Our Story
European settlers arrived in the Flinders Ranges in the early 1850s with livestock displacing Aboriginal people from water sources and country that had sustained them for generations. Sheep and cattle brought a grazing regime and hoofed traffic to a landscape unprepared for it. When the next and subsequent dry cycles came, the fragility of the Flinders' semi-arid country became very apparent - settlers lost their livelihoods but the damage to vegetation and soils was long-lasting. The result has been degraded landscapes and the loss of countless species, a story that is replicated across Australia.
Arkaba's life as a sheep station started in 1851 as settlers moved into the Flinders and it continued as such until 2010 when a process of destocking was initiated. Arkaba's previous owners, Dean & Lizzie Rasheed, had done much work to improve the property, particularly from the impact of rabbits, but Arkaba's more rugged range country escaped the worst impact of grazing sheep and now provides the setting for a story of land use transition from pastoral to conservation, with tourism as a key stream of income.
Who We Are
Arkaba Conservancy was the idea of Charlie Carlow, the founder of Wild Bush Luxury, who established the tourism business at Arkaba in 2010, replacing pastoralism as the primary business on the property. From 2010 Arkaba transitioned from sheep station to conservancy, starting a process of landscape regeneration with native flora and fauna having the chance to reestablish themselves.
Following destocking the country, larger mammals have reappeared in numbers. Active land management by the team at Arkaba has focussed on removing introduced species (notably goats, rabbits, foxes and feral cats) from the landscape.
The result is a resurgence in native species and the reappearance of others absent for many years.