ARKAROOLA WILDERNESS, A SANCTUARY OF THE FLINDERS RANGES
ARKAROOLA WILDERNESS SANCTUARY ISN’T THE KIND OF PLACE YOU’RE LIKELY TO STUMBLE ACROSS
HIDDEN deep in South Australia’s red-dirt outback, some eight-hours drive from Adelaide and at least four hours from anything that could be described as a bustling town, the 610km² wilderness sanctuary can be considered remote – even by Australian standards.
And that’s exactly how Nissan Patrolowner Doug Sprigg (pictured above and below right) likes it. A man so deeply in love with Australia’s outback it’s like the rust-red dirt flows right through his veins, Doug says he couldn’t see himself living anywhere else.
Which is a good thing, because the Sprigg family has been the custodians of this unique site since acquiring it from the South Australian Government in 1967.
“There is nowhere quite like this,” Doug says. “Arkaroola is a 144,000-acre property, and it has an amazing diversity of geology, animals and plants in these arid lands.”
When Doug was just seven years old he climbed in to his father’s G60 Nissan Patrol, one of the first examples to arrive in Australia, to complete the first ever motorised crossing of Australia’s vast Simpson Desert in 1962.
Doug, his sister Marg, and his parents, Reg and Griselda, squeezed in to the front seats of the tiny-by-currentstandards G60 and set off in search of oil and gas reserves that might be hidden beneath the seemingly endless sand dunes of the Simpson.
Leaving from Andado Station in the Northern Territory, the family emerged from the sand dunes in Birdsville, Queensland, just under two weeks later – a monumental feat made even more impressive by the fact the family hadn’t set out to etch their names in the record books.
“In 1962, my dad took my sister, mum and I across the Simpson Desert, and that would become the first motorised crossing of the desert. I have such fond memories of that G60 – it was such a robust and reliable vehicle,” Doug says.
“There were other vehicles out there at that time, too, taking different routes, like the French Line. But the Nissan was the only one that made it across to the other side without any issues.
“And the modern ones are just brilliant, too. They’re just as robust, but a whole lot more comfortable.”
That cross-desert adventure ignited a love of country that still burns in Doug today, and that fuels his passion for Arkaroola and for the Patrol – which celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2021.
After acquiring the site, the Sprigg family had it gazetted as a wildlife sanctuary and historic reserve. The Arkaroola Education and Research Foundation supports students in pursuing careers in botany, geology and palaeontology ever since.
Today, Arkaroola welcomes tourists in droves who come to explore the stunning Flinders Ranges, or the deep gorges and towering mountains that cover much of the property, either on foot, by 4WD, or by one of the sanctuary’s planes – often piloted by Doug himself.