Tunnel Creek

Tunnel Creek National Park sits in the western Kimberley, about 110 kilometres east of Fitzroy Crossing and roughly 390 kilometres from Broome. The centrepiece is a natural tunnel where a seasonal creek has carved a passage directly through the Napier Range, a limestone barrier reef that formed in a shallow tropical sea during the Devonian period around 350 million years ago. The range is now a low ridge running across the dry Kimberley landscape, and the creek has found the path of least resistance through it.

The tunnel is approximately 750 metres long and between 3 and 15 metres wide. Walking through requires wading in water that ranges from ankle deep to waist deep depending on the season and recent rainfall. A good torch is essential as the middle section is completely dark. About halfway through, a large roof collapse has opened a skylight to the surface, creating a dramatic pool of light in the middle of the otherwise dark tunnel. Freshwater crocodiles are sometimes seen in the deeper pools, but they are not considered dangerous to humans.

Tunnel Creek has deep cultural significance to the Bunuba people, the traditional owners of the area. The cave was the hiding place of Jandamarra, a Bunuba resistance fighter who led a guerrilla campaign against the colonial pastoral expansion in the 1890s. Jandamarra used his knowledge of the tunnel system and the surrounding Napier Range country to evade the police for three years before he was killed near the tunnel entrance in 1897. His story is one of the most significant frontier resistance narratives in Australian history.

The cave contains ancient Aboriginal rock art, stalactites, and colonies of bats that roost on the ceiling. The standard visit takes about 45 minutes to walk through and back. Most visitors combine Tunnel Creek with the nearby Windjana Gorge, a 3.5 kilometre long gorge cut through the same Devonian reef system.

Access is via the Fairfield-Leopold Downs Road, which is unsealed and can be rough. A high-clearance vehicle is recommended and 4WD is required in the wet season. The park is only reliably accessible from April to November.