Editing Kakadu National Park (section)

====Pastoralists====
The pastoral industry made a cautious start in the [[Top End]]. Pastoral leases in the Kakadu area were progressively abandoned from 1889, because the [[Victoria River (Northern Territory)|Victoria River]] and the [[Barkly Tableland]]s proved to be better pastoral regions.

In southern Kakadu, much of Goodparla and Gimbat was claimed in the mid-1870s by three pastoralists, Roderick, Travers and Sergison. The leases were subsequently passed on to a series of owners, all of whom were unable for one reason or another to make a go of it. In 1987 both stations were acquired by the Commonwealth and incorporated in Kakadu National Park.

A sawmill at Nourlangie Camp was begun by Chinese operators, probably before [[World War I]], to mill stands of cypress pine in the area. After World War II a number of small-scale ventures, including dingo shooting and trapping, [[brumby]] shooting, crocodile shooting, tourism and forestry, began.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water |title=History of the park. |url=https://www.dcceew.gov.au/parks-heritage/national-parks/kakadu-national-park/culture-and-history/history-park |access-date=12 April 2025}}</ref>

Nourlangie Camp was again the site of a sawmill in the 1950s, until the local stands of cypress pine were exhausted. In 1958 it was converted into a safari camp for tourists. Soon after, a similar camp was started at Patonga and at Muirella Park. Clients were flown in for recreational buffalo and crocodile hunting and fishing.

Crocodile hunters often made use of the bush skills of Aboriginal people. By imitating a wallaby's tail hitting the ground, Aboriginal hunters could attract crocodiles, making it easier to shoot the animals. Using paperbark rafts, they would track the movement of a wounded crocodile and retrieve the carcass for skinning. The skins were then sold to make leather goods. Aboriginal people became less involved in commercial hunting of crocodiles once the technique of spotlight shooting at night developed. [[Freshwater crocodile]]s have been protected by law since 1964 and [[saltwater crocodile]]s since 1971.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Department of the Environment |title=Crocodylus porosus - Salt-water Crocodile, Estuarine Crocodile |url=https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=1774 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20241226034802/http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=1774 |archive-date=2024-12-26 |access-date=2025-04-12 |website=www.environment.gov.au |language=en}}</ref>