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The area's first people are the Adnyamathanha. One of their Dreaming or creation stories says that Arkaroo, a mythical monster, drank Lake Frome 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 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 was also discovered nearby by Douglas Mawson, famous Antarctic explorer.
The land was always marginal for white pastoralism or agriculture and projects failed quickly. The pioneering Greenwood family were mineral prospectors and pastoralists in the area. William Bentley Greenwood was the owner of the nearby Umberatana pastoral lease in 1902, and in 1910 discovered uranium deposits at Mount Painter in the form of torbanite, identified by geologist Douglas Mawson. His son, Gordon Arthur Greenwood, took up the lease of Mount Serle after giving up the lease of Umberatana, and worked with his father at
Mt Painter. In 1936, pastoralists holding leases of three adjoining stations offered the Greenwood family the leasehold over the Mount Painter area on the condition that they would get rid of "vermin", which included dingoes, along with feral rabbits, feral camels and goats. This was the most mountainous region and the worst pastoral land, on which it was difficult to raise and muster sheep. The land was amalgamated under a new lease in 1937, which became Arkaroola. As of July 1946, Bentley Greenwood, brother of Gordon, was running Arkaroola Station.
Uranium exploration persisted sporadically and led to the development of good roads by optimistic companies.
The Arkaroola Wilderness Sanctuary was established by geologist Reg Sprigg in 1968 after he purchased the pastoral lease. He had been involved in surveys in the area before that. He purchased the 610 square kilometres (240 square miles) pastoral lease (part of which is now held as freehold) and began the conversion to a wildlife sanctuary. In 1979 he was a trustee of the World Wildlife Fund due to his work in the protection of the yellow-footed rock-wallaby.
Mining threat[edit]
Until mid-2011, Arkaroola was under threat from uranium mining; the Adelaide-based mining company Marathon Resources had been prospecting the area around Mount Gee. In 2008, Marathon was found guilty of illegally dumping radioactive waste 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 listing. Mining companies have since threatened legal action against the government.
Protection[edit]
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. 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.
The South Australian Government also moved to nominate the Arkaroola area for listing on the National Heritage list, and to secure its nomination for World Heritage listing.
Arkaroola was listed on the South Australian Heritage Register on 27 July 2012.
In July 2023, Arkaroola became South Australia's first International Dark Sky Sanctuary, and only the second in Australia.
