Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park

Enhanc­ing the vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence at Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park 

Vis­i­tor facil­i­ties in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park are being upgrad­ed to show­case some of its most unique land­scapes and cul­tur­al attractions. 

Locat­ed approx­i­mate­ly 450 km north of Ade­laide, Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park is in the cen­tral Flinders Ranges and is con­sid­ered one of the state’s icon­ic destinations.

The part­ner­ship

Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park (I‑FRNP) is man­aged by the I‑FRNP Co-man­age­ment Board (the Board) in part­ner­ship under a Co-man­age­ment Agree­ment with the Adnya­math­anha peo­ple. This co-man­age­ment arrange­ment com­menced in 2012, and the Board sets the strate­gic direc­tion for the park includ­ing sup­port for the State Government’s bid to secure World Her­itage recog­ni­tion of the Flinders Ranges in the future.

The project

This project aims to cel­e­brate the nat­ur­al and cul­tur­al assets of Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park while boost­ing region­al tourism oppor­tu­ni­ties for the long-term.

Through­out the upgrades, Abo­rig­i­nal rep­re­sen­ta­tives mon­i­tor each aspect of the work to ensure the her­itage and cul­tur­al val­ues are respect­ed and preserved. 

The result of the project aims to pro­vide a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty for local Abo­rig­i­nal com­mu­ni­ties to devel­op busi­ness­es that offer tours and cul­tur­al expe­ri­ences and link vis­i­tors to accom­mo­da­tion and ser­vice providers in adja­cent townships. 

Projects under­way

To ful­ly enable vis­i­tors to enjoy the nat­ur­al beau­ty, geol­o­gy and spir­i­tu­al con­nec­tion of the land and Adnya­math­anha cul­ture, upgrades to vis­i­tor facil­i­ties are under­way and will con­tin­ue through to late 2022.

Akur­ra Adnya (Arka­roo Rock) — Stage 1

The Akur­ra Adnya (Arka­roo Rock) trail pro­vides one of the best exam­ples of Adnya­math­anha rock art and is already a pop­u­lar walk­ing expe­ri­ence in the park. The 2 hour / 3 km round loop trail leads to a rock shel­ter con­tain­ing ochre and char­coal images that depict aspects of the Yura Muda for Ikara (Wilpe­na Pound).

After a short site clo­sure while work was car­ried out, stage 1 of the upgrades to vis­i­tor facil­i­ties were com­plet­ed in ear­ly Decem­ber 2021 and the site has re-opened.

The entry area to the hike has been reju­ve­nat­ed with new­ly devel­oped inter­pre­ta­tion that shares the cul­tur­al sig­nif­i­cance of the area.

The exist­ing car park which was in dis­re­pair has been resur­faced and mod­i­fied to max­imise shade for vehi­cles. Bol­lards have also been installed to guide traf­fic flow and ensure safety.

New pic­nic facil­i­ties now allow vis­i­tors to linger longer after a hike and to refresh amongst some of the most spec­tac­u­lar scenery in the north­ern Flinders Ranges.

A much wel­comed addi­tion to the site is the inclu­sion of a toi­let. The toi­let not only pro­vides relief for visitor’s thirsty work hik­ing the near­by trail, it will aid pro­tec­tion of the envi­ron­ment assist­ing vis­i­tors in a bust­ing situation.

Akur­ra Adnya (Arka­roo Rock) — Stage 2

Prepa­ra­tions for stage 2 upgrades are well under­way which are antic­i­pat­ed to com­mence in late 2022 (pend­ing approvals). 

Stage 2 upgrades will focus on the rock-art site along with a bridge replace­ment on the hik­ing trail. The rock-art site itself will receive a new view­ing area that will enable vis­i­tors to see the ancient ochre and char­coal rock-art images up-close in the best pos­si­ble con­di­tions. A unique­ly designed inter­pre­tive screen will pro­tect the paint­ings that have been car­bon-dat­ed to more than 6,000 years of age. 

Inter­pre­tive sig­nage will be locat­ed at the view­ing area to bet­ter inform vis­i­tors of the site’s cul­tur­al significance.

In mid-2021, autho­ri­sa­tions under the sec­tions 21 and 23 of the Abo­rig­i­nal Her­itage Act 1988 (SA) (Act) were sought for the pro­posed stage 2 works.

In ear­ly 2022, Abo­rig­i­nal Affairs and Rec­on­cil­i­a­tion con­sult­ed with Tra­di­tion­al Own­ers and Abo­rig­i­nal Peo­ple that have an inter­est in Akur­ra Adnya (Arka­roo Rock). The appli­ca­tion is cur­rent­ly under review. The con­struc­tion start date is depen­dent on the Min­is­ter for Abo­rig­i­nal Affairs approv­ing the project under the Act.

The Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail

The Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail is a self-dri­ve expe­ri­ence that reveals a series of geo­log­i­cal for­ma­tions that were cre­at­ed between 640 to 520 mil­lion years ago. 

Enhanc­ing the unique geo­log­i­cal and pale­on­to­log­i­cal val­ues dis­played along the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail will aid the upcom­ing nom­i­na­tion for World Her­itage for the Flinders Ranges. The nom­i­na­tion is slat­ed for sub­mis­sion to UNESCO in 2024 and will recog­nise the Flinders Ranges as the only place on Earth where 350 mil­lion years of near-con­tin­u­ous geo­log­i­cal sequence can be seen. The Flinders Ranges demon­strates evi­dence of the rise of a hab­it­able plan­et and the dawn of ani­mal life.

Upgrades along the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail have already com­menced and aim to improve traf­fic flow and safe­ty through improved wayfind­ing prompts, updat­ed inter­pre­ta­tion and vis­i­tor ameni­ties. Local­ly sourced con­struc­tion mate­ri­als have been sourced that are hard wear­ing to with­stand the ele­ments and com­ple­ment the nat­ur­al envi­ron­ment – pre­dom­i­nant­ly mild steel, sus­tain­ably sourced cypress pine and local grav­els and stone.

The four key vis­i­tor nodes that are receiv­ing upgrades include:

East­ern Gate­way
Con­sid­ered to be the main entry into the park and accessed by the Flinders Ranges Way. 

Youn­goona Hut
Locat­ed 4 km from the east­ern Brachi­na Gorge Road gate­way, the site is a pop­u­lar loca­tion for vis­i­tors to see the stro­ma­to­lites in the near­by Eno­ra­ma Creek. 

Edi­acaran Glob­al Stra­to­type Sec­tion & Point (GSSP)
Also known as the Gold­en Spike, the GSSP attrac­tion is a brass mark­er iden­ti­fy­ing the end of the Elati­na glacia­tion and Cryo­gen­ian Peri­od and the start of the Edi­acaran Period.

West­ern Gate­way
Locat­ed 12 km east of the Out­back Way, it is expect­ed that traf­fic to this site will increase when roads become bitu­minised fur­ther north of the location.

The vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence along the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail will be ampli­fied, with enhanced con­nec­tion to the land­scape in an unob­tru­sive and respect­ful man­ner. The upgrades will also ensure vis­i­tors are bet­ter informed to appre­ci­ate the geol­o­gy, Adnya­math­anha cul­ture and fea­tures of the landscape. 

A project high­light includes new vis­i­tor facil­i­ties at the Edi­acaran Glob­al Stra­to­type Sec­tion and Point (GSSP), oth­er­wise known as the Gold­en Spike site. 

Upgrad­ed vis­i­tor facil­i­ties at the Gold­en Spike

Work is near­ing com­ple­tion at the site of the Edi­acaran Glob­al Stra­to­type Sec­tion and Point (GSSP) also known as the Gold­en Spike and is the only one locat­ed in the south­ern hemisphere. 

Until now, its loca­tion on the edge of the Eno­ra­ma Creek has been some­what unknown but sought-after by geol­o­gists and vis­i­tors who are eager to see the lay­ered chap­ters of time.

At the entry to the attrac­tion, the for­mer shale quar­ry was reha­bil­i­tat­ed in 2021 and recent­ly con­vert­ed into a park­ing area for 6 angled vehi­cle spaces and 40 metres of long-vehi­cle par­al­lel park­ing. A clear and defined turn-around space has been cre­at­ed with cypress bol­lards allow­ing for pedes­tri­an safe­ty adja­cent to the trail lead­ing to a new view­ing platform.

From the park­ing area, a com­pact­ed shale trail pro­vides uni­ver­sal access to a new view­ing plat­form over­look­ing the Gold­en Spike and sur­round­ing creek bed. 

A low dry stone wall sup­ports the paved view­ing plat­form and includes seat­ing and steps to the Tre­zona Loop Walk Track and clos­er access to see the Gold­en Spike mark­er up-close. An inter­pre­ta­tion post has also been incor­po­rat­ed in the design that will pro­vide vis­i­tors with infor­ma­tion of the area’s sig­nif­i­cance in the near future.

Upgrades at Youn­goona Hut site

The next stage of upgrades along the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail are now under­way at the site of Youn­goona Hut.

New trail access and a vehi­cle turn-around space is cur­rent­ly being devel­oped at this pop­u­lar loca­tion where vis­i­tors seek-out the stro­ma­to­lites in the near­by Eno­ra­ma Creek. As part of the upgrade, improved wayfind­ing mark­ers and inter­pre­ta­tion will be incor­po­rat­ed in the near future. 

Upgrades to the East­ern Brachi­na Gorge Road Gateway

A more impact­ful east­ern gate­way entry/​exit will be cre­at­ed for the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail.

Locat­ed 35 km north of Wilpe­na Pound, the east­ern entry to Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail is con­sid­ered to be the main entry into the park, and is accessed by the Flinders Ranges Way.

In the future, inter­pre­ta­tion posts will wel­come all vis­i­tors to the geo­log­i­cal trail and invite them to stop upon entry.

A notice­able upgrade will be the extend­ed, 95 metre shale grav­eled park­ing area (accom­mo­dat­ing long vehi­cles) and pro­vid­ing greater safe­ty for vis­i­tors who stop to learn about the area.

Adja­cent on the west­ern side, there will also be a new, 45 metre long vehi­cle turn around space cre­at­ed off the Brachi­na Gorge Road. Both vehi­cle areas will be dis­tinc­tive­ly sec­tioned from pedes­tri­an zones through instal­la­tion of cypress bol­lards and signage.

The exist­ing shel­ter will be adapt­ed to pro­vide a vis­i­tor expe­ri­ence that feels more ​‘open-to-the-land­scape’ and uni­ver­sal­ly acces­si­ble. The exist­ing sides of the shel­ter will be opened with a new adja­cent area ded­i­cat­ed to inter­pre­ta­tion of the trail.

New seat­ing will allow vis­i­tors to linger longer and to appre­ci­ate the sur­round­ing envi­ron­ment as they jour­ney plan. The exist­ing memo­r­i­al stone will be relo­cat­ed to com­ple­ment the over­all site.

Refuse areas will remain but screened sym­pa­thet­i­cal­ly with­in the landscape.

Upgrades to the West­ern Brachi­na Gorge Road Gateway

A more impact­ful west­ern gate­way entry/​exit will be cre­at­ed for the Brachi­na Gorge Geo­log­i­cal Trail.

Locat­ed 12 km east of the Out­back Way, the exist­ing rock entry sig­nage will remain but be enhanced with new inter­pre­ta­tion posts and road-island sig­nage to wel­come all vis­i­tors to the geo­log­i­cal trail.

The more impact­ful entry will encour­age vis­i­tors to stop at the land­scape view­ing area. It is expect­ed that traf­fic to this site will increase when roads become bitu­minised fur­ther north of the location.

Park­ing areas will be for­malised using cypress bol­lards clear­ly indi­cat­ing turn-around areas (accom­mo­dat­ing long vehi­cles) with wheel stops installed for indi­vid­ual car parks.

The north­ern and east­ern sides of the exist­ing shel­ter will be opened to pro­vide greater views of the land­scape. An adja­cent area will be lev­elled for a uni­ver­sal­ly acces­si­ble area. New seat­ing will also be intro­duced enabling a place to con­tem­plate and jour­ney plan.

The Cazneaux Tree

Tor­ren­tial storms rav­aged the Flinders Ranges over the 2021 Aus­tralia Day long week­end with flood­ing dam­ag­ing the bridge to the Cazneaux Tree view­ing area. 

Since then, work has been under­way to rebuild the bridge and enable vis­i­tor access back to this pop­u­lar site which is pop­u­lar for cap­tur­ing a tree that has endured years of harsh weath­er con­di­tions against the sun­lit Flinders Ranges. 

Also com­ing soon is inter­pre­ta­tion along the short walk­ing trail in and around the tree’s view­ing area which will explain the untold sto­ries of the site. Met­al sign podi­ums have already been installed and the inter­pre­ta­tion designs are almost com­plete for pro­duc­tion and then instal­la­tion. Both are ear­marked for com­ple­tion by mid 2022 which will see a new vis­i­tor attrac­tion locat­ed not far from Wilpe­na Pound in the Ikara-Flinders Ranges Nation­al Park.