From on-site signage:
ARRUNHA AWI
AROONA DAM
Meaning: Running water that looks like grey hair
This location is where the two big Akurra (dreaming serpents), who created Ikara (Wilpena Pound) [= distinctive section of the Flinders Ranges], set out from on their southward journey.
This name and associated dreaming story belongs to the Adnyamathanha people (hills or rock people) who inhabit the Northern Flinders Ranges.
Aroona Dam was constructed to service the township of Leigh Creek and the surrounding coal mine. A number of sites were surveyed with Aroona deemed to be the most suitable. This was due to the steep, narrow nature of the geology and the solid quartzite base which provided an ideal location. As the evaporation rate in arid areas is so high, it was essential that the dam had a low surface area to volume ratio. The building of the dam took five years and was completed in 1955.
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See info. at:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aroona_Dam
