Creating the Southern Flinders Precinct

New nature and adven­ture-based vis­i­tor expe­ri­ences are being devel­oped in the South­ern Flinders Ranges.

The South­ern Flinders Ranges are with­in easy reach of Ade­laide and the area already includes exist­ing parks such as Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park and the new­ly pro­claimed Wap­ma Thu­ra South­ern Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park (com­pris­ing of the parks pre­vi­ous­ly known as Telowie Gorge, Wirrabara Range, and Spaniards Gul­ly Con­ser­va­tion Parks).

The rugged land­scape of the pro­posed South­ern Flinders nature-based tourism precinct fea­tures ranges, peaks, gorges and forests, includ­ing high-qual­i­ty native veg­e­ta­tion and reser­voirs, which stretch from Bee­taloo to Wilm­ing­ton. There are some incred­i­ble views through­out the South­ern Flinders Ranges, includ­ing the 960m high Mount Remark­able which pre­sides over the Willochra Plain. Views from the South­ern Range look out over the Spencer Gulf and also take in the agri­cul­tur­al land­scapes to the east. Many of these loca­tions are already pop­u­lar for camp­ing and bush­walk­ing, with trails for all ages and abil­i­ties and the area is linked by the Hey­sen (hik­ing) and Maw­son (cycling) trail.

The con­struc­tion of new facil­i­ties will occur over a num­ber of phas­es, with some projects already complete.

You can see the first projects under­way on the map below as well as get­ting a sense of the projects still to come.

The part­ner­ship

Devel­op­ing new facil­i­ties in the South­ern Flinders is occur­ring through a part­ner­ship of between the South Aus­tralian and Aus­tralian Gov­ern­ments, the Foun­da­tion for Nation­al Parks & Wildlife, North­ern Areas Coun­cil, Dis­trict Coun­cil of Mount Remark­able, Port Pirie Region­al Coun­cil, Region­al Devel­op­ment Aus­tralia Yorke and Mid-North and the Nukunu Wap­ma Thu­ra Abo­rig­i­nal Cor­po­ra­tion to fur­ther advance and pro­mote the South­ern Flinders region as a tourism destination.

New moun­tain bike trails at Wil­lowie — complete

20 kilo­me­tres of new moun­tain bike trails con­struct­ed at Wil­lowie are now ready for pub­lic use.

Cater­ing for begin­ner through to inter­me­di­ate rid­ers, the new trails are fam­i­ly-friend­ly with some pro­gres­sive ele­ments includ­ed for rid­ers look­ing to chal­lenge their skills.

New and improved day vis­i­tor facil­i­ties are now also in place at Wil­lowie includ­ing a pic­nic area, acces­si­ble toi­lets and improve­ments to the exist­ing carpark.

These new trails will con­tribute to the net­work of already pop­u­lar moun­tain bike trails in Mel­rose and were planned with the help of local moun­tain bike organ­i­sa­tion, Bike Melrose.

Day facil­i­ties at Wil­lowie For­est — complete

New and improved day vis­i­tor facil­i­ties and car park­ing have been devel­oped at the Wirrabara For­est pic­nic area for vis­i­tors to this region of the South­ern Flinders.

The new facil­i­ties include two pic­nic shel­ters with tables and seat­ing, BBQ facil­i­ties, an ameni­ty block with acces­si­ble toi­lets and improve­ments to the exist­ing carpark.

The improve­ments to the carpark include more park­ing spaces, includ­ing acces­si­ble car park­ing, resur­fac­ing and changes to improve traf­fic flow.

EPIC Trail — underway

The Epic Trail is still an active con­struc­tion site and pub­lic access is pro­hib­it­ed. The offi­cial open­ing date will be announced shortly.

The Epic Trail has been designed to inter­na­tion­al stan­dards and is set to become a world-class tourism draw­card for the region.

The pro­posed route will show­case the best moun­tain bik­ing coun­try that the South­ern Flinders Ranges has to offer. The 42-kilo­me­tre trail will wind its way through Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park and adja­cent pri­vate land, tra­vers­ing the pre­vi­ous­ly unex­plored west­ern flank of Mount Remark­able and descend­ing into Spring Creek. From the west­ern side of the trail, the spec­tac­u­lar Black Range is vis­i­ble before the trail loops back toward Mel­rose beneath the Gibral­tar and Cathe­dral Rock formations.

Gorges Walks trail net­work — underway

The Gorges Walks trail net­work will cre­ate a new, icon­ic, mul­ti-day hik­ing expe­ri­ence in the South­ern Flinders Ranges, tak­ing hik­ers through the region’s gorges and up on to van­tage points which offer spec­tac­u­lar views across the Spencer Gulf.

It includes plans for up to 4 day/​3 night hike and day walk­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties, with the detailed design con­tin­u­ing. New camp­sites will also be built along the trails.

Mam­bray Creek Upgrade Design — underway

Infra­struc­ture upgrades will also soon be under­way in the Mam­bray Creek camp­grounds as part of the Remark­able South­ern Flinders project, with the detailed design for the new facil­i­ties close to completion.

Mam­bray Creek is one of the state’s most pop­u­lar nation­al park camp­grounds, locat­ed with­in Mount Remark­able Nation­al Park.

This project will con­tem­po­rise and improve the vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence with­in the camp­ground, includ­ing a new day and overnight vis­i­tor precinct, redesign group camp­ing facil­i­ties and pro­vide greater acces­si­bil­i­ty for larg­er tour­ing car­a­vans, motorhomes, and campervans.

More infor­ma­tion

For more infor­ma­tion or if you have any ques­tions, please get in touch with us online.