Tunnel Creek is a creek located within the grounds of

Tunnel Creek National Park Tunnel Creek National Park is a national park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, northeast of Perth and east of Broome. The natural cave through which Tunnel Creek flows is a major attraction of the park. Many Aboriginal rock pai ...

in the Kimberley region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Along with

Geikie Gorge Geikie Gorge (known locally as Darngku) is a feature of the Napier Range and is located within the grounds of Danggu Gorge National Park (formerly, Geikie Gorge National Park), from Fitzroy Crossing, northeast of Perth and east of Broome in ...

and

Windjana Gorge Windjana Gorge is a gorge in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is located within the Windjana Gorge National Park. The gorge was formed by the Lennard River having eroded away a section of the Napier Range. The range was formed over ...

, Tunnel Creek is part of an ancient

barrier reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. Co ...

that developed during the

Devonian Period The Devonian ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, Mya. It is named after Devon, England, wh ...

. Tunnel Creek is located 63 kilometres from the Great Northern Highway, between

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

and

Fitzroy Crossing Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

, and was created by waters from a creek that cut a 750-metre

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

through the reef. The tunnel is 15 metres wide and up to 12 metres high. Tunnel Creek was also the hideout for the

Bunuba The ''Bunuba'' (also known as Bunaba, Punapa, Punuba) are a group of Indigenous Australians and are one of the traditional owners of the southern West Kimberley, in Western Australia. Many now live in and around the town of Fitzroy Crossing. ...

man

Jandamarra Jandamarra or Tjandamurra (c. 1873—1 April 1897), known to European settlers as Pigeon,
in: Taylor (2004) w ...

, also known as Pigeon, who was killed there by police in 1897. The yellow-lipped cave bat, species ''

Vespadelus douglasorum The yellow-lipped cave bat (''Vespadelus douglasorum'') is a vesper bat that only occurs in the Kimberley (Western Australia), Kimberley region of northwest Australia. The bat was first captured at Tunnel Creek in 1958 and a description published ...

'', was first collected at this location.

References

Watercourses of Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia) {{WesternAustralia-geo-stub