Australia's clearest, darkest place to see the stars is being showcased at one of the world's most recognised museums as part of International Dark Sky Week.
By day, the arid land near Swan Reach in South Australia is a sprawling landscape of dry scrub along the banks of the Murray River but, by night, sparkling stars and vivid constellations fill the sky for stargazers to admire.
The River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve is one of 21 reserves recognised worldwide — the only one in Australia — and is being featured in the United States as part of a Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History exhibition.
"Having our skies in a Smithsonian exhibition is a significant thing because they're acknowledging the importance of different views of the night sky," said Flinders University space archaeologist Associate Professor Alice Gorman.
"The Smithsonian is internationally recognised and it shows the best parts of living history from the world."
The Lights Out: Recovering Our Night Sky exhibition is an international celebration about the importance of reducing light pollution.
But Dr Gorman said one of the most iconic parts of the Australian night sky was at risk of becoming obscured.
"If light pollution becomes too significant, Ginan, the Aboriginal name for the smallest of the stars in the Southern Cross, will disappear from the night sky," she said.
"Having the dark sky reserve on the Murray River is a really important part of preserving this cultural heritage.
"Access to seeing the night sky, seeing the stars, is part of a common human heritage that everybody should have a right to."
Environment needs dark skies
The River Murray International Dark Sky Reserve inspires hundreds of photographer and stargazers to explore the skies and enjoy camping.
It extends over 3,000 square kilometres and includes areas of the Murray River.
Mid-Murray Landcare SA chairperson Chris Tugwell said it showed off the local skies and educated viewers.
"One of the things we're trying to teach people is that the night sky is part of the environment," he said.
"Say, for migrating birds, many of them use the night sky to navigate.
"Even dung beetles use the the night sky to find their homes using the stars, and if they can't see the stars, they have trouble surviving."
Mr Tugwell said part of this education was helping people understand what they could do in their own homes to help.
He said this included switching to different types of lighting that did not "go into space".
