Dalhousie Springs: Ron investigates this natural water source in the Outback region of South Australia
From the air, Dalhousie Springs are an oasis on the edge of the Simpson Desert in far north South Australia. It's where the Great Artesian Basin cracks through the surface and the life giving water fans out.
In 2009 these thermal springs were placed on the National Heritage List - such is their importance to the Aboriginal and European stories of inland Australia. Plentiful water like this, bubbling to the surface all year round in such a harsh and unforgiving landscape, has long been a godsend to all - especially the indigenous inhabitants who've gathered here over millennia.
Dean Ah Chee, District Ranger Witjira National Park: "We're surrounded by certain indigenous aboriginal tribes. They're all coming for special ceremonies and when times were hard they had their water here - a permanent water supply."
Cultural Ranger Dean Ah Chee is a Southern Arrente man - who helps manage this sacred place on behalf of his own people and the many other tribes whose stories are inextricably linked to a water source with special powers.
Dean Ah Chee, District Ranger Witjira National Park: "This is Irrwanyere. The aboriginal people call it Irrwanyere - this is the healing water."
And now, for thousands of people in their four wheel drives, who come to the Simpson Desert each year, the healing qualities of Dalhousie's thermal pools are legendary.
So legendary in fact, that some have swapped the autobahns of Germany for the red gibber and dunes of central Australia.
German Tourist: "It's great out here. It's unbelievable to come here and find this really nice hot spring and have a shower and get rid of all the dust."
They bathe in water shrouded in the mysteries of aboriginal dreaming stories and the theories of geologists and hydrologists. There are a couple of schools of thought as to where this water actually comes from. Some believe that it makes its way underground all the way from the Great Dividing Range on the east coast of Australia. While others believe that it seeps from beneath the Finke River way up in the Northern Territory.
But regardless of where it's come from, the experts through carbon dating know that it's come a long way and over a very long time.
Tony Magor, District Ranger: "The whole Dalhousie Springs complex is made up of about 100 mound springs and the water has taken about a million years to get here. That's one of the beautiful things and that's why this area is so precious.
"We've got an area here in arid Australia where species have evolved in isolation - you won't find them anywhere else in the world. We've got fish here, we've got freshwater crustaceans found here and nowhere else. So we've got to be very careful of how we manage the land because if we do something to impact in a negative way, we could do something to wipe out a species from the earth."
That means treading lightly on this fragile eco system - washing off sunscreen before entering the pools, staying on defined tracks whether on foot or in a vehicle and not feeding the local wildlife which includes the occasional dingo.
But the pools are only a part of the Witjira National Park experience. Not far from the pools, you're into a very different landscape - one more akin to what you might expect in Afghanistan or Pakistan.
The ruins of Dalhousie Station are physical reminders of just how determined settlers were to make a go of it here - 1,100 kilometres north of Adelaide and 700 kms south east of Alice Springs.
The great explorer John McDouall Stuart passed nearby on his famous crossing of the Australian continent and a slow trickle of European settlers followed to this part of the country. Soon after John McDouall Stuart, Charles Todd and his Overland crew were on their way. The telegraph line was established much further west but they discovered the springs and soon after that find, the pastoralists were on their way.
They started with sheep and later changed to cattle. They built a homestead with stores, a blacksmith's forge and everything else required to create an outpost in terrain, which to some, must have seemed as alien as the lunar landscape it resembles.
Tony Magor, District Ranger: "This area is really full of the romance of the opening up of inland Australia. It was almost like the last frontier I guess for South Australia. People coming up to open up a new land and of course with that came working with the aboriginal people as well. Aboriginal people worked this land with the Europeans back in the early 1900s and that's what we're still doing today at Witjira, working with the traditional owners to look after the environment."
It's a partnership which continues to sustain those who come to Witjira - some who've only recently discovered its charms - others who've known of them for generations.
For details on Witjira National Park, Dalhousie and the Simpson Desert and your Desert Parks Pass contact 1800 816 078. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au
Witjira National Park, Dalhousie Springs& Simpson Desert
For details regarding conditions & Desert Parks Pass
Contact 1800 816 078Published 6th July 2010
