Our History
We thank the great work of our Publicity Officer, Graham Hallandal for the research and editing of the history of SARTI and the trails.
Back in time – Part 1
The story of the Lavender Trail from the beginning in 1999 when trail builder Terry Lavender OAM first conceived the idea of walking on the Eastern side of the Mount Lofty Ranges from Murray Bridge to Clare in the Mid North, to the first public walk on Sunday 26th September 1999.
Back in time – Part 2
After the first successful walk work began on planning and construction of the first section of the trail, Murray Bridge to Mount Beevor the Board opened this section on the 7th April 2002.
Back in time – Part 3
2002 continued to be a busy year, as resistance to the trail challenged the board, even going as far as representations to State parliament. The first Footsteps was produced, eco-tourism studies and proposals for Rocky Gully developed. In 2003 Tungkillo was reached, but there is a stuggle for funding and in 2004 SARTI Chairman Terry Lavender OAM passed away, a great blow for SARTI. The page ends in a positive note.
Back in time – Part 4
Tungkillo and Springton planning, promotion on TV, hard lessons in trail construction. May 2006 that section officially opens in Springton. Interconnecting trails investigated, including Saunders Gorge, Rocky Gully (mutiple trails),
Back in time – Part 5
Springton to Truro planning underway, connection to nearby towns investigated resulting in plan to build three spur trails to Truro, the Princess Highway NE of Truro and Keyneton. Additionally, there would be three loop trails at Springton, Eden Valley and Moculta. The Truro section was opened at Truro in April 2012. SARTI were already holding public meetings in Eudunda and Burra, and work continued in the established sections for further development.
SARTI. What is its future?
A comment made to one of the SARTI Board at the Clare opening on the 5th may 2018 was,
“You guys have accumulated too much expertise on trail building over the past 21 years to disband”.
This comment was the subject of much discussion at the last board meeting. Four new trails have been submitted for investigation and will be discussed at length at the next meeting in July.
Projects underway include the design & production of a new updated Map 1 Murray Bridge to Mount Beevor. Many changes have occurred to the route of the trail since the current map was released particularly in the Murray Bridge/Monarto areas and several trails have been constructed in the Kinchina Conservation Park at Monarto that connect to the LFT. The new map is anticipated to cost over $6,000 to produce.
Trail maintenance teams (10 teams) are still needed to maintain trails, maps and brochures distributed and public liability insurance of $1,800 per year kept up to date.