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 Safari 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 many other 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. It features in the 2022 movie, Gold starring Zac Efron. References 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.