Aroona Sanctuary is a

private protected area A private protected area, also known as a private reserve, is not an official category within IUCN's Protected Area guidelines, but includes those protected areas that fall under geographical space that is privately owned, 'kept aside' for public be ...

in the Australian state of

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 ...

located in the gazetted localities of Leigh Creek and

Puttapa Puttapa or Puttapa Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station. It is located approximately east of Beltana in the outback of South Australia. The area that covered by Puttapa was once part of a much larger lease taken up by ...

and whose north-western boundary is within of the locality’s town centre. The sanctuary occupies

crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

in the cadastral units of the part section 373, and sections 641 and 1290, all identified as being "Out of Hundreds (COPLEY)." It occupies most of the land in the locality of Leigh Creek including the

Aroona Dam Aroona Dam is a reservoir in the Australian state of South Australia located in the gazetted locality of Leigh Creek about west of the locality’s town centre. The dam consists of a concrete gravity dam of a height of and a width of whic ...

with exception to land in the locality's north used for the township and the Leigh Creek Airport, the alignments of

The Outback Highway The Outback Highway (possibly also known as Barndioota Road) is the road from Hawker along the western side of the Flinders Ranges through Leigh Creek to Marree. It is designated as part of route B83 from Hawker to Lyndhurst. Route B83 continu ...

and the

Marree railway line The Marree railway line is located in the Australian state of South Australia. History As a result of the opening up of the Leigh Creek Coalfield in the late 1940s and capacity restrictions on the existing narrow gauge Central Australia Railway ...

, and some land at the locality’s southern boundary. Part of its extent was within the boundaries of the

Myrtle Springs Station Myrtle Springs Station is a pastoral lease that operates as a sheep station in outback South Australia. Description The station is located approximately south of Marree and north of Blinman. The property adjoins Beltana and Leigh Creek ...

and was used for the grazing of sheep during this tenure. It was declared as ‘sanctuary’ under the ''

National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 Protected areas of South Australia consists of protected areas located within South Australia and its immediate onshore waters and which are managed by South Australian Government agencies. As of March 2018, South Australia contains 359 sepa ...

'' by the Government of South Australia on 26 October 1995. In 1996, it was the site of a release of a group of

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). Descripti ...

which consisted of members of the sub-species known as ''P. x. xanthopus'' and which was breed in captivity. The release was conducted by the

Royal Zoological Society of South Australia Adelaide Zoo is Australia's second oldest zoo (after Melbourne Zoo), and it is operated on a non-profit basis. It is located in the parklands just north of the city centre of Adelaide, South Australia. It is administered by the Royal Zoologic ...

, NRG Flinders and the South Australian Department of Environment and Heritage. It was described in 2001 as follows:

Aroona Sanctuary includes the rocky Aroona range, clay plains and hill slopes, wetland and sandy desert. Camping is permitted in three designated areas within the sanctuary, but rarity of facilities means that few people utilize the camping grounds. A permanent caretaker lives in the sanctuary and NRG Flinders staff regularly visit the dam for water sampling.

As of 2016, the sanctuary was not listed as part of the Australian

National Reserve System Australia's National Reserve System (NRS) is a network of more than 10,000 Commonwealth plus state and territory protected areas which, in combination, on a national scale, protect more than , greater than 17% of the continent, of unique biodi ...

and as of 2014, it had not been given an

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

protected area category.

References

{{reflist Private protected areas of South Australia Far North (South Australia)