DKA is locat­ed at the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct, a beau­ti­ful 73 hectare prop­er­ty on the South Stu­art High­way, 8km south of the Alice Springs CBD. The key part­ners on the precinct — DKA and the Desert Peo­ple’s Cen­tre, a joint ven­ture between Cen­tre for Appro­pri­ate Tech­nol­o­gy and Batch­e­lor Insti­tute of Indige­nous Ter­tiary Edu­ca­tion — have worked togeth­er to cre­ate a vibrant and grow­ing space for knowledge.

DKA man­ages the Precinct, and proud­ly cel­e­brates the Arrernte peo­ple as the tra­di­tion­al cus­to­di­ans and first knowl­edge hold­ers of this land. Man­age­ment of this land is under­pinned by an Indige­nous Land Use Agree­ment. We proud­ly acknowl­edge Harold Furber as the Precinct’s Elder-in-residence. 

The Precinct is a wel­com­ing envi­ron­ment that encour­ages learn­ing, knowl­edge shar­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tion, reflect­ing and respect­ing its dis­tinc­tive sur­round­ings. The research, edu­ca­tion, enter­pris­es and cul­tur­al activ­i­ties housed onsite cre­ate an enrich­ing, invig­o­rat­ing place to make con­nec­tions. The Precinct nur­tures rela­tion­ships that strength­en local, nation­al and inter­na­tion­al com­mu­ni­ties and is world-renowned for its inno­va­tion that is advanc­ing region­al and remote Aus­tralia. From the local organ­i­sa­tions who utilise DKA’s mod­ern facil­i­ties to the school groups that vis­it for STEAM learn­ing and Arrernte cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences, the Precinct is a meet­ing place and knowl­edge hub for all. 

Co-locat­ing organ­i­sa­tions with sim­i­lar goals and val­ues pro­vides unique oppor­tu­ni­ties for col­lab­o­ra­tion and the shar­ing of desert knowl­edges, both ancient and emerging.

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: 

DKA

Ter­ri­to­ry Nat­ur­al Resource Management

Region­al Arts Australia

Desert Sup­port Services

CSIRO

Tan­gen­tyere Council

Mag­gie Kavanagh (Atlantic Fel­low for Social Equity)