Leigh Creek

Leigh Creek South Australia
Leigh Creek
Coordinates	30°35′S 138°24′E / 30.583°S 138.400°E / -30.583; 138.400Coordinates: 30°35′S 138°24′E / 30.583°S 138.400°E / -30.583; 138.400
Population	549 (2006 census)[1]
Postcode(s)	5731
Time zone	ACST (UTC+9:30)
• Summer (DST)	ACDT (UTC+10:30)
LGA(s)	Outback Communities Authority
State electorate(s)	Electoral district of Stuart
Federal Division(s)	Grey

Leigh Creek (formerly Leigh's Creek) is a coal-mining town in eastern central South Australia. At the 2006 census, Leigh Creek had a population of 549.^[1]

Situated to the west of the northern Flinders Ranges, the current town is 13 km further south than the original town—it was moved in 1982 to allow the expansion of the mine. As a result, most facilities and buildings in the town are only a little over thirty years old, and with relatively modern designs.

The mine and associated railway station are named Telford.

History

The area was named Leigh's Creek after its first settler, Harry Leigh, in 1856. Coal was discovered and small quantities mined from 1888 from an underground mine.^[2] The town to support the mine at that time was called Copley, after William Copley, an MP and Commissioner of Crown Lands. However the coal was not mined in a significant commercial manner until 1943 in an effort to make South Australia more self-sufficient for its energy needs, with less dependence on New South Wales. The premier Thomas Playford saw the need to be seen not to rely on interstate energy if he was to attract business to South Australia.

Coal mine

The current open cut mine operation is for low-grade, sub-bituminous black coal^[3] which is frequently referred to as hard brown coal^[4] or just brown coal.^[5] It is transported 250 km by rail to power stations outside Port Augusta on the east side of Spencer Gulf. The coal occurs in several nested bowl-shaped seams, each several metres thick. The coalfield at Leigh Creek is operated by the Alinta Energy and currently produces over 2.5 million tonnes a year of coal. Alinta energy also operates the power stations at Port Augusta which are the only remaining coal-fired generators in South Australia, and the only users of coal from Leigh Creek.

Downsizing and closure

Since the early 1990s, more changes occurred in Leigh Creek. Massive restructuring of mining operations resulted in the reduction of a workforce of over 750 to about 200. The township also became a lot smaller. The population dropped from about 2500 in 1987 to less than 700 today. The loss of residents also resulted in the loss of many services. Whilst most workers at the coalfields make a good income, the high cost of communication and services drastically reduce the disposable income. Schooling at Leigh Creek has become a bigger problem than ever before. Reasonable education is available for younger students in the primary school. For high school students, the meagre subject choice has made education at the Leigh Creek Area School not the ideal option for many students. Many parents have to send their children away at 13 years old, to get a good education in Adelaide or regional cities like Port Augusta. A simple medical procedure may require a trip to Adelaide, which means a round trip of about 1200 km.

On 30 July 2015, Alinta Energy announced the were bringing the closure dates of all three facilities forward by 12 months, and now intended to no longer operate them past March 2017 and could shut them down as early as March 2016.^[6] On 7 October 2015, it was confirmed that the Leigh Creek mining operations would cease on 17 November 2015.^[7]

Leigh Creek Energy Project

In 2015 the media announced that another coal project at Leigh Creek was in the planning process. Leigh Creek Energy Project (LCEP), proposed by the ASX listed company Leigh Creek Energy, intends to extract gas from Leigh Creek's coal seams by drilling injection and extraction wells and igniting the coal underground using a process known as in-situ coal gasification. The company has proposed that the gas would then be exported to Australia's eastern states via existing pipeline networks. An additional plant to produce ammonium nitrate fertilizer and explosives for use in the mining sector would also be built adjacent to the coal gasification plant.

Environment

The Aroona Sanctuary is one of the best examples of environmental rehabilitation in Australia. By 1985, the lands of the Aroona Sanctuary were badly degraded. Massive numbers of rabbits and feral goats depleted the native vegetation. The vegetation losses led to extensive sheet and gully erosion. Widespread soil erosion also led to rapid silting of Aroona Dam. The lands around Leigh Creek showed serious sign of desertification. Overgrazing and the unrestricted use of 4-wheel vehicles, motorbikes and horses also added to land degradation. For example, the local Pony Club occupied an area near Windy Creek. A large number of horses were left grazing uncontrolled and totally destroyed all vegetation. "Dust devils" originating in this area were visible from a long distance. Sand drifts started to occur and rainwater was no longer able to penetrate into the soil layer, because of the talcum powder like structure of the soil surface.

A large-scale environmental rehabilitation project was started in late 1985, under the direction of Beat Odermatt, Environmental Scientist for ETSA. Rehabilitation was done by destroying rabbits and feral goats and by undertaking erosion control works, such as disk pitting and the construction of water velocity reducers. The removal of rabbits and feral goats helped the native vegetation to return. Over 1 million trees and shrubs emerged in the degraded area and silting of waterways and Aroona Dam was drastically reduced.

In 1995, the Government of South Australia declared the area around Aroona Dam a Flora and Fauna Sanctuary. Within less than 10 years, an extremely badly degraded area had recovered to a situation where it could again support a diverse range of native plants and wildlife. The programme provided proof that degraded lands can be rehabilitated. It is one of the best environmental land rehabilitations in arid areas.

In the meantime, a captive breeding programme of Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies at Monarto Zoological Park in South Australia had become too successful. The Royal Zoological Society of South Australia and scientists from the SA Department of Environment and Heritage were looking for a suitable site for the world's first free release of captive Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies. The Aroona Dam Sanctuary was chosen as the best suitable site. Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies once populated the Aroona Dam area. They became extinct in the area because of competition from feral goats and rabbits and predation from feral foxes and cats. Hunting of wallabies by "local yokels" had destroyed the last remaining animals. A programme was initiated to control potential predators such as feral cats and foxes. In 1996, a small number of captive bred Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies was released in the Aroona Sanctuary. The released animals were closely monitored with the help of radio collars and keen volunteers and scientists. Monitoring was undertaken with the help of a large range of people, such as local school students, mine workers and scientists from other many Zoos around Australia and the United States of America.

Various stages of the Aroona Dam Sanctuary project became widely recognized. The project was awarded 3 SA State Landcare Awards and a Mining Industry Award for Environmental Excellency. The project had become one of Australia's most successful and most awarded environmental rehabilitation projects. The Aroona Bio-Diversity Project was also supported by Landcare National Heritage grants from the Commonwealth Government, by active support from adjoining landholders and is currently administered and funded by NRG Flinders.

Land degradation has remained the biggest single environmental problem in Australia. Land degradation is also one of the biggest factors contributing to silting of rivers and creeks in Australia and subsequent water shortages in many areas.

Climate

In popular culture

Leigh Creek Road is referred to in the John Schumann song of the same name on his 1993 album True Believers.

References

1. 1 2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (25 October 2007). "Leigh Creek (L) (Urban Centre/Locality)". 2006 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 18 September 2011. 
2. ↑ "LEIGH'S CREEK COAL-MINING COMPANY.". Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904) (SA: National Library of Australia). 30 April 1892. p. 27. Retrieved 7 October 2015. 
3. ↑ "The South Australian Coal Industry" submission by Department of Primary Industries and Resources, South Australia, Industry Commission Inquiry into the Australian Black Coal Industry, December 1997; accessed at Productivity Commission website 13 Jan 2014
4. ↑ For example, the website Liz's Open Cut Cafe, accessed 13 Jan 2014, says "The Coal mined at Leigh Creek is Hard Brown Coal".
5. ↑ For example, Beyond Zero Emissions (accessed 13 Jan 2014) talks of "replacing the emissions intensive Northern and Playford B brown coal power plants at Port Augusta with renewable energy"
6. ↑ Griffiths, Luke (2015-07-30). "Alinta to close Port Augusta power stations, Leigh Creek coal mine a year early". The Advertiser. Retrieved 2015-07-31. 
7. ↑ Leanne Nicholson (7 October 2015). "Alinta to close Leigh Creek mine in weeks". Retrieved 7 October 2015. 
8. ↑ http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_017110_All.shtml

Leigh Creek: An Oasis in the Desert, Flinders Ranges Research 1997 (Nic Klaassen) Parliamentary Research Manager, Dr John Weste, March 2011. Leigh Creek Heritage, R Cameron Wilton. Brown, Mines of South Australia, p. 346 Leigh Creek Manager, R Cameron Wilton, 2011-2012, Leigh Creek Town Manager, Robert Stack, 2013-current

External links

• Dept of Mineral Resources SA - Commodities - Coal
• South Australian History - Leigh Creek
• South Australian History - Coal
• Flinders Power