Leigh Creek

A mining town situated in arid saltbush country. The notorious Birdsville Track to Birdsville in the south west corner of Queensland, commences north of the town.

Where is it?: Outback South Australia. 386 km north of Port Augusta; 563 km north of Adelaide; 966 km south east of Alice Springs.




Aroona Dam

Aroona Dam was built in 1955 to supply water to the township of Leigh Creek. The area surrounding the dam was declared a sanctuary in 1996. The sanctuary is located south west of Leigh Creek. A colony of Yellow Footed Rock Wallabies have been reintroduced into the area and a spectacular walking trail had been established over the last few years. No fishing, shooting, swimming, or boating is allowed in the area as it is a sanctuary and the water from the dam supply Leigh Creek residents.

Retention Dam: located a short drive about 10kms north of Leigh Creek, Retention Dam was built by the Leigh Creek Coalfield to handle any overflow water from the creeks, and stop it from flooding the Coalfield. You will often see some yabby nets dangling in the water, awaiting their owners, or you may spot the odd local or tourist giving the fish a bit of a feed.


Sub bituminous coal deposits are the town's main export, though magnetite, gypsum, ochre and pigment clays are quarried nearby.

Natural features: Aroona Dam and Waters (13 km south, the town's water supply); Gammon Ranges National Park (64 km east); Lake Eyre (140 km north); Elliot Price Conservation Park, Lake Eyre; Lake Torrens (20 km east); Myrtle Springs; Ediacara Reserve (42 km south-east); Lake Callabonna Reserve (180 km north-east)

Built features: Sliding Rock Bore (site of an abandoned copper mine near Copley).

Heritage features: Ilda-Mukuna Aboriginal art site (over 3,000 engravings); Yalpuna Veri Aboriginal rock art site; Lake Callabonna fossils site (180 km north-east).

Origin of name: recalls Henry Leigh, the head stockman of Alexander Glen, who took up a cattle run in the vicinity in 1856. The town was originally known as Copley, after William Copley MLC, Commissioner of Crown Lands, 1891. Unofficially known as Leigh Creek, the town was moved to its present site and renamed Leigh Creek after coal mining activities began nearby.

Brief history: Being located in arid countryside, little use of the land was made by white settlers until 1856 when cattle man Harry Leigh arrived in the area in 1856. Though its presence had been known about for many years, the coal deposits of the area were surveyed and assessed for their mining potential in 1888. It was not until during World War II in the middle of a coal shortage that the coal of Leigh Creek was first mined. The large open-cut coalfield eventually consumed the original township, about 13km away, and in 1982 residents moved to the new township that is officially called Leigh Creek South.

Before 1982, old Leigh Creek sat on an area where the open-cut pit is today.


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