Awarded for the completion of the full set of Trail Guides to the Adelaide Park Lands through an eight-year labour of love.
People can choose from the 29 Trail Guides and undertake a self-guided walk in one of the City of Adelaide’s 29 parks that form the city’s green parkland belt.
About the Trail Guides project
Adelaide Park Lands Association (APA) is a community-based, non-profit organisation. APA assists the community to explore, inspire, protect and restore the Adelaide Park Lands, which are the ‘jewel enveloping Adelaide’. Under the heading “Explore” APA provides the resources (Trail Guides) for both Guided Walks, and self-guided walks through the Park Lands. Both the Guided Walks, and each self-guided walk benefits from the availability of PDF leaflets, which serve as an introduction to each Park’s Trail.
In August 2024, the Adelaide Park Lands Association announced the completion of an eight- year labour of love; the completion of the full set of Trail Guides to the Adelaide Park Lands.
There are now 29 different on-line Trail Guides, each accompanied with its own printable PDF leaflet, in total covering all of the Adelaide Park Lands, except the six Squares.
This means that the Adelaide Park Lands finally have a complete guide, with every part of the garland of Parks now covered by its own thoroughly researched and illustrated walking guide.
The Project
The project commenced in 2016 with a Guide to Lefevre Park / Nantu Wama (Park 6). This Park was chosen as the first site based on the belief that the presence of horses would entice the general community to learn about the features of that Park.
The completion of the entire project, eight years later, demonstrates the reliance and commitment needed to drive such an initiative in a voluntary organisation. The significant element of this project was simply to encourage walking and exploring in the Adelaide Park Lands; both with and without a personal accompanying Guide.
Over the course of the eight-year project, two financial grants were obtained, to progress some elements. They were:
- In 2017, the Federal Government’s Department of the Environment and Energy approved a grant under its former “Community Heritage and Icons Grants” scheme for researching and writing Trail Guides for what was, at the time, proposed to be just an initial five Parks within your Park These first Guides were also produced as audio files.
- Later, in 2023, one of our insurers, Community Underwriting, provided grant funding to print thousands of copies of Trail Guide leaflets given out on each of our Guided
The National Trust also assisted by publishing the early Trail Guides on its former “Adelaide City Explorer” app and website before the project transitioned to APA’s own website in 2021.
The thoroughly researched and illustrated on-line Trail Guides support:
- Self-guided walks, which last about one and a half hours. They facilitate walks through any part of the Adelaide Park Lands while discovering its present and past features, its place in Adelaide’s social history, landscaping, vegetation and much
- The volunteer APA Park Ambassadors, who rely upon the Trail Guides as they take regular Sunday Guided Walks through each part of the Adelaide Park Lands. Bookings can be made for these walks through APA members participate free of charge. There is a small charge for non-members.
- Visitors to Adelaide can enjoy walking in the Adelaide Park Lands as each Trail Guide enables them to explore a Park with a self-guided walk at a time and place of their
Accessibility
All of our Trail Guides and Guided Walks are on the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. The Adelaide Park Lands Association acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future traditional custodians and elders of these lands.
The Trail Guides are accessible to people of all ages and capacities as they are available electronically, using only a browser e.g. on a smartphone or tablet. Each stop within each Trail Guide ends with instructions on how to proceed to the next stop. The visually impaired can use a screen reader.
Each one of the scheduled Guided Walks is promoted on APA’s website and semi-monthly newsletter, as well as through the Australian Tourism Data Warehouse (ATDW) and on social media channels Facebook, Instagram, “X” (Twitter), Threads, and Blue Sky, to reach a wide audience.
These Trail Guides are not static. Each one is reviewed at least annually and updated with news from our semi-monthly newsletter and assistance from each of the voluntary Park Ambassadors who lead each walk.
The associated leaflets are available in PDF form on each Trail Guide page. Some of the leaflets have been printed in bulk and are distributed at cafes and other venues in or near the City. More such locations are being sought.
Impact
The Trail Guides encourage people to explore and/or reconnect, on foot, with the Adelaide Park Lands.
This is consistent with the South Australian Walking Strategy, which focuses on attracting ‘More people walking more often; all ages, all abilities.’
The Trail Guides and APA’s associated program of Guided Walks through the Adelaide Park Lands may also have inspired the Adelaide City Council to partially imitate, albeit with less- comprehensive guides to 16 Park Lands self-guided walks; and a short series of guided walks in the Adelaide Park Lands during the Nature Festival in 2024, with experts sharing findings from a recent biodiversity survey.
