Aroona Dam

The Aroona Dam is a decommissioned gravity dam across Aroona Creek, in the locality of Leigh Creek, near Port Augusta, in South Australia, Australia. The dam is situated approximately 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) west of the locality’s town centre. The dam was completed in 1955 to supply potable water to Leigh Creek and industrial water for the adjacent eponymous coal mine. Since c. 2015, the dam has been used solely for recreational purposes.

The word Aroona is listed in the official government place name gazetteer as the name of some geographic features either adjoining the dam or located within its extent. Mount Aroona is located in the ridge on the north side of the dam’s lake. A former water feature is now located “under the waters of the Aroona Dam” is named as the Aroona Waterhole as well as having the Adnyamathanha name of Arrunha Awi. According to Clif Reed, it is believed that Aroona is a truncation of the Aboriginal word alcaroona, meaning "running water"; although another translation means "place of frogs". Samuel Perry, a surveyor, who exploded the area truncated the name and it was applied to the dam, the creek, the valley, and the mountain.

The concrete gravity dam is 26 metres (85 ft) high and 236 metres (774 ft) long. The resultant reservoir has a capacity of 7,520 megalitres (6,100 acre⋅ft) when full and covers approximately 88 hectares (220 acres), draw from a catchment area of 684 square kilometres (264 sq mi). The dam was designed and built by the Electricity Trust of South Australia from 1952 to 1957 by damming the Arrunha Creek and using mainly immigrants engaged by contract for two-years and which peaked at a maximum of 160 men. Two shifts were scheduled during the winter months; and concrete pouring was not conducted between November and March due to “extreme heat.”

Dam data from Wikidata (CC0) plus curated additions. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).