Kakadu through the lens of Crocodile Dundee

By Dianne King

Topic: Film Industry

Paul Hogan starred as Mick Dundee in the film at Kakadu National Park.

I'm watching the activity on the bank in Girraween Lagoon near Darwin.

A sudden movement breaks the surface, a flash of open jaws.

I lurch backwards as the crocodile jolts forward, stopping abruptly.

My heart is racing; my colleagues are laughing.

The director said, 'Well, that's answered the question if it's real enough, Di's just jumped out of her skin!'

Girraween Lagoon is on the outskirts of Darwin.

It's 1985 in the Top End and we're filming Crocodile Dundee.

The crew is preparing to film the iconic croc attack scene where Mick Dundee saves Sue Charlton.

Dianne King worked on the set of Crocodile Dundee.

As Sue's stand-in, it was my job to block out her scenes while the crew got the camera, lights, and croc rehearsed.

As a Darwin girl wanting to learn filmmaking, it was an opportunity to be in the thick of it.

Dianne King in 1985.

Mike Atkinson, a Darwin cinematographer, said security was paramount, with armed rangers on the lookout for crocs.

We used to go there at night with a powerful torch and look for eye shines, but that doesn't mean that they're not under the water.

The first rule is: be very careful. We didn't have drones in those days … so you had to get in close — and sometimes it's extremely dangerous.

Mike Atkinson says filming Crocodile Dundee was dangerous with crocodiles around.

And it wasn't just crocodiles.

Atkinson helped location scout Craig Bolles find the iconic places for the film, one of which was Gunlom Falls in Kakadu National Park.

This was where they filmed the camp scene with Mick cooking the goanna, his first kiss with Sue and swimming in the waterhole.

With the top shot of Linda and Paul swimming in the waterhole — I was on a rope hanging over the escarpment to get that shot.

A Crocodile Dundee script from 1985.

The Dundee effect

Little did we realise that this film would break multiple box office records when it was launched in April 1986.

Crocodile Dundee's global reach put Australia firmly on the international map.

Crocodile Dundee turned into Australia's most successful film of all time.

Filming on the streets of New York for the first movie, when script supervisor Daphne Paris told curious passers-by she was from Australia, she was asked: 'what language do you speak there?'

Back there a few years later filming Crocodile Dundee 2, Daphne was asked the same question.

This time when she replied, the response was a resounding 'G'day mate!'

Gunlom Falls in Kakadu National Park reopened in 2025 after several years closed to the public.

The 'Dundee effect', as it has been coined, brought Kakadu's visitor numbers up to 300,000 annually in the late 1980s.

Since then — aside from years affected by COVID-19 — the park has consistently seen visitor numbers between 160,000 to 200,000 annually.

Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) is a world-renowned rock art site.

Kakadu has long been on the UNESCO World Heritage list for both its spectacular environment and its cultural importance.

Its ranking at number 14 in the New York Times' 52 Places to Go in 2026 list has returned the park to the spotlight as a top tourist destination.

Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) is a cultural highlight of Kakadu.

Kakadu Tourism spruiks a self-guided tour where fans can visit the iconic locations from the film.

Even the film's fictitious Never Never Safaris, run from the Walkabout Creek Pub by Mick and Wally, has a real-life spin off.

Owner Sean 'Chizo' Chisholm says he watches the film once a month and he loves quoting it to tourists when showing them the film's iconic locations.

We do a sunset tour out there, it's when he's standing at the top there with Sue and pointed down and he said, 'This is my back yard, and over there is the Never Never'.

Burrungkuy (Nourlangie) viewed from the Kunwarddewardde lookout.

But Chizo says what most people are interested in is Kakadu itself.

I think it's the Aboriginal culture here you know, the wildlife, the flood plains, the birdlife…

And the crocodiles.

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