Walking SA is delighted to announce that Sharon Kelsey has been appointed as our new Executive Director.

With over 15 years as an Executive leading local government and public sector organisations, she has formal qualifications in law, management and adult education. With lived experience in the Australian outback, Asia, Europe, the US and interstate, she brings business acumen with her lust for walking.

Her wanderlust developed from her early years spent accompanying her amateur botanist grandfather as he trekked across the Fleurieu Peninsula. It was here she became adept at not only spotting orchids but knowing where the best spots were to take in the expansive views and find sufficient shade for a well-earned rest. As an active walker she has completed much of the Great South West Walk, the Heysen Trail and walked from Port Augusta to Quorn via the Pichi Richi Pass.

With a good knowledge across all our focus areas of bushwalking, walking for transport and walking for health, she will be working to seek the best outcomes for all trail users.

With an extensive career in leadership in large urban and smaller rural community-based organisations both here in South Australia and interstate she will be a valuable asset in liaising with a range of diverse stakeholders.

As a strong advocate for the benefits of walking including the health, social and mental wellbeing that flow from active participation, she will help Walking SA to achieve its vision of seeing more people walking more often.

Walking SA held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday 20^th October at the Torrens Rowing Club, with an attendance of over 50 people from member clubs, organisations and supporters. We greatly appreciate the attendance and engagement with those there on the night.

Thank you to Mary-Anne Healy from the Department of Environment and Water for the presentation for our bushwalkers on trail updates and plans, including the Southern Flinders Ranges (new Gorges Walk – construction to commence in 2023 and improvements to Tapanappa Ridge Lookout), the new infrastructure along the Wild South Coast Way (those who have used it give it a big thumbs up!), and the continuing work at Kangaroo Island.

Thanks to EXURBIA The Adventure Supply Co the Lucky Door Prize, a Salewa Denali II Tent valued at $429 was won by Sharon. The Denali II is a large 2-person, 3-season, double wall dome tent for hiking and trekking.

Award Winners

We presented the awards for the annual Walking SA Walking Awards. The awards recognises and promotes 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.

Awards were presented to three organisations and one individual, celebrating their contribution to walking in South Australia. Awards were presented by Lyn Dean, Chief Executive, Wellbeing SA, and Rod Quintrell, Walking SA Chair.

Board

Walking SA Board and AGM guests, 20 October 2022. From left-to-right: Jim McLean (obscured), John Eaton, Jeremy Carter, Rebecca Tooher, Lisa Murphy, Matt Lang, Bill Gehling, Charlotte Budenberg, guest Mary-Anne Healy from the Department of Environment and Water, Rod Quintrell, Ian Radbone, guest Lyn Dean, Chief Executive of Wellbeing SA, Daniel Osborne, Meredith Lawson, Daniel Bennett, Jinal Shah, Tuesday Udell.

We welcome Daniel Osborne as a new Board member, having earlier taken on the role of Chair of the Walking for Transport Committee. With Daniel’s professional background as an Urban Transportation Plangineer he brings a valuable perspective to the Walking for Transport Committee. He brings a strong data driven approach to planning, design and policy development, informed by the work of globally recognised thought leaders. He has key skills in public transport infrastructure and network design, human scaled street design and spatial driven data analysis. He’s a big fan of challenging conventional wisdom.

2021/22 Annual Report

The 2021/22 Annual Report was distributed at the AGM and Helen Donovan, Executive Director of Walking SA, spoke to the report identifying a range of highlights from the past year.

It has been 5 years since the launch of the Uluru Statement from the Heart – the call for a First Nations voice to parliament. Watch this short video clip from NITV’s The Point explaining what the Uluru Statement from the Heart is.

Walking SA has begun the process of creating a Reconciliation Action Plan, engaging in the Reflect stage of the framework. We welcome any feedback as we find ways to advance reconciliation. We look at walking, especially bushwalking, and see a disconnect with love of being on country and engagement with, or understanding of Indigenous culture. Should you wish to contribute, please get in touch.

It’s Reconciliation Week 2022 – Be Brave, Make Change.

The RAP Framework

The four RAP types – Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate – allow organisations to continuously develop their reconciliation commitments.

Reconciliation Australia’s RAP Framework provides organisations with a structured approach to advance reconciliation.

Each type of RAP is designed to suit an organisation at different stages of their reconciliation journey and organisations can repeat the same type of RAP if appropriate.

Reflect: Scoping capacity for reconciliation

Reflect RAPs are for 12 months and are right if your organisation is new to reconciliation and unsure how to get started.

They set out steps to prepare your organisation for reconciliation initiatives in future RAPs.

Committing to a Reflect RAP means scoping and developing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, deciding on your vision for reconciliation and exploring your sphere of influence.

reconciliation.org.au/the-rap-framework

Walking SA held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday 29^th October at the Torrens Rowing Club, with an attendance of over 60 people from member clubs, organisations and supporters. We greatly appreciate the attendance and engagement with those there on the night.

We had 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 included Matt Lang from National Parks and Wildlife Service SA, Rachel Godoy from Forestry SA, Chris Bushel from South Australian Recreation Trails Inc (SARTI), and Chris Davies from the Willunga Basin Trail.

Award Winners

Sponsored by Wellbeing SA

We presented the awards for the annual Walking SA Walking Awards. The awards recognises and promotes 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.

Awards were presented to four organisations and individuals, celebrating their contribution to walking in South Australia. Awards were presented by Lyn Dean, Chief Executive Wellbeing SA, and Tuesday Udell, Walking SA Chair.

2020/21 Annual Report

The 2020/21 Annual Report was distributed at the AGM and Jeremy Carter, Co-Chair of Walking SA, and Helen Donovan, Executive Director of Walking SA, spoke to the report identifying a range of highlights from the past year.

New Board Members

We’ve welcomed two new recruits to the Board, Meredith Lawson and Rebecca Tooher, who with their backgrounds will deepen our perspective on encouraging and supporting people to walk.

Our Treasurer, Graeme Duncan, is retiring as Treasurer and from the Board, and we thank him for his work over the past couple of years in guiding and informing our finances.

We also thank other retiring Board Members: Ben Trewren, Lorraine Thomas and Jeremy Carter, who are all focussing on their contributions in the Walking for Recreation Committee.

We’ve welcomed Daniel Bennett as our newest Board Member.

Daniel is a registered landscape architect with over 20 years’ experience asking questions, developing ideas, testing scenarios, working through them and shaping projects across all scales of strategy and design.

His expertise in understanding cities, movement, place and green infrastructure has helped shaped many projects in both the private and public sector, most recently in his role as Associate Director of Strategy and Design at the City of Adelaide, and prior to that as a Principal at Hassell.

At the City of Adelaide he developed the award winning Adelaide Design Manual, the city’s guide to creating great public spaces and streets, as well as developing c$65m of initiatives and projects delivering on the city’s Transport Strategy, Smart Move, and the Adelaide Park Lands Management Strategy.

This included the City Bikeways project (Adelaide’s first separated bike lane network), the City Laneways project and Park Lands park upgrades – all developed in partnership with the State Government.

He is currently shaping several projects across Australia – including an urban design strategy for Melbourne’s $10b Airport Rail link with Aurecon and Architectus, and an urban design and landscape strategy for the Snowy Mountains Special Activation Precinct with Jensen Plus.

Daniel is an active advocate within industry bodies, and is the Australian Institute of Landscape Architect’s State President in South Australia, chairs AILA’s National Advocacy Committee, is an independent member of the Premiers Climate Change Council and a past National President of AILA.

Daniel lives in the lower Adelaide Hills and is an avid bushwalker and has, amongst his achievements, walked Tasmania’s Western Arthurs and South Coast Track…packhauling at one point and determined to do it again one day.

Being naturally curious, he has a creative and innovative belief in strategy and design, and can synthesise ideas into things…he prefers to challenge defining a problem, not solving a perceived one.

Walking SA held its Annual General Meeting on Thursday 22^nd October at the Adelaide Town Hall, with a healthy attendance of over 70 people from member clubs, organisations and supporters. We greatly appreciate the attendance and engagement with those there on the night.

Our guest speaker was Sophie Thomson from ABC TV’s Gardening Australia. Sophie spoke about her love affair with the environment and gardening, and how we can use time outdoors in the environment, walking or gardening, to ground us in our mental health.

2019/20 Annual Report

The 2019/20 Annual Report was distributed at the AGM and Tuesday Udell, Chair of Walking SA, spoke to the report identifying a range of highlights from the past year.

Along with the rest of the community, Walking SA is concerned about and monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and are thinking of you, your families and friends. The safety and health of our members, volunteers, supporters, staff and the South Australian community are our first priority – we are following the advice of health experts and government.

Can you go for a walk?

7 April 2020: During COVID-19 social distancing going for a walk in your neighbourhood or a nearby national park is OK, provided you are well, not in self isolation and follow social distancing guidelines. Find a trail near you for a short walk.

Walking SA activities

Further to increasing COVID-19 restrictions, please note that all Walking SA activities have been cancelled, postponed or have taken on a non-face-to-face format until the end of June 2020 or until further notice.

Walking SA administration and support is continuing remotely but the office at Marleston is now closed until further notice.

Advice to bushwalking and outdoors clubs

The Walking SA Board advises all bushwalking and outdoors clubs to:

• Postpone or cancel face-to-face events, meetings and activities at least until the end of June 2020.
• Remove activities listed on websites or mark them as cancelled with an explanation and do not distribute activity programs until the end of June 2020.
• Follow South Australian state government directions, rules and advice on COVID-19.

For the future

We look forward to everyone resuming and enjoying bushwalking and outdoor activities when it is safe and appropriate to do so.

Please get in touch if you need any additional information.

Walking SA is delighted to announce that Helen Donovan has been appointed as our new Executive Director. Helen will take up the role on October 29.

Helen has been a keen walking and cycling advocate for many years, and as a City of Adelaide Councillor is a strong advocate for prioritising urban planning as a means for improving health outcomes. This includes a recent success with getting the full support of all councillors for the City of Adelaide to develop a walking strategy.

With a Doctorate in Psychology (Health), she is passionate about behaviour change by connecting research to policy and actionable outcomes. In her work with Heart Foundation Walking she was involved in the rollout and evaluation of state-wide health behaviour change programs to increase physical activity participation across all 79 local government areas in Victoria.

With a good knowledge across all our focus areas of bushwalking, transport/health, she will be working to seek the best outcomes for all trail users, continuing to advocate for walkers particularly where they are disadvantaged on trails or they are unsafe in urban environments.

With an extensive career in project and program management for large national and state-wide organisations she will be a valuable asset in liaising with a range of stakeholders.

Helen started her career in the army reserves, and has worked with the organisation Trojans Trek, which conducts wilderness based interventions which reconstructs the psychological health and well being of service and ex service personnel.

Her passion in enabling physical activity in South Australia will help Walking SA to achieve its vision of seeing more people walking more often.