Mac Clark Conservation Reserve

Mac Clark Conservation Reserve is a conservation reserve in the Alice Springs region of the Northern Territory of Australia.It is located approximately 130km south of Ltyentye Apurte Community and 290km south east of Alice Springs. The reserve is surrounded by the pastoral lease and operating cattle station, Andado, the area also lies on the western edge of the Simpson Desert.The area is fenced to protect it from stock. It can be accessed via the old Andado track or the Binns track via Ltyentye Apurte Community or from Kulgera via the Stuart Highway.Occupying an area of 3042ha the landscape in a flat, stony windswept plain in one of the hottest places in Australia. with temperatures often exceeding 40C in summer and an annual rainfall of about 150mm.The traditional owners of the area are the Arrente peoples who lived and travelled through the area for thousands of years. The area is rich in Aboriginal artefacts and the name of the pastoral lease is derived from the Arrente word meaning stone tool.Europeans arrived in the area in the 1880s and settled the lands for pastoralism, raising both sheep and more recently cattle. Malcolm Mac Clark and his wife Molly arrived at Andado Station in 1955, Mac Died of a heart attack in 1978. The reserve bears his name as a result of his interest in conserving the trees found there.