the Federal Court recognised the Purnululu and Gajangana Jaru claimants as traditional owners, with native title held in trust by the Bungle Bungles Aboriginal Corporation for the Jaru, Gija and Malngin peoples. In 2024 the Gija community and the Western Australian Museum published an interactive display of the Gija creation story, shown on the museum website and on an installation in the park.
The area is accessible from April to December via Spring Creek Track, requiring four-wheel drive vehicles for the three-hour journey from Great Northern Highway. Scenic flights and guided walking tours are available on site.
The orange and black bands result from varying permeability of sandstone layers, with cyanobacteria growing on moister dark bands to create one of the largest cone karst landscapes on Earth.
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