The Bundaleer Reservoir will be closed for feral animal control activity from July 28 to August 1. Signage will be displayed on site to redirect walkers around the closure.
Registrations to walk the Clare Valley Wine and Wilderness Trail in September are now open. Read more
Recent high tides and stormy weather has taken a toll on the Trail as it skirts Kings Beach.
FOHT volunteers are working on organising a re-route but in the meantime do take care as you cross that section of the trail.
Storm damage at Kings Beach
Storm damage at Kings Beach.
The Friends AGM on 16 April 2025 at Torrens Rowing Club was well attended with an upbeat vibe and lots of chatting among members. Thank you all for your membership, engagement and volunteering to keep the Friends and Heysen Trail alive.
Please welcome the incoming Council Members listed below who will continue that commitment.
2025 FOHT Office Bearers & Council Positions
Reminder that the revised FOHT Constitution adopted in 2022 included provision to assist renewal that all member are elected for 2 year terms, a limit of 3 x 2 years continuous in an Office Bearer position and maximum 12 years continuous for any Council member.
Council Members
FOHT achievements and financial statements were presented and approved at the AGM. The FOHT Annual Report for 2024 outlining those presentations is available view the link below.
We encourage all members to be informed on the Voice from all perspectives and to respect all individuals and their positions in relation to the Voice.
Uncle Lewis O’Brien, a significant Kaurna Elder teaches that when non-Aboriginal people look at a proposition or a problem they tend to divide into camps with a Yes or No response.
The Kaurna people were the teachers and knowledge keepers. They looked at the brain and called it muka muka because it appeared in two halves.
What that means for decision making in the Aboriginal community is that we should think both ways. In other words, look at a problem from all sides before resolving which direction to take.
Australians are being asked if they support Aboriginal recognition and an Aboriginal Voice to Parliament at the Referendum on the Australian Constitution that will be held on October 14th 2023.
A Referendum is the people’s choice. We should hold respectful conversations as it is beholden upon us to be informed. We need to look at this question in principle from all angles.
All perspectives are relevant; all questions are legitimate; all positions are respected.
The 1967 Referendum with a 91% Yes vote resolved to count Aboriginal people in the census for the first time. It was a campaign that supported Aboriginal rights.
Yet, up to that time, Aboriginal people had been named in the Australian Constitution solely by exception. The powers that enabled the Australian Government to make laws on the basis of race previously read, “……….except for Aboriginal people……” as it was the States that made laws for Aboriginal people. Those words were removed and since then the Constitution has remained totally silent upon Aboriginal people; not a single mention.
In 2015, Tony Abbott, as the Liberal Prime Minister, met with 40 Aboriginal leaders at Kirribili House and Bill Shorten, the Opposition leader, joined him. It was resolved in a bi-partisan way to establish a Referendum Council that would consult with Aboriginal people as to their views on recognition.
The Referendum Council held twelve Regional dialogues right across the country. From these, delegates were appointed to go to Uluru. Six years ago the Uluru Statement from the Heart was developed as a result of the meeting at Uluru.
243 people at Uluru agreed by consensus that not only did they want Constitutional Recognition, they wanted something more substantive by having a Voice to Parliament.
Click on this link to read the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
This remarkable statement, which is full of grace and meaning, is clear and invites us to join the people’s movement across the country to unite for change.
“In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”.
Follow this link to read the full statement prepared by FOHT Reconciliation Committee.
The Friends need help with Bookkeeping
The Friends are seeking a volunteer to join the bookkeeping team.
Job Description
– Manage the finances of the Association
– Maintain financial records – invoices, receipts, sales
sheets, and petty cash
– Pay accounts and manage the weekly banking
– Perform the weekly balance
– Liaise with Treasurer and Office staff
Skills Required:
– Have an understanding of general office procedures –
Use of various computer systems, including MYOB Account Right, Microsoft Excel and Word.
— Financial record keeping
Location and Times:
– The Friends office, Suite 203, Epworth Building,
33 Pirie Street, Adelaide
– Fridays – 10am to 2.30pm
For further information, contact the Office.
John and Margaret will happily answer your questions.
The Friends Council appreciates your ongoing support during the Covid 19 restriction period. The latest SA Government announcement about a slight easing of some restrictions is welcome, although we will remain vigilant in protecting the health and safety of our volunteers and members.
Council has supported a recommendation from the Chair of the Walking Committee to adopt appropriate guidelines that will assist us to revive small group walking over the next few weeks. Walk leaders will be consulted about suitable loop walks with the view to ease into a modified program around the middle to late June after finalising any practical steps.
Members attending walks will be expected to
Council’s decision to cancel our End to End walks for this year (and subsequently confirmed in the April news item) has not been rescinded.
To acknowledge the patience of our members during the Covid restrictions, Council has decided to extend expiry dates for Golden Boots passes by 12 months.
We are also looking at how to recommence volunteer trail maintenance and will notify members when we have confirmed those arrangements.
During this period the Friends is also moving office to a larger space just next door. The office will remain closed until the relocation has been completed. Council has decided it is safer for our team if we get the new space organised before opening up again.
We appreciate your patience as we gradually ease back into operation, and look forward to seeing you back on the trail.
Melanie Sjoberg,
President
Dear Members and Volunteers
FOHT has been monitoring the rapidly changing developments arising from the pandemic announcement for Coronavirus COVID-19 and especially the need to adhere to public health requirements issued by the Federal and State Governments.
As a member-based organisation that relies on the active support of our dedicated volunteers, we are most focused on the health, safety and wellbeing of our members and volunteers. We have considered the public health requirements about social distancing as well as the related issue of avoiding non-essential activity and our specific demographic. We also wanted to make clear decisions that allow lead in time for our volunteer Walk and Maintenance Coordinators to organise necessary changes to programmed events.
The Friends Council has made the difficult decision to cancel ALL FOHT events: this includes all walks in our program, all trail maintenance trips and section work, all face-to-face meetings and to close the office. This will have effect immediately until 31 May 2020. We recognise that the public health requirements may continue to change so Council has established a small response group to review the COVID-19 situation as it evolves and update members should changes occur.
We encourage you to individually get out walking in nature for your own physical and mental well-being and where it aligns with the current public health requirements.
These decision will create challenges for the Friends and our partner bus companies, as the current situation is damaging many small businesses. Please consider renewing your membership to continue to support the Friends and the Heysen Trail.
Please email the office if you have any specific questions. We will appreciate your patience as we may take longer than usual to respond.
This is an unusual time but mitigating the spread of the COVID-19 virus to protect community health is critical. You may find the following sites useful in monitoring developments:
Melanie Sjoberg
President
As a part the upgrade of our membership and walk registration system we will be temporarily suspending online walk registrations for a day or so.
We are updating the software that we use to run the membership and walk registration system. These changes to the ‘back end’ are mainly going to affect our Office Volunteers and Walk Leaders, but the system will make it easier to renew your membership.
We’ve chosen a period of low demand to make the change. This will allow us to be ready for the period of increased website traffic during the walk season.
Apart from the temporary reduction in services on our website, our members and frequent visitors won’t notice many changes.
Our website address will continue as https://heysentrail.asn.au.
After the upgrade, the Walk Calendar on the website will look slightly different. But the calendar will operate much the same as the one you are familiar with.
There will be a welcome change for anyone intending to register for our End to End 15 walk. Registrations for this and all other events will no longer have a set opening time of midnight. Bookings will generally open at 7am instead.
Over the next week our Office Volunteers will be undertaking training in using the new system.
If you need to renew your membership or register for a walk, we ask you to use the existing website. It will be operating normally until late on Monday February 17th.
If you contact the Office before the shutdown, we may not be able to answer the phone immediately. For urgent enquiries, please send us an email which we will action it as soon as we can.