Nilpena Ediacara National Park

[edit] A great number of Dickinsonia fossils can be observed in situ within the park Geologist Reg Sprigg discovered fossils in the Ediacara Hills in 1946, among them, the first evidence of an animal with a head, which is unique to the Flinders Ranges. The genus was named Spriggina, after Sprigg. The find of these animal fossils was significant as a "missing link" in the evolution of life on earth. Charles Darwin had not come across this class of animals, which inhabited the earth around 550 million years ago, now named Ediacaran biota. These animals somewhat resembled modern-day sea anemones or sea worms, and provide the link between unicellular organisms and the hard-bodied, predatory animals of the "Cambrian explosion". American palaeontologist Mary L. Droser and her family have travelled frequently from their home near Los Angeles to study the fossils on property that was part of Nilpena Station, from around 2001 onwards. South Australian Museum palaeontologist Diego Garcia-Bellido and his team has also been studying the fossils, and hopes that cores extracted by them will reveal the exact age of the fossils by around 2026. In 2018, the Flinders Ranges Ediacara Foundation was established with a charter to protect the unique fossils. The foundation works in partnership with land managers, researchers, institutions, along with the traditional owners (the Adnyamathanha people) and wider community of the area to ensure that the fossils are managed well, remain accessible to the public, and inspire future generations of scientists. The Ediacara Conservation Park was proclaimed under the National Parks and Wildlife Act 1972 on 26 April 2007 over land previously declared as a conservation reserve under the Crown Lands Act 1929 in 1993 and as a fossil reserve in 1958.: ii  On 28 March 2019, the Government of South Australia purchased two-thirds (60,000 hectares (150,000 acres)) of the adjacent cattle station, Nilpena Station, from the Fargher family, to enlarge the conservation park by ten times. The land, formerly owned by the Nilpena Pastoral Company, extends as far as Lake Torrens National Park. It is on this land that some of the most valuable fossils were found. The entire area was reclassified as a national park and proclaimed as Nilpena Ediacara National Park on 17 June 2021. A visitor hub and Ediacara Fossil experience were planned and development started in 2021. The national park was opened on 27 April 2023. In August 2025, the rest of Nilpena Station was sold to the government, enlarging the area of the national park and ensuring that the fossils are protected.

[edit] Fossil bed at Nilpena Ediacara National Park The national park lies around 551 km (342 mi) north of the city of Adelaide, to the east of Lake Torrens National Park, about 30 kilometres (19 miles) and south-west of the town of Leigh Creek.: 5  The conservation park was originally created to protect and conserve an "assemblage of fossilised Ediacaran soft-bodied marine organisms of international importance", "places of significance" to the Adnyamathanha people, "remnants of mining history associated with the Ediacara mineral field", and an "important chenopod habitat".: 4  It was classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area. The fossil reserve is also listed on the South Australian Heritage Register. Since its opening as a national park in April 2023, Ross and Jane Fargher, who have been working with Jason Irving, head of the national parks program, for seven years, are acting as caretakers of the fossil beds until a ranger is appointed. The fossils are of international significance, being the most extensive examples of Ediacaran fossils in the world, although others exist in other places, including Namibia and Russia. The park is one of a group of seven geographically separate areas that are part of the Flinders Ranges geological successions where abundant and diverse arrays of fossils show how animal life began on Earth over a period of 350 million years. These areas were submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre for consideration as a World Heritage Site under criterion (viii) on 15 April 2021, and as of August 2025[update] remain on the "tentative" list. A 1947 study by Reg Sprigg and two 1949 studies by Sir Douglas Mawson are cited to support the application, along with research by Mary Droser and others. The nomination will be voted on in 2026. While it is possible to observe these fossils on site, this can only be done through a guided "Fossil Field Exploration Tour", which runs several days a week during the cooler months of the year.