![ArkaroolaAir](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/ArkaroolaAir.jpg)
Arkaroola is the common name for the ''Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary'', a
wildlife sanctuary
A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...
situated on of
freehold
Freehold may refer to:
In real estate
*Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple
* Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England
* Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...
and
pastoral lease land in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
.
It is located north of the
Adelaide city centre
Adelaide city centre (Kaurna: Tarndanya) is the inner city locality of Greater Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. It is known by locals simply as "the City" or "Town" to distinguish it from Greater Adelaide and from the City of Ad ...
in the Northern
Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna.
The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabit ...
, adjacent to the
Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park and the
Mawson Plateau
230px, Typical Mawson Plateau terrain; rolling hills, with sparse vegetation interspersed with numerous eroded granite boulders.
The Mawson Plateau, located at is part of the northern Flinders Ranges, located on the Mount Freeling pastoral lease ...
. The most common way to get there is by car, but air travel can be chartered from
Parafield Airport
Parafield Airport is on the edge of the residential suburb of Parafield, South Australia, north of the Adelaide city centre and adjacent to the Mawson Lakes campus of the University of South Australia. It is Adelaide's second airport and the ...
,
Adelaide Airport
Adelaide Airport , also known as Adelaide International Airport, is the principal airport of Adelaide, South Australia and the fifth-busiest airport in Australia, servicing 8.5 million passengers in the financial year ending 30 June 201 ...
or
Aldinga Airfield
Aldinga Airfield (ICAO:YADG) is a small, uncontrolled regional airfield
An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve ...
. It was used as a location set for the 2002 film ''
The Tracker''.
History
The area's first people are the
Adnyamathanha
The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternativ ...
. One of their dreamtime or creation stories says that Arkaroo, a mythical monster, drank
Lake Frome
Lake Frome / Munda is a large endorheic lake in the Australian state of South Australia to the east of the Northern Flinders Ranges. It is a large, shallow, unvegetated salt pan, long and wide, lying mostly below sea level and having a total s ...
dry. He then crawled up into the mountains. When he urinated he created the waterholes that are a feature of the area. His movement over the land created Arkaroola Creek.
The first Anglo-Europeans to visit the area was explorer
Edward Eyre
Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and Governor of Jamaica.
Early life
Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to ...
in 1840 and the surveyor
George Goyder in 1857. There was a small failed settlement nearby, at the
Yudnamutana copper mine, from 1860 to 1863. The drought of 1863 drove the miners away. Settlement didn't occur again until 1903, when rubies and sapphires were discovered. By 1910 a copper smelter was built at
Yudnamutana and
uranium
Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
was also discovered nearby by
Douglas Mawson
Sir Douglas Mawson OBE FRS FAA (5 May 1882 – 14 October 1958) was an Australian geologist, Antarctic explorer, and academic. Along with Roald Amundsen, Robert Falcon Scott, and Sir Ernest Shackleton, he was a key expedition leader duri ...
, famous
Antarctic explorer
This list of Antarctic expeditions is a chronological list of expeditions involving Antarctica. Although the existence of a southern continent had been hypothesized as early as the writings of Ptolemy in the 1st century AD, the South Pole was n ...
.
The land was always marginal and projects failed quickly.
Uranium exploration persisted sporadically and led to the development of good roads by optimistic companies. The Arkaroola property was fenced by 1935 and a process of eradication of pests started. The land was covered with donkeys and
camels. There was a failed health project in 1948.
The Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary was established by
geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althoug ...
Reg Sprigg
Reginald Claude Sprigg, (1 March 1919 – 2 December 1994) was an Australian geologist and conservationist. At 17 he became the youngest Fellow of the Royal Society of South Australia. During 1946, in the Ediacara Hills, South Australia he di ...
in 1968 after he purchased the pastoral lease. He had been involved in surveys in the area before that. He purchased the pastoral lease (part of which is now held as freehold
) and began the conversion to a wildlife sanctuary.
[''traveller.com'']
Arkaroola
Accessed 6 February 2018. In 1979 he was a trustee of the
World Wildlife Fund
The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wo ...
due to his work in the protection of the
yellow-footed rock-wallaby
The yellow-footed rock-wallaby (''Petrogale xanthopus''), formerly known as the ring-tailed rock-wallaby, is a member of the macropod family (the marsupial family that includes the kangaroos, wallabies, tree-kangaroos, and wallaroos).
Descript ...
.
[
In July 2011 South Australian Premier Mike Rann announced a ban on mining in Arkaroola. This was followed in October 2011 by special purpose legislation prohibiting mining, mining exploration and grazing in the ranges. The South Australian government has moved to nominate the Arkaroola area for listing on the ]National Heritage list
The Australian National Heritage List or National Heritage List (NHL) is a heritage register, a list of national heritage places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia, established in 2003. The list includes natural and ...
, and to secure its nomination for World Heritage listing.
Arkaroola was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register
The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. ...
on 27 July 2012.
Mining
Until mid-2011, Arkaroola was under threat from uranium mining
Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...
; the Adelaide-based mining company Marathon Resources had been prospecting the area around Mount Gee
Mount Gee is located in the northern Flinders Ranges within the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, and is part of the Mount Painter inlier. It was named after a mining warden, Lionel Gee.
Recently Mount Gee came to prominence in 2008–2011 bec ...
. In 2008, Marathon was found guilty of illegally dumping radioactive waste
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons r ...
in a variety of locations throughout the Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary, and were ordered to suspend drilling operations. In late 2010, the government renewed the company's mineral exploration license, allowing it to resume exploratory drilling within the protected area, a decision which resulted in public outcry. A poll taken in February 2011 showed that 72 per cent of South Australians, and 79 per cent of Labor voters, were opposed to mining in Arkaroola. Following unprecedented public pressure, the South Australian government announced on 22 July 2011 that mining would be banned forever in Arkaroola, with the aim of national and World Heritage
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...
listing. Mining companies have since threatened legal action against the government.
Protection of Arkaroola from mining, including Mount Gee and the Mount Painter inlier, is provided by the ''Arkaroola Protection Act 2012'', which created the Arkaroola Protection Area.
Birds
Arkaroola is part of the Gammon Ranges and Arkaroola Important Bird Area (IBA), identified as such by BirdLife International because it supports a population of the restricted-range short-tailed grasswren
The short-tailed grasswren (''Amytornis merrotsyi'') is a species of bird in the family Maluridae. It is endemic to Australia. Its natural habitats are temperate shrubland and rocky areas.
Subspecies
Two subspecies are recognized:IOC v.6.3
* ...
as well as populations of the pied honeyeater, chirruping wedgebill
The chirruping wedgebill (''Psophodes cristatus'') is a medium-sized member of the genus ''Psophodes'', which consists or four to five songbirds endemic to Australia. Commonly found in low shrublands in south-eastern inland Australia, the species ...
and cinnamon quail-thrush
The cinnamon quail-thrush (''Cinclosoma cinnamomeum'') is cryptic arid-zone species that is endemic to Australia. This small to medium-sized species of bird is found in the arid and semi-arid regions of central Australia.
Taxonomy
This speci ...
.
Tourist activities
Road loops and 4WD tracks
There are self-drive and organised tour tracks for 2-wheel drives and 4-wheel drives, ranging from beginner to advanced in difficulty.
The Echo Camp Backtrack self-drive track leads through some wonderful country and then over the hills (rough) and down onto the plains east of the Flinders Ranges. This joins another track back to Arkaroola via Claude's Pass, Stubb's Waterhole, ''Bararranna Gorge'' (an area where yellow-footed rock wallabies are commonly found), Welcome Pound and back to the main road to the Arkaroola Village.
Organised tours provide trips along the ridge top track with three lookouts that end at Siller's Lookout, providing a view across the plains towards Lake Frome
Lake Frome / Munda is a large endorheic lake in the Australian state of South Australia to the east of the Northern Flinders Ranges. It is a large, shallow, unvegetated salt pan, long and wide, lying mostly below sea level and having a total s ...
and the Beverley Uranium Mine
The Beverley Mine is Australia's third uranium mine and Australia's first operating in-situ recovery mine. It is located in South Australia in the gazetted locality of Wooltana about 35 km from Lake Frome at the northern end of the Flinder ...
. Siller's Lookout is named after Bill Siller MBE, whose uranium exploration companies constructed the Ridge Top Tour track in the late 1960s. Beverley Uranium Mine, also discovered by Bill Siller's companies, is named after his wife, Beverley. The track was put in by Mr Jim Hodgekinson, an expatriate Canadian.
Bushwalking
There are a number of walking trails available, guided and self-guided, some are marked and described by the ''Royal Geographical Society of Australia (SA)''.
* Spriggina Trail (1 to 1.5 hrs)
* Bararranna Gorge Walk (6.8 km – 3.5 hrs)
* Acacia Ridge (4 to 5 hrs)
*Surveyor's Cairn (40 mins)
*Griselda Hill (1.5 hrs)
*Mawson Valley Trail (2.5 to 3 hrs)
*Arkaroola Waterhole (4 hrs)
*Oppaminda Trail (length depends on starting point)
Coloured leaflets about some of these trails at Arkaroola and throughout the Flinders Ranges are available for download from the Walking Trails Support Group.
Astronomy
Arkaroola has two 14-inch telescopes. Weather in the area is usually fine providing clear skies. There is little light pollution, due to the remote location and active control of the local lighting.
Paralana radioactive springs
Paralana geothermal springs
A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a spring produced by the emergence of geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow bodies of magma (molten rock) or by cir ...
are located on Wooltana, north of Arkaroola.
Local granite rocks contain elevated levels of uranium that gives off heat during radioactive decay. Water percolating through fractures in the rock is heated and bubbles out at the surface as a hot spring, with gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, radon
Radon is a chemical element with the symbol Rn and atomic number 86. It is a radioactive, colourless, odourless, tasteless noble gas. It occurs naturally in minute quantities as an intermediate step in the normal radioactive decay chains through ...
and helium. Due to the presence of radon gas, which is heavier than air, staying near the springs for a prolonged period may constitute a health hazard. Living on the floor of the springs is an extremophile
An extremophile (from Latin ' meaning "extreme" and Greek ' () meaning "love") is an organism that is able to live (or in some cases thrive) in extreme environments, i.e. environments that make survival challenging such as due to extreme temper ...
algal mat
Algal mats are one of many types of microbial mat that forms on the surface of water or rocks. They are typically composed of blue-green cyanobacteria and sediments. Formation occurs when alternating layers of blue-green bacteria and sediments ar ...
that survives the warm temperatures of 62 °C and high radioactivity.
The Pinnacle
The mountain summit in the area under this name is of volcanic origin (basalt) and is popular for rock climbing.
The Village
Accommodation ranges from motel rooms to caravan and camp sites.
Facilities include a licensed restaurant and bar, swimming pool, small shop, service station (petrol and diesel), and a vehicle workshop.
Climate
The Arkaroola area is classified as having a subtropical desert climate (''BWh'') according to the Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer
* Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan
* Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...
, Trewartha, and Australian Bureau of Meteorology climate classification systems. Summers are hot with occasional storms, while winters are cold and comparatively dry.
Arkaroola's record high minimum temperature is , which was the hottest overnight low ever recorded in Australia (as well as Oceania and the Southern Hemisphere) from when it was recorded on 24 January 1982 until it was beaten by a reading in Noona, New South Wales on 18 January 2019 followed by at Borrona Downs Station near Wanaaring, New South Wales on 26 January 2019, which retains the titles as of present.
References
Further reading
* Reg C. Sprigg (1984). ''Arkaroola-Mount Painter in the Northern Flinders Ranges, S.A.: The last Billion Years''. The Lutheran Publishing House, Adelaide.
* Griselda Sprigg; Rod MacLean (2001). ''DUNE is a four-letter word''. Wakefield Press, Mile End.
* Kristin Weidenbach (2008). ''Rock Star: The story of Reg Sprigg – an outback legend''. East Street Publications, Adelaide.
External links
Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary Website
{{authority control
Pastoral leases in South Australia
Towns in South Australia
Flinders Ranges
Wildlife sanctuaries of Australia
Far North (South Australia)
South Australian Heritage Register