Share the Walktober Message

Download and share a social media tiles for promoting walking throughout Walktober. Anyone is welcome to use these images to promote walking.

There are 14 messages to choose from.

We would also love your help to share our online walks database (as we know this helps people to discover new walks that suit their needs and interests, and motivates more people walking more often!): walkingsa.org.au/walk/find-a-place-to-walk

If you are sharing Walktober messages on social media, we would love to know about it! You can use #WalktoberSA and #WalkingSA

Walking SA AGM with Panel Discussion on Trails and Award Ceremony

Thursday 28 October
AGM: 6:30pm
Trails panel discussion: 7pm
Followed by Walking Awards award ceremony

Torrens Rowing Club
Victoria Drive, Adelaide SA 5000

Join us for a panel discussion on all things trails – trail building, trail maintenance, current and emerging trail projects, and how the walking community can help! Our panel will include representatives from National Parks and Wildlife Service SA, Forestry SA, South Australian Recreation Trails Inc (SARTI), and some of our South Australian trail-related groups.

Public welcome, please register for free ticket.

Torrens Rowing Club is located on Victoria Drive, just north of the Adelaide CBD, on the southern bank of the River Torrens next to the City Bridge and Jolly’s Boathouse.
Please note the venue is accessed by stairs.

Nominations for the Board

Nominations for membership of the 2021/22 Walking SA Board are invited from anyone with a passion for raising the profile of walking, improving walking environments and getting more people walking.

Please refer to the Nomination Form ( Microsoft Word, or PDF.)

Getting there

Please note the venue is accessed by stairs.

Google Maps Link: https://goo.gl/maps/6d5sECmBaqcLXzVj6

By bike: there are some bike racks nearby.

By public transport: 10 mins walk from the Adelaide Railway Station, or from the nearby tram stop.

By car: Use the Park Adelaide app to find street parking, displaying real-time info about available parking spaces, time limits, and parking payment. You can download the app free on Apple or Android.

Walking SA Annual Walking Awards – Nominations Open

The annual Walking SA Walking Awards are now open for nominations.

The program provides a key vehicle for the promotion of the achievements and work of groups, organisations, local and state government, and volunteers in South Australia.

The Awards process is an opportunity for public and peer recognition of achievements in walking, and demonstrates to volunteers, community groups, the recreation industry, business, government, and the wider community the significant and positive impact that can be achieved through improvements to walkability.

Each of the three award categories of Walking for Health, Transport and Recreation will be awarded a $2,000 prize. The award for Outstanding Individual Contribution will be awarded a Walking SA Lifetime Membership.

Key dates:
Nominations close: 21 October 2021
Awards Ceremony: 28 October 2021 (Walking SA AGM)

To nominate for an award, please download the Nomination Form.

Walking Strategy for South Australia – open for consultation

After working in partnership across-government, engaging with stakeholders and reviewing the best available evidence and evidence-based practice, a draft Walking Strategy for South Australia has been developed. The Strategy will help to guide the planning, building and creation of walkable environments for all South Australians. Community feedback on the draft Strategy is being sought by 17 October 2021 on yourSAy which can be accessed via yoursay.sa.gov.au/south-australian-walking-strategy

Walking is an inclusive and accessible activity that allows people to get from one place to another, can improve their health and wellbeing and provide them with an enjoyable way of spending their leisure time.

When we talk about walking, we also include jogging, running and moving with a pram or pusher, or moving with the aid of a mobility device such as a wheelchair, walking frame or the like.

Supporting more people walking more often; all ages all abilities can lead to multiple benefits to be experienced by all South Australians, including:

  • Social benefits – improved health and wellbeing, increased safety, positive placemaking and increased social cohesion.
  • Economic benefits – increased city attractiveness, boosting the local economy, increased urban regeneration and cost savings; and
  • Environmental benefits – reducing greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, increased benefits to people from the natural environment, improved liveability and improved transport efficiency.

The draft South Australian Walking Strategy 2022-2032 has been developed in such a way to unite cross-government departments and agencies, key stakeholders, providers, funders and interest groups to better enable:

  • Walking for Transport – more South Australians making short trips by walking.
  • Walking for Health – more South Australians with better health and wellbeing through walking.
  • Walking for Recreation and Sport – more South Australians accessing green open space for walking.

Get involved

To find out more please:

Have your say

Billion Steps Challenge

Join South Australia’s 2021 Billion Steps Challenge and help us reach our goal of 1,000,000,000 steps!

Wellbeing SA, in partnership with 10,000 Steps, is excited to bring South Australians together to reach one billion steps. We know that every step counts and the more we move, the more health and wellbeing benefits we reap. Last year we achieved one billion steps in 65 days. Can we reach our goal quicker this year?

The challenge starts on 1 October 2021 and ends when we reach our goal of one billion steps. All South Australians who sign up to the 10,000 Steps program and log steps, or other forms of physical activity will have their steps automatically added to South Australia’s total.

How to get involved?
It’s simple, easy and free!

  • Sign up or login to be a 10,000 Steps member – make sure the state in your profile is South Australia
  • Track and log your steps and minutes of physical activity
  • Spread the word with your family, friends and workmates!

Submission on South Australia’s Draft Road Safety Strategy to 2031

Walking SA is the peak body for walking in South Australia, and pedestrian safety is a key focus of our strategy.

South Australia’s Road Safety Strategy update is an important opportunity to improve road safety for all road users, to encourage modal shift and to implement policy that creates a safer environment for our most vulnerable road users.

We commend the Government on listening to past feedback, and including Walking, Cycling and Public Transport in the strategic focus area, and support the key strategies in this area which will improve walking environments to allow for pedestrians to make mistakes that don’t prove to be fatal.

Walking SA has identified areas in the draft Road Safety Strategy that could be strengthened. We have presented our recommendations to further ensure that all residents of Adelaide can safely use our transportation networks to meet their daily mobility needs.

Willunga Basin Trail on track for completion by November 2021

With just 16km of trail yet to be signed, the 129km Willunga Basin Trail is on track foo completion by November.

Volunteers are continuing to work on trail establishment, recently completing the Kangarilla area (Sections 7 and 8).

We have brought the trail along Brooks Rd, and made a roadside path along part of Jackson Rd. Council contractors are to clear woody weeds on the edge of Bakers Gully Rd at the end of September and we will then make a safe path for walkers. Federal government funding has been achieved for a fence to separate walkers and cattle including bulls, between Kangarilla and Bone Gully Forest near Mt Panorama; this connection has long been sought by walking groups as well as the Willunga Basin Trail, for whom it is a vital link. We hope that it will be achieved by October.

Volunteers have been doing plantings and weed removal on many parts of the trail and will soon start a spring maintenance program to clear the established parts.

Much of the trail is being walked, including by groups. Friends of the Heysen Trail walked most of it earlier this year.

Visit www.wbt.org.au for more information including maps and descriptions of the sections which have been completed.

Two recent walking surveys tell the story: If we don’t walk more often, it’s often because we think we don’t have the time

Believing that “what counts, counts”, we are always keen to see data measuring how much walking is being done.  So we were pleased to see two new measures of walking appear recently.

The National Walking and Cycling Participation Survey has been undertaken in 2021.  This continues a biennial series for measuring cycling that began in 2013.  This is the first time that it has also covered walking. This is a telephone survey in which a member of a household who is at least 15 years of age is asked to respond for each member of the household.  In South Australia, this involved 529 households, covering 1,324 households.

Practically all of us (96%) walked for more than five minutes in the week before the survey.  And we walked quite a lot: among those aged 15 and over, the median hours walked in the previous seven days was 3.0 hours, or almost a half an hour a day.

This was slightly less than the 3.5 hours recorded for Australia as a whole.  A cynic might say that this is because parking is easier than in the big cities on the east coast, but we should note that the most popular reason for walking recorded was for recreational/ health purposes.  See the figures reproduced below.  (The lines at the top of each column are the error bars, to indicate the 95% confidence interval.)

Reasons given for walking

These figures might be an over-estimate.  Because answering is voluntary (48% of households approached agreed to be surveyed), there is probably a self-selection bias toward households that are pre-disposed toward walking and cycling.  Also, the average household surveyed had 2.5 members, compared with 2.4 recorded in the most recent census.  So there was probably a slight bias toward younger/ more active households.

Nevertheless, the key value of the National Walking and Cycling Participation Survey is that it provides a consistent methodology over time, so we look forward to accurate trends in the years to come.

The other recent source of data is survey of members by the Royal Automobile Association (RAA).  624 members responded to a questionnaire about how much walking they do, their attitudes towards walking and what might encourage them to walk more often.  As with the National survey, almost all respondents (in this case 94%) said that they walked for at least five minutes in the past week.  Over a third said that they did this every day.  Half said that on a typical day they walked for at least 30 minutes.

What was striking was the proportions who said that they could easily walk at least a kilometre to access local shops and similar destination: 85% in the case of parks; two thirds to shops, cafes and restaurants.

Three quarters said that they would like to walk more than they do, but the biggest barrier to doing this was the lack of time.

Once again there is probably a self-selectivity bias here: the survey was voluntary.  Nevertheless, the survey suggests that that, with over half of our car trips 3km or less, there is a lot of scope for replacing short car trips with walking.

Survey on Shared Trail Use

Users sharing a trail

Have you ever walked on a ‘Shared Trail’? The purpose of shared trails is to allow for walkers, runners, hikers, bike riders and horse riders to integrate themselves together, using the same trail for the benefit of all users.

Walking SA is currently developing a Position Statement for Shared Trail Use and would welcome your feedback during this consultation phase.

We would appreciate you completing the brief survey below – it should take no more than 5 minutes to complete.

You can read Walking SA’s other Position Statements.

The Importance of Storytelling

In Nilpena Ediacara National Park, Ross showcased one of the most important Ediacaran fossil sites in the world

In Nilpena Ediacara National Park, Ross showcased one of the most important Ediacaran fossil sites in the world

Recently, as a member of the Parks and Wilderness Council, I was afforded the opportunity to visit the Northern Flinders Ranges to learn more about South Australia’s bid for this iconic cultural, geological and biodiverse landscape to be recognised under UNESCO World Heritage.

Ben visiting Sacred Canyon, one of the the great cultural significance of these landscapes to the Adnyamathanha people

Throughout this trip, Council were given opportunities to visit the recently proclaimed Nilpena Ediacara National Park where Ross showcased one of the most important Ediacaran fossil sites in the world. We also made our way through Brachina Gorge and into Sacred Canyon, where Aunty Pauline explained the great cultural significance of these landscapes to the Adnyamathanha people.

It was these opportunities that reminded me of one of the reasons why I love spending time with people, adventuring through the outdoors – storytelling.

For 60,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People have been doing just that – communally gathering around a campfire to listen to stories from the Dreamtime, or tell of daily happenings, such as what they had learnt, hunted or encountered. Harnessing oral communication, they would speak, sing, dance and/or share in art and craft-making. To me, no group of people have affirmed the value of storytelling like Indigenous people have and continue to do.

Sacred Canyon, one of the the great cultural significance of these landscapes to the Adnyamathanha people

My time in the Flinders Ranges reminded me of how holistically important storytelling is to our lives. As I reflected on the experiences of the stories being shared to me by Aunty Pauline, Ross, or from the many others in our group or the people we met along the adventure, I made the below notes.

Storytelling is one of the most powerful means that we all have to influence, teach, and inspire others.

Stories are what connects us as people between history, experiences, opportunities and ideas. They take even the most beautiful landscapes, adrenalin filling adventures and unique encounters and make them come alive. Stories convey the culture, history, and values that unite people.

When it comes to our communities, our friends and our families, we intuitively understand that it is the stories we hold in common which bind us together.

Stories enable us to learn from others about past experiences and moments in time, connecting the experiences shared between us of the present day and motivating us to create new ones to share with each other in our future.

When Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island People share together, they aren’t just entertainers but they are also preserving their culture while educating future generations in the history, values and lore of their people.

Storytelling connects us as humans, whether on the trail, sitting around at camp or enjoying that drink in the next country town. Stories take the words off signage, the paragraphs off pages, the data off the sheets and engages us in that content. Stories make us better active listeners, as we become immersed in a fun, risk-free, and transformative learning opportunity.

Stories connect generation to generation through cultural practices, beliefs, traditions, values, languages, experiences and relationships.

Storytelling helps with learning because stories are easy to remember – I certainly remember a well-told story more accurately, and for far longer, than listening to or reading facts and figures.

Stories ground us in a moment in time. When outdoors, stories allow us to feel the ground beneath our feet, to see the beauty of nature around us, to smell the freshness of the day, to hear the calls of the bush and to taste the opportunity for new experiences.

Storytelling builds an image in our imagination of that moment in time, which can appeal to a diversity of listeners, it allows us to appreciate what it may have been like at that moment and it expands our interests into new areas.

I was certainly encouraged to share in more storytelling as a result of this trip. To me, that is the difference of the experience in any destination, circumstance or opportunity… when storytelling is engaged, we can convey a style of immersive learning that can influence, teach, and/or inspire others.