Litchfield National Park, covering approximately 1500 km2, is near the township of Batchelor, 100 km south-west of Darwin, in the Northern Territory of Australia. Each year the park attracts over 260,000 visitors.
Proclaimed a national park in 1986, it is named after Frederick Henry Litchfield, a Territory pioneer, who explored areas of the Northern Territory from Escape Cliffs on the Timor Sea to the Daly River in 1864.
History
Early history
Aboriginal people have lived throughout the area for thousands of years. It is important to the Mak Mak Marranunggu (northern portion), Werat and Waray (southern portion)Aboriginal people whose Ancestral Spirits formed the landscape, plants and animals and are still present in the landscape today.
Recent history
The park was named after Frederick Henry Litchfield, a member of the Finniss Expedition that travelled from South Australia in 1864. This was the first European expedition to visit the Top End of Australia and it was their aim to explore as widely as possible and establish a settlement at Escape Cliffs, on the mouth of the Adelaide River. Previous attempts at settlement of Australia's northern coast at Fort Dundas, Raffles Bay and Port Essington had already failed.
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