Career-defining masterpiece: Paul Hogan in the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee, which had the power to turn a cinematic backdrop of the Australian outback into a global hotspot. It was the blockbuster that made the NT a bucket-list destination! Have you done the “Croc Dundee” sights yet? Photos: Supplied.
One blockbuster movie, a giant knife and suddenly the whole world wanted to visit Australia! “That’s not a knife. That’s a knife,” is a timeless Crocodile Dundee quote that instantly entered the global lexicon.
Yet it was Kakadu’s untamed and striking landscape that truly captivated American minds — and the rest of the world — after the film made its debut in the US on 26 September, 1986. Few films have the power to reinvent a country’s travel industry, but 40 years later, this one is still drawing crowds.
Tourism to Australia skyrocketed, more than doubling in just 10 years! In 1980, Australia attracted 904,558 international visitors, including 113,964 Americans. By 1990 — after two Crocodile Dundee films had been released — inbound tourism had doubled to 2.14 million, including 251,500 Americans.
It opened on 879 US screens and became the highest-grossing film in Australian history. In America, it grossed US$174.8 million at the box office, and was pipped only by Top Gun as the most successful film in the US in 1986.
Mick Dundee was the larger-than-life, knife-wielding Australian bushman, who became a global pop-culture icon through Paul Hogan’s irreverent portrayal.
A game-changer for Australian tourism, it was the film’s larrikin narrative, combined with Kakadu National Park’s dramatic landscape — an integral component of the film — that transformed and supercharged Australia’s fledgling tourism industry almost overnight.
How many of the movie sites have you ticked off your bucket list?
Heritage-listed: Anbangbang Billabong and the nearby Nourlangie (also known as Burrungkuy) in Kakadu National Park are featured in Crocodile Dundee.
Commenting on the 40th anniversary, Kakadu Tourism chair Lauren Ganley said Hogan’s roguish, good-humoured character was the perfect complement to the Kakadu landscape.
“The film goes much deeper than some people might think, capturing the spirituality of the local traditional owners along with the region’s rich cultural significance,” Ms Ganley said.
“Crocodile Dundee introduced some of Australia’s most spectacular outback locations — such as the Gunlom waterfall and infinity rock pools and the Nourlangie and Ubirr rock art sites — to the world and created such a positive impression of the country that it helped transform Australian tourism to one of our most dynamic industries.
“The fact that these filming locations sit within a UNESCO World Heritage-listed national park means they are being preserved so that visitors from around the world can appreciate the unique destination.
“Operating in a remote destination like Kakadu comes with challenges, from air access and rising fuel costs to the impacts of natural disasters. Despite these challenges, the region continues to demonstrate its resilience, and we welcome recent government investment in road and park infrastructure, which will make it easier for visitors to view Kakadu’s main attractions.
“One of the most encouraging aspects of tourism development in Kakadu has been the growth of local Aboriginal businesses involved in tours, experiences, hospitality and accommodation.”
Crocodile Dundee triggered a massive global rush to the outback to appreciate the spectacularly beautiful, untamed natural landscape of Kakadu National Park, just a three-hour drive from Darwin, which framed the global blockbuster.
Linda Kozlowski and Paul Hogan in a scene from Crocodile Dundee where Gunlom Falls is famously depicted as “Echo Lake”.
Connect with Kakadu. View it as a living cultural landscape shaped by tens of thousands of years of traditional custodianship rather than just a scenic wilderness. Its ancient rock art and the Bininj Mungguy culture. See sites such as Ubirr and Nourlangie as historic records of creation stories and deep human history stretching back up to 20,000 years.
Ubirr is the rock formation where Dundee climbs to the top, points toward the horizon and says: “This is my backyard and over there is the Never Never”, while the movie camera panned across the flood plain. Kakadu immersed: Ubirr’s galleries contain the world’s most panoramic sweep of history, with drawings ranging from the thylacine to the arrival of Europeans.
Not surprisingly, crocodiles became a central focus for tourists wanting to follow in Dundee’s footsteps, with the Kakadu Crocodile Hotel developed by the local Gagudju people in the shape of a “ginga”, as the crocodile is known in the local language.
The other major accommodation venue in Kakadu — Cooinda Lodge — enabled visitors to get close up to massive saltwater crocodiles and other exotic wildlife through Yellow Water Cruises.
Hogan conceived the award-winning film’s story, and co-wrote the screenplay with Ken Shadie and John Cornell.
Hogan was no stranger to pitching Australia to the world. We all remember Tourism Australia’s ground-breaking “I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for you” ads igniting interest in 1984.
To help you explore the locations featured in the first two Crocodile Dundee films, Kakadu Tourism has designed self-guided road trips and rugged 4WD discovery tours.
Go on, channel your inner bushie!
