7:30 pm Monday 21 September 2026
Oasis in the Desert: The Mound Springs of Inland Australia
Presented by Colin Harris
Mound springs are natural outlets for the waters of Australia’s Great Artesian Basin, one of the largest groundwater basins in the world. As isolated sources of potable water in an otherwise desert environment, they are of immense biological and cultural value.
Indigenous Aboriginal people relied on them for survival in an otherwise hostile environment and following European colonisation they were of vital importance in the construction of the Overland Telegraph which linked Australia with the rest of the world in 1872.
Colin Harris is an honorary life member and former President of Burnside Historical Society. He is a geographer and environmental historian by profession, who, for most of his career, was with the South Australian Environment Department. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia and was awarded the Public Service Medal for his conservation work. In retirement, he is President of the community group Friends of Mound Springs (FOMS).
Document:
Oases in the Desert – the Mound Springs of Inland Australia
All welcome, refreshments provided.
Members, no charge.
Visitors, $2 donation appreciated.
Location
Coralie Soward Hall, Burnside Community Centre (adjacent Burnside Library)
401 Greenhill Road, Tusmore SA 5065
Enter car park from Fisher Street, off Portrush Road