The Desert Knowl­edge Precinct is a 73-hectare prop­er­ty, which sits on Arrernte bush­land, 9 kilo­me­tres south of the Alice Springs town cen­tre. It was estab­lished in 2006, and its man­age­ment is under­pinned by an Indige­nous Land Use Agree­ment (ILUA). DKA is the land­lord of the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, and is respon­si­ble for its man­age­ment and development.

DKA proud­ly acknowl­edges the Arrernte peo­ple as the cus­to­di­ans and first knowl­edge hold­ers of this land; and cel­e­brates Harold Furber as the Precinct’s Elder-in-Residence.

The Precinct was cre­at­ed by three key part­ners who share sim­i­lar goals and val­ues, and all work onsite:

• Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia (DKA),
• Batch­e­lor Insti­tute of Indige­nous Ter­tiary Edu­ca­tion, and
• the Cen­tre for Appro­pri­ate Tech­nol­o­gy (CfAT).

It is also home to the Desert Peo­ples Cen­tre, a joint ini­tia­tive of Batch­e­lor Insti­tute and CfAT, cre­at­ed to sup­port pos­i­tive out­comes for Indige­nous Aus­tralians through edu­ca­tion and training.

The Precinct’s key part­ners have worked togeth­er to cre­ate a wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment that encour­ages learn­ing, knowl­edge shar­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tion. The space nur­tures rela­tion­ships that strength­en Cen­tral Aus­tralian com­mu­ni­ties, and sup­ports advanc­ing region­al and remote Aus­tralia. From its key part­ners locat­ed onsite and local organ­i­sa­tions who share DKA’s office space, to school groups and vis­it­ing del­e­ga­tions, the Precinct pro­vides a place for enter­pris­es, research, edu­ca­tion, part­ner­ships, and cul­tur­al activ­i­ties. Its dis­tinc­tive sur­round­ings and note­wor­thy loca­tion pro­vide a unique set­ting to share desert knowl­edge, both ancient and emerging.

In addi­tion to the organ­i­sa­tions locat­ed onsite, the Precinct also hous­es the largest mul­ti-tech­nol­o­gy solar demon­stra­tion facil­i­ty in the world, the famed DKA Solar Cen­tre, which sup­plies approx­i­mate­ly 40% of the pow­er con­sumed onsite each year.

Busi­ness and Inno­va­tion Centre

DKA is locat­ed in the Busi­ness and Inno­va­tion Cen­tre (BIC), a sophis­ti­cat­ed office facil­i­ty designed by award-win­ning archi­tects. The organ­i­sa­tions cur­rent­ly locat­ed in the BIC are:

Desert Knowl­edge Australia

Tan­gen­tyere Council

Desert Sup­port Services

Indige­nous Busi­ness Australia

Kere To Country

Stick Mob Studio

Locate us

Find the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct on Google Maps.

Explore the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct on Google Earth.