Editing Carnarvon National Park (section)

===Human history===

Carnarvon National Park is significant to [[Bidjara (Warrego River)|Bidjara]], [[Karingbal]], and [[Gayiri|Kara Kara]] people of Central Queensland. The park contains multiple reminders of [[Aboriginal Australians|Aboriginal]] cultural connection in [[rock art]] sites, [[Aboriginal Australian sacred site|burial places and occupation sites]]. '''Kenniff Cave''', in the Mount Moffatt section, was the first Australian [[archaeological site]] to return [[carbon date]]s on occupational evidence that pushed human occupation of the continent into the [[Late Pleistocene]] at 19,500 years before present. Prior to [[D.J. Mulvaney]]'s excavation of Kenniff Cave, it was thought that Australia had only been occupied during the [[Holocene]], fewer than 10,000 years before present.

[[File:Aboriginal art Carnarvon Gorge.jpg|thumb|200px|Aboriginal art at Carnarvon Gorge]]
The indigenous [[stencil]] artists of Central Queensland, such as those who created sites such as the Art Gallery and Cathedral Cave in [[Carnarvon Gorge]], are regarded by some researchers{{Who|date=January 2011}} as the best in the world. It appears they developed complex stencilling techniques that have not been replicated elsewhere. Only one full adult body stencil is known to exist in the world; it can be seen publicly at the Tombs site in the Mount Moffatt section of the park. It is the largest known stencil, and a good example of the heights to which this form of human expression was taken in Central Queensland.

Contemporary Indigenous culture in the park is much changed from that of pre-colonial Central Queensland; however strong Indigenous links to the landscapes within Carnarvon National Park are maintained through [[traditional owner]] involvement in the protection and preservation of the Park's cultural sites.

The first European to traverse the future park was [[Thomas Mitchell (explorer)|Thomas Mitchell]], in the 1840s. Settlers followed in the footsteps of the explorers, lured by reports of the region's permanent water. Altercations with local Indigenous groups soon broke out and escalated into a state of mutual aggression that was maintained until the 1870s.

The remoteness of the area during early settlement attracted some interesting local characters, some of whom came to the area to avoid unwanted official scrutiny. The Ward brothers hunted fur in the Carnarvons year round at a time when there were restricted open seasons. The [[Kenniff brothers]] (Kenniff Cave's namesakes) became notorious local horse thieves, and later murderers.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131484720 |title=Queensland outlaws: The Brother's Kenniff |newspaper=[[The World's News]] |issue=1424 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=27 March 1929 |access-date=28 August 2020 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}} </ref>

Today, tourism, recreation, and conservation are the main human activities conducted on the park. The most popular section of the park is the Carnarvon Gorge section which receives an estimated 65,000 visitors per year. Mount Moffatt is the next most visited section, followed by Salvator Rosa and Ka Ka Mundi. The remaining sections of the park receive virtually no visitation at all, and are consequently high in wilderness values.

Carnarvon National Park offers a variety of recreational activities including four-wheel driving, wildlife watching, hiking along maintained tracks, and bush walking into remote areas. A ninety-kilometre-long trail is currently{{when|date=January 2011}} underway that will allow bush walkers to circumnavigate Carnarvon Gorge in around five days.