2018 marks the 10^th anniver­sary of the Desert Knowl­edge Precinct and the Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia Solar Cen­tre (DKASC). Locat­ed on 73 hectares of beau­ti­ful Arrernte land, the Precinct is home to part­ner organ­i­sa­tions Desert Knowl­edge Aus­tralia (DKA), Batch­e­lor Insti­tute of Indige­nous Ter­i­tary Edu­ca­tion (BIITE) and the Cen­tre for Appro­pri­ate Tech­nol­o­gy (CfAT.)

As the land­lord of the Precinct, DKA devel­ops the prop­er­ty and leas­es space to oth­er organ­i­sa­tions. In 2018, Ter­ri­to­ry Nat­ur­al Resource Man­age­ment, Region­al Arts Aus­tralia, Desert Sup­port Ser­vices, Tan­gen­tyere Coun­cil​’s Land and Learn­ing Pro­gram, Indige­nous Busi­ness Aus­tralia, Mag­gie Kavanagh Con­sult­ing, Indige­nous Desert Alliance, and NT Friend­ship & Sup­port were all ten­ants on the Precinct. The organ­i­sa­tions on the Precinct work across indus­tries and sec­tors, but have shared val­ues and com­mon goal: mak­ing the desert a bet­ter place to work, learn and live. 

The Precinct forms part of a wider desert knowl­edge net­work, includ­ing neigh­bours Geo­science Aus­tralia, Yirara Col­lege, the Arid Zone Research Insti­tute (AZRI), and Ekisti­ca. DKA engages Ekisti­ca to oper­ate and main­tain the DKASC, locat­ed on the Precinct.

To cel­e­brate the Precinct’s 10^th anniver­sary, DKA, the part­ner organ­i­sa­tions, neigh­bours and ten­ants worked togeth­er to host a week of events that engaged with a wide range of stake­hold­ers and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers. The events reaf­firmed rela­tion­ships and cel­e­brat­ed the vision, pur­pose and work of the Precinct’s organisation.

Busi­ness at Sunset

29 Octo­ber 2018 

The cel­e­bra­tions kicked off with DKA’s Busi­ness at Sun­set, co-host­ed with Cham­ber of Com­merce NT. Over 75 mem­bers of the Alice Springs busi­ness com­mu­ni­ty attend­ed the event to net­work and learn more about DKA’s pro­grams and activities. 

Batch­e­lor Insti­tute Library Tour

31 Octo­ber 2018

BIITE held a tour of their library, which was recent­ly gift­ed over 10,000 books by ABC. Although the Batch­e­lor library pri­mar­i­ly serves its staff and stu­dents, mem­ber­ship is open to staff of oth­er Precinct organ­i­sa­tions as well as the Alice Springs community. 

Desert Research Symposium 

1 Novem­ber 2018

The Desert Knowl­edge Research Insti­tute (DKRI) will sup­port exist­ing research and iden­ti­fy new research oppor­tu­ni­ties. As an approved researched insti­tute with DGR sta­tus, it can aus­pice fund­ing for oth­er researchers and organ­i­sa­tions. The DKRI will con­duct research of prac­ti­cal val­ue in the areas of peo­ple, place and knowledge.

The launch of the Desert Knowl­edge Research Insti­tute (DKRI) pre­sent­ed DKA with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to con­sult with the com­mu­ni­ty about gaps in desert research and the role DKRI can play in fill­ing those gaps. The Desert Research Sym­po­sium asked pre­sen­ters and atten­dees, ​‘Desert research: has it all been done before?’ 

Pro­fes­sor Rolf Ger­rit­sen (Charles Dar­win Uni­ver­si­ty) and Heron Loban (Grif­fith Law School) gave pre­sen­ta­tions which led to ani­mat­ed dis­cus­sions about the poten­tial future direc­tions of DKRI and tan­gi­ble research topics.

Rays of Impact: 10 Years of the DKA Solar Centre 

2 Novem­ber 2018

The DKA Solar Cen­tre is an inter­na­tion­al­ly renowned gem right in Alice Springs’ back­yard, and the sto­ry of its cre­ation and devel­op­ment is fas­ci­nat­ing. Since Octo­ber 2008, the DKA Solar Cen­tre has gen­er­at­ed more than just solar ener­gy: it has export­ed data and knowl­edge to Aus­tralia and the world. At Rays of Impact, guests gath­ered under the shade of the solar arrays to hear reflec­tions from Lyn­don Frea­son (man­ag­ing direc­tor, Ekisti­ca) and DKA CEO Lau­ren Gan­ley. This event was an unprece­dent­ed oppor­tu­ni­ty to cel­e­brate this icon­ic ini­ti­atve and learn about its glob­al impact, sto­ries of diverse appli­ca­tion and future directions.

Read more about the DKA Solar Cen­tre’s 10^th anniver­sary. 

The Twi­light Festival

Sat­ur­day 3 November

A week of the Precinct’s 10^th anniver­sary cel­e­bra­tions cul­mi­nat­ed with the biggest par­ty of them all: the Twi­light Fes­ti­val. From 4pm – 7.30pm, the Irrarnte café and sur­round­ing areas were trans­formed into a vibrant fes­ti­val hub with a friend­ly ambi­ence that impressed the Alice Springs community. 

Sev­en food stalls pro­vid­ed deli­cious cui­sine from all over the world; local musi­cians Ceenah, Johan­na Camp­bell and the Wig­gle of Judas enter­tained more than 2000 peo­ple over the course of the evening. Eleven infor­ma­tion stalls were set up to engage with the pub­lic and pro­vide infor­ma­tion about the organ­i­sa­tions. The chil­dren of Alice Springs enjoyed a wealth of enter­tain­ment, rang­ing from face paint­ing, fairy floss, bal­loon ani­mals, a jump­ing cas­tle, a draw­ing com­pe­ti­tion and water pis­tols to keep the sum­mer heat at bay.