On a recent trip to Arkaba in South Australia’s outback, writer Penny Hunter beautifully illustrates the chronology of key events in the history of Australia and shares how she mapped out her timeline in the ancient landscape of Ikara- Flinders Ranges.

“We’ve come to Brachina from Arkaba Conservancy, a Wild Bush Luxury property watched over by the majestic Elder Range. The gorge, part of Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park, is a geologist’s paradise, taking visitors through 130 million years of the Earth’s history. Layers of rust-coloured rock lie at 45-degree angles, like books that have slipped sideways on a shelf. In places, the folds of time are so neatly pressed together they remind me of the ribbed gullet of a humpback whale. It’s perhaps not so silly an analogy considering 450 million years ago, the Flinders and half of what would become South Australia were covered by the Adelaidean Sea.

At a seemingly innocuous spot beside the creek, a small brass plaque is pressed into the pink dolomite and pale limestone layered above it. Here is something quite extraordinary. The prized “golden spike” was discovered in 2004 and is the only one of its kind in the southern hemisphere. It marks the geological start of the Ediacaran period, in essence the beginning of multi-cellular life on Earth.

We should be admiring all these rocks but instead our necks are craned towards the giant river red gums, some of which have 200 years of history written in their elaborate bark and burls.”- Penny Hunter, The Australian.

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