This project was one of the first attempted on the Pitjantjatjara Lands to revegetate land that surrounded a community. It was the early seventies and the area of land was adjacent to Ernabella creek and was on its eastern side. It extended to the east to some low ridges which formed the top of the watershed for that area. The land to the north was covered with old man saltbush (Atriplex nummularia) which had suffered from over grazing by camels many years before, creating a large dust bowl next to the community. It had been fenced allowing the old man saltbush to revegetate and the area remained a protected zone.

The land to be revegetated was the site which housed the Ernabella shearing shed and sheep yards. They had been removed leaving the area open allowing storm water to wash down the 2-3% slope and cause serious erosion problems. There were a number of vehicle tracks down the slope which had no barriers such as sheep yards to arrest storm water that flowed along them. Some kind of contour bank was required to manage the storm water problems.

Help was sought from the Land Conservation unit (Conservation Commission of the Northern Territory) in Alice Springs. Mr Rob Keetch and his team from the Land Conservation unit visited Ernabella and shared their experience. They suggested building a series of ponding banks with the community tractor which was equipped with a blade. The ponding banks would be built on the contour and spaced down the slope to collect the storm water produced between each bank. A spilling point would be built at the end of each ponding bank allowing excess water to overflow into the next bank. Each bank should be able to contain the water produced by the catchment area between it and the next bank up the slope. The spilling point is necessary because Central Australia can experience torrential rains in very short periods of time making it impossible for the bank to contain the storm water produced.

In October 1973 the above work was completed under the supervision of the Land Conservation team. Trees and grass seed were planted along the ponding banks to assist the revegetation process.

The following links demonstrate the results of the project:
Ponding bank project one week after construction (October 1973) >>>
Ponding bank project 7.5 years after construction (March 1981) >>>