Ediacara Conservation Park
Ediacara Conservation Park is a protected area located in the Australian state of South Australia about south west of the town of Leigh Creek in the state's Far North.
The 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. On 28 March 2019, the Government of South Australia purchased of adjacent land, to enlarge the conservation park by ten times.
The conservation park protects and conserves 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."
The name of the conservation park is derived from the Adnyamathanha language name "Ithiaka-na-danha, where Ithi means ‘Zebra Finch’ and aka – na-danha means ‘to come out’" which is used as the name for the area in which the conservation park is located.
The conservation park is classified as an IUCN Category VI protected area. The fossil reserve is also listed on the South Australian Heritage Register.
