Big Bill Neidjie ( – 23 May 2002), nicknamed "Kakadu Man", was the last surviving speaker of the Gaagudju language, an Aboriginal Australian language from northern Kakadu, after which Kakadu National Park is named. He was an elder of the Gaagudju people and a custodian of the land, who cared deeply about preserving his culture and land. Early life and education Neijdie, was born around 1913 at Alawanydajawany, on the East Alligator River in the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory, into the Bunitj clan of the Gaagudju people. His father was Nadampala and his mother was Lucy Wirlmaka, from the Ulbuk clan of the Amurdak people. He had little formal education, spending only a couple of years at school at Oenpelli (present-day Gunbalanya), but learnt about his traditional culture, people and lands from his father and grandfather. Working life From about the age of 20 he worked first with buffalo hunters, then at a timber mill, and then on board a lugger transporting people and goods along the North Coast of the Northern Territory and to remote island communities. He was initiated at a ceremony at Ubirr in the early 1940s. During the Second World War ("the big fight") he helped in the defence of Australia, working at the radar station at Cape Don. He was in Darwin during the Japanese bombings in 1942 and helped Aboriginal people during and after the devastation. He acquired the nickname "Big Bill" because of his physique and strength, and was also called "Kakadu Man", after the title of his first book. Kakadu He was a senior elder of Kakadu National Park and a traditional owner of the Bunitj estate in northern Kakadu, perhaps the most spectacular national park in Australia. His decision to open up this land to other people was instrumental in the creation of Kakadu National Park. Neidje was instrumental in the decision to lease his traditional lands to the Commonwealth of Australia so that it could be managed as a wild area and as a resource to be shared by all Australians.<ref name=kakaduman> Rev. edns 1986– Australia's Kakadu man, Bill Neidjie. Darwin: Resource Managers. <Rev. edns 2002– [https://books.google.com/books?id=VMMxAAAACAAJGagudju man, Bill Neidjie, Kakadu National Park, Northern Territory, Australia]. Allan Fox .</ref> After helping establish Kakadu as a National Park in 1979, he returned there to commit the rest of his life to supporting the joint management of the Park. He