Hiltaba Nature Reserve

[1] The tribal land of a man called "Whipstick Billy", who was "one of the last Gawler Ranges natives" still alive by around 1910, was said to have been centred on Hiltaba.

Around 1857, Aboriginal guides led a government-equipped party with pack horses, headed by Stephen Hack from Streaky Bay, through the Gawler Ranges, on a search for sheep-farming land.

James Hiern took up the Hiltaba lease in 1868, and later sold it to his business partner Anton Schlinke, who had migrated from Prussia in the 1840s.

His son, test cricketer Homesdale Nitschke (aka "Jack" or "Slinger"), owned the property for some time.

[6] There was a special dedication at the opening ceremony to Damien Pearce, a DEWNR employee who had worked hard to achieve the corridor in the arid lands but died in 2010, before the purchase of the property.

[7] Hiltaba Nature Reserve adjoins the Gawler Ranges National Park, which is managed by the South Australian Department for Environment & Water, in consultation with the traditional owners.

[10] The area is part of the northern Eyre Peninsula[11][12] Not far from its western border lies the Yellabinna Regional Reserve.

[6] The property remains a pastoral lease, and adjoining landholders help to manage issues like stray stock, dingoes, and feral goats.

[3] There are many species of kangaroos and wallabies, as well as southern hairy-nosed wombats, echidnas, dunnarts, and various types of lizards, including Gould's goannas, black-headed monitors, and snakes.

The Craton was subsequently subjected to two huge events: the first being a succession of huge volcanic eruptions, around 1592 million years ago (the Gawler Range Volcanics, or GRV), and the second about a billion years later, when an immense meteorite or asteroid crashed into the site of the current Lake Acraman, just north of the reserve.

[3] In 2015 to 2016 detailed geological mapping was undertaken as part of mineral exploration, as the property lies in the Iron Oxide Copper Gold province of the GRV.

The students helped to prepare bush tucker such as kangaroo tail and wombat meat, and to clean the rock holes.