Innamincka Regional Reserve

Open dai­ly.

Fire safe­ty and information

Lis­ten to your local area radio sta­tion for the lat­est updates and infor­ma­tion on fire safety.

Check the CFS web­site or call the CFS Bush­fire Infor­ma­tion Hot­line 1800 362 361 for:

• Infor­ma­tion on fire bans and cur­rent fire dan­ger ratings
• Cur­rent CFS warn­ings and incidents
• Infor­ma­tion on what to do in the event of a fire

Please refer to the lat­est Desert Parks Bul­letin for cur­rent access and road con­di­tion information.

Vis­i­tor infor­ma­tion and bookings

Innam­inc­ka Region­al Reserve Office
Phone: (+61 8) 8675 9909 

Park man­age­ment:

Port Augus­ta Nation­al Parks Wildlife Ser­vice South Aus­tralia office

Phone: (+61 8) 8648 5300
Email: DesertParks@​sa.​gov.​au

Emer­gency contacts:

Med­ical, fire (includ­ing bush­fire) and police emer­gency sit­u­a­tions
Phone: Triple Zero — 000

Police Assis­tance
Phone: 131 444 for non-urgent police assistance

Nation­al Parks and Wildlife Ser­vice SA – After-hours duty offi­cer
Phone: 0408 378 284 

Injured wildlife:

With­in the park
Please con­tact Port Augus­ta Nation­al Parks Wildlife Ser­vice South Aus­tralia office on (08) 8648 5300 or the after-hours duty offi­cer on 0408 378 284.

Out­side of the park
Please con­tact a local wildlife res­cue group

Cli­mat­i­cal­ly and sceni­cal­ly, late autumn and ear­ly spring are the best times to vis­it this park, March and ear­ly April can still be quite hot with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of rain. The sum­mer months from Novem­ber through to Feb­ru­ary can be very hot and dry. If you are lucky enough to vis­it the park a few weeks after a soak­ing rain, you will be reward­ed with ephemer­al wild­flow­ers and the sound of frogs in flow­ing creeks.

Innam­inc­ka is 1046km from Ade­laide. Access is via the Strz­elec­ki Track via Leigh Creek. Please refer to the lat­est Desert Parks Bul­letin for cur­rent access and road con­di­tion information.

• Park maps

Assis­tance dogs are per­mit­ted in most pub­lic places and are there­fore wel­come in South Australia’s parks and reserves. Assis­tance dogs must be appro­pri­ate­ly restrained on a lead and remain under your effec­tive con­trol at all times while in a park or reserve.

As per the dogs in parks and reserves pol­i­cy, if the dog is not an accred­it­ed assis­tance dog, they must be trained to assist a per­son with a dis­abil­i­ty to alle­vi­ate that dis­abil­i­ty and meet stan­dards of hygiene and behav­iour appro­pri­ate for a dog in a pub­lic place. How­ev­er, refusal may be giv­en if the per­son with the dis­abil­i­ty is unable to pro­duce evi­dence the dog is an assis­tance dog with the appro­pri­ate training.

Before tak­ing your assis­tance dog into a park that does not nor­mal­ly allow dogs, it is high­ly rec­om­mend­ed that you con­tact us so we can pro­vide you with the lat­est infor­ma­tion on any poten­tial haz­ards with­in spe­cif­ic parks that may affect your dog. Please con­tact the park via the con­tact details pro­vid­ed under the con­tact tab or con­tact the vis­i­tor ser­vice cen­tre via email or on Face­book.

Dogs are wel­come in this park.

Please ensure you:

• Keep your dog under con­trol and on a lead no more than two metres in length.
• Stick to des­ig­nat­ed walk­ing trails.
• Bring dis­pos­able bags to clean up your dog’s fae­ces (please be aware there are no bins in nation­al parks).

Dis­cov­er oth­er parks you can walk your dog in on our find a park tool or read 12 dog-friend­ly walks in Ade­laide Parks by Good Liv­ing for inspiration.

Police­mans, Ski Beach, Burkes Grave and Cullya­mur­ra camp­grounds all have toi­lets facil­i­ties avail­able. If stay­ing in Minkie Water­hole or Kings Site camp­grounds, come pre­pared to be self-suf­fi­cient as these camp­grounds have no facilities.

The town­ship of Innam­inc­ka has camp sites (pri­vate­ly man­aged), a hotel, home­s­tay, store, petrol/​fuel, toi­lets, show­ers, phones, ranger sta­tion, infor­ma­tion cen­tre, rub­bish dis­pos­al, and mechan­ic and tyre repairs. 

Plants

North­ern riv­er red gums and coolibahs cov­er the banks and flood out areas of Coop­er Creek, which flows into the Coongie Lakes sys­tem. Lignum often forms dense thick­ets beneath the riv­er red gums. The gib­ber coun­try has sparse veg­e­ta­tion, except for mitchell-grass and some oth­er grass­es and herbs. The drainage lines are filled with red mul­ga and gidgee. Dunes in this area can be as high as fif­teen metres. Dune veg­e­ta­tion varies, but vis­i­tors may see white­wood, nar­row-leaf Hop-bush, sand­hill Wat­tle and sand­hill Cane-grass. Soil type and how often the area is inun­dat­ed deter­mines the veg­e­ta­tion type from grass­es and herbs to low open woodlands.

Ani­mals

Over two hun­dred bird species have been record­ed in the Innam­inc­ka and Coongie Lakes region. The wet­lands are an impor­tant habi­tat for birds mov­ing between north­ern and south­ern Aus­tralia, and in some cas­es, inter­na­tion­al­ly. Species seen include wet­land birds such as Aus­tralian pel­i­cans and red-necked avo­cets, and desert birds like inland dot­terels and gibberbirds.

The Coongie Lakes area is also known for attract­ing large con­gre­ga­tions of birds – over 70 000 birds have been observed at one time. Twen­ty-four of the bird species in the area are clas­si­fied as rare, vul­ner­a­ble or endan­gered in South Aus­tralia. Ten wet­land species and 45 water­bird species are known to breed in the area.

Many species of native ani­mals are present in the parks includ­ing din­goes, red kan­ga­roos, tur­tles, and water-rats, which are a delight to watch as they swim and dive along the banks of the Coop­er. Snakes are rarely seen, espe­cial­ly dur­ing the cool­er months of April to Sep­tem­ber, but should always be treat­ed with respect and left alone. The area is home to the world’s most ven­omous snake, the inland taipan. Fer­al ani­mals includ­ing don­keys, camels and pigs also inhab­it the park.

Flo­ra and fau­na species lists

To down­load flo­ra (plants) and fau­na (ani­mals) species lists for this park, use the ​‘Cre­ate Sim­ple Species List’ tab under ​‘Flo­ra Tools’ or ​‘Fau­na Tools’ in NatureMaps.

• There is no mobile cov­er­age in most of the reserve. There is mobile recep­tion in and close to the Innam­inc­ka town­ship, how­ev­er there are issues with using this dur­ing peak vis­i­tor periods. 

• Remote area trav­el information
• Parks man­age­ment plans
• Trails SA
• SA Marine Parks

Out­back Road Report

1300 361 033 (24-hour auto­mat­ed ser­vice)
North­ern and West­ern South Aus­tralian Out­back Roads Tem­po­rary Clo­sures, Restric­tions and Warn­ings Report

• Impor­tant: Col­lec­tion of fire­wood with­in Nation­al Parks is pro­hib­it­ed. Dead wood plays a vital role in pro­vid­ing shel­ter for ani­mals and adding nutri­ents to the soil.

• Desert Parks of South Aus­tralia brochure
• Birdsville Strz­elec­ki vis­i­tor brochure — leg­endary tracks of the Maree-Innam­inc­ka district
• Ram­sar Convention
• Please refer to the lat­est Desert Parks Bul­letin for cur­rent access and road con­di­tion information.
• Read the Insid­er guide for Innam­inc­ka on the Good Liv­ing blog.
• Explore what oth­er nature and out­door activ­i­ties are avail­able in this area on the South Aus­tralia Tourism website.

Coop­er Creek was a major Abo­rig­i­nal trade route, and the name Innam­inc­ka is believed to have derived from Abo­rig­i­nal leg­end. Some say it means ​‘dark hole’, oth­ers say it means ​‘meet­ing place’. 

The Coongie Lakes and asso­ci­at­ed wet­lands are a spir­i­tu­al site for Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple and were cru­cial to main­te­nance of the Indige­nous pop­u­la­tions due to the avail­abil­i­ty of resources, par­tic­u­lar­ly fol­low­ing flood events.

The Yan­druwand­ha and Yawar­rawar­rka peo­ple lived in this region for thou­sands of years, tak­ing advan­tage of the pro­lif­ic birdlife and sea­son­al wildlife. The groups retain a strong inter­est and pres­ence in the area.

Word from the Yan­druwand­ha Yawar­rawar­rka Parks Advi­so­ry Committee

For tra­di­tion­al own­ers, co-man­age­ment has enabled us to have a say over what is hap­pen­ing on our lands. It is a part­ner­ship between the tra­di­tion­al own­ers and Gov­ern­ment that is based on shared knowl­edge, trust and goodwill.

Our peo­ple lived and thrived around Malkum­ba – Coongie Lakes for many gen­er­a­tions before Euro­pean explor­ers and pas­toral­ists arrived in the 1800s. Despite loss of coun­try, our cul­ture was not lost; we kept our lan­guage and sto­ries, and hand­ed them on.

We are keen to pro­tect the land and share our sto­ries and cul­ture with neigh­bour­ing com­mu­ni­ties and vis­i­tors. The Malkum­ba – Coongie Lakes Nation­al Park Man­age­ment Plan (2014) iden­ti­fies three zones with­in the park – Her­itage and Con­ser­va­tion Zone; Liv­ing and Camp­ing Zone; and Fish­ing Zone – to allow our com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers to car­ry out tra­di­tion­al activ­i­ties today. We have also improved inter­pre­ta­tive signs and are final­is­ing a cul­tur­al her­itage plan.

Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ples have occu­pied, enjoyed and man­aged the lands and waters of this State for thou­sands of gen­er­a­tions. For Abo­rig­i­nal first nations, cre­ation ances­tors laid down the laws of the Coun­try and bestowed a range of cus­tom­ary rights and oblig­a­tions to the many Abo­rig­i­nal Nations across our state. 

There are many places across the State that have great spir­i­tu­al sig­nif­i­cance to Abo­rig­i­nal first nations. At some of these places Abo­rig­i­nal cul­tur­al pro­to­cols, such as restrict­ed access, are pro­mot­ed and vis­i­tors are asked to respect the wish­es of Tra­di­tion­al Owners.

In places where pro­to­cols are not pro­mot­ed vis­i­tors are asked to show respect by not touch­ing or remov­ing any­thing, and make sure you take all your rub­bish with you when you leave.

Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ples con­tin­ue to play an active role in car­ing for their Coun­try, includ­ing in parks across South Australia. 

• DEW Park management
• DEW Abo­rig­i­nal partnerships

Set­tle­ment

The town of Innam­inc­ka began as a police camp in 1882 and soon became a thriv­ing com­mer­cial cen­tre, with a hotel, police sta­tion, store, board­ing house, blacksmith’s shop and school. The Eliz­a­beth Symon Nurs­ing Home was opened in 1928. It was part of a net­work of out­back hos­pi­tals set up by John Fly­nn and run by the Aus­tralian Inland Mis­sion to pro­vide med­ical ser­vices for peo­ple liv­ing in iso­lat­ed areas. It closed in 1951 due to the declin­ing pop­u­la­tion. In July 1994, fol­low­ing major restora­tion works, it was reopened as the Innam­inc­ka Region­al Reserve park head­quar­ters and infor­ma­tion cen­tre and is list­ed as a her­itage site. The inter­pre­tive dis­play is open to the pub­lic dai­ly and gives insight into the nat­ur­al his­to­ry of the area, Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple and their cul­ture, Euro­pean set­tle­ment, out­back nurs­ing and the his­to­ry of the build­ing and the peo­ple who worked there.

Explo­ration

Innam­inc­ka was geo­graph­i­cal­ly des­tined to play a major role in the ear­ly explo­ration of Australia’s inte­ri­or. Its cen­tral loca­tion and reli­able water sup­ply made it an ide­al base camp or rest­ing place for expe­di­tions to the north and west and lat­er, cat­tle dri­ves from the east and south. Riverbeds with their canopies of shade offered mid-sum­mer relief for trav­ellers and stock. There were plen­ti­ful sup­plies of fish and game most of the year. Cap­tain Charles Sturt became the first Euro­pean to set eyes on these wet­lands in 1844 – 45. Only fif­teen years lat­er, Burke and Wills died here. Their com­pan­ion, John King, was even­tu­al­ly res­cued by Alfred Howitt, only after receiv­ing help from local Abo­rig­i­nal peo­ple. Burke’s Memo­r­i­al, Wills’ Memo­r­i­al and King’s Site are all found in the Innam­inc­ka Region­al Reserve, while the Dig Tree is a short dri­ve into Queensland.

Pas­toral­ism

Between 1870 and 1890 the north-east of South Aus­tralia saw the arrival of sheep and cat­tle, lead­ing to the estab­lish­ment of the pas­toral indus­try at the turn of the cen­tu­ry. Sid­ney Kid­man bought Coongie Sta­tion in 1902 and Innam­inc­ka Sta­tion in 1908. The two prop­er­ties were merged in 1930 under a pas­toral lease to become a pro­duc­tive cat­tle fat­ten­ing and horse breed­ing run. Innam­inc­ka Sta­tion now cov­ers 13 800 square kilo­me­tres of the Innam­inc­ka Region­al Reserve and is still leased by the S Kid­man and Co pas­toral com­pa­ny. Ear­ly in 1996, Coongie Lakes and Cullya­mur­ra Water­hole were fenced and cat­tle exclud­ed from these areas.

Petro­le­um exploration

Since the first gas dis­cov­ery in 1963, the Coop­er Basin has become the largest onshore hydro­car­bon pro­duc­tion region in Aus­tralia. Innam­inc­ka Region­al Reserve cov­ers approx­i­mate­ly 30% of the South Aus­tralian por­tion of the basin. San­tos and oth­er com­pa­nies hold the licences to explore for and extract oil and gas from the basin. Hydro­car­bons are processed at Moom­ba, 90 km south-west of Innam­inc­ka and from there gas is sent via pipeline to cus­tomers in South Aus­tralia, New South Wales, Queens­land and the ACT. Malkum­ba-Coongie Lakes Nation­al Park was pro­claimed in 2005 to pro­tect the Ram­sar-list­ed wet­lands. Explo­ration and min­ing is not per­mit­ted in Malkum­ba-Coongie Lakes Nation­al Park.