Flinders Ranges and Wilpena Pound
Ancient Ridges of the Outback
schedule 1 min read / Updated Apr 2026
The largest mountain range in South Australia, lifted out of the arid outback over 800 million years. At its heart is Wilpena Pound, a vast natural amphitheatre of cliffs shaped like a sinking ship, sacred to the Adnyamathanha people who call it Ikara.
The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, running 430 kilometres from the head of Spencer Gulf inland and north into the outback. They were formed by the Delamerian Orogeny around 500 million years ago when ancient marine sediments were lifted, folded and partially eroded, exposing rock layers up to 800 million years old. They are a textbook example of slow plateau weathering.
The most famous feature is Wilpena Pound, a vast natural amphitheatre of cliffs at the heart of the central Flinders. Viewed from the air it resembles a sinking ship and is sacred to the Adnyamathanha people who call the formation Ikara. The pound is roughly 17 kilometres long and 8 kilometres wide and is enclosed by sandstone walls up to 1,170 metres high at St Mary Peak. There is no road into the pound itself; access is on foot through Sliding Rock Gap.
The ranges were inhabited by the Adnyamathanha for tens of thousands of years before European pastoralists arrived in the 1850s. Several Adnyamathanha-owned tourism operators run cultural walks. The Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park is open year-round but the cooler months from April to October are most comfortable.
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- 150906-001 Wilpena Pound from Moralana Scenic Drive Pano 50p... · Faj2323 · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Feral goats at Flinders Ranges National Park 2012.jpg · Jane Bailey-Crass · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Feral goats at Flinders Ranges National Park 2012 (cropped).... · Jane Bailey-Crass · CC BY-SA 3.0
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