Photo by Gogerr, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🇦🇺 Australia · South Australia, Simpson Desert
Photo by Gogerr, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
🇦🇺 Australia · South Australia, Simpson Desert
♨ Temperature
38°C
⛰ Altitude
110 m
⚗ pH
7.4
💧 TDS
890 mg/L
🌊 Flow rate
21 L/s
📅 Established
Aboriginal Dreamtime
✓ Verified on 2026-07-22
Dalhousie Springs consist of over 60 individual spring mounds in the remote Simpson Desert, fed by the Great Artesian Basin — one of the world's largest underground freshwater reservoirs. Water falling as rain in Queensland infiltrates the sandstone and travels up to 2 million years through the earth before emerging here. The springs are sacred to the Arabana Aboriginal people and home to endemic species found nowhere else on Earth.
| Sodium Bicarbonate | 580 mg/L |
| Calcium | 42 mg/L |
| Magnesium | 18 mg/L |
| Chloride | 210 mg/L |
| Silica | 32 mg/L |
Dalhousie Springs lie within Witjira National Park and are a significant cultural site for the Arabana Aboriginal people, who have maintained a connection to these waters since time immemorial. Listed on the Register of the National Estate as both a natural and cultural heritage site, they are fed by the Great Artesian Basin — one of the largest and deepest freshwater basins on Earth.
For the Arabana people, Dalhousie Springs (Utjuparru in their language) are a sacred life-giving place — a refuge of water in an otherwise waterless desert. The springs' permanence made them a refuge for people, animals, and plants during drought, and they are embedded in Dreaming stories that record thousands of years of relationship between people and country.
The Great Artesian Basin has lost over 80% of its natural spring flow since European settlement due to uncontrolled bore drilling. The Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative has capped thousands of uncontrolled bores, restoring spring flow to areas including Dalhousie. The springs support at least 35 endemic species found nowhere else, and their conservation is inseparable from both Arabana cultural heritage and global biodiversity protection.
Phone+61 8 8648 5300
Websitewww.environment.sa.gov.au
AddressWitjira National Park, South Australia 0872