Cooper Creek Region. Photo by Lee Beanland.

Environment

Cooper Creek’s permanent water supply made it an important staging post for Burke and Wills’ expedition. The creek is 1,300 kilometres long, second only in size to the Murray-Darling. It flows into Lake Eyre.

The Dig Tree is a mature Eucalyptus coolabah, now more than 250 years old. The Coolabah is common along this section of Cooper Creek and widespread in arid and semi-arid areas near watercourses. The tree stands high on the northern bank of the Bulloo Bulloo waterhole.

In 1974 and 2010, waters rose more than 10 metres above the creek bed, flooding the area around the Dig Tree.