History of the Lavender Federation trail:
The Lavender Federation Trail is named in honour of the late Terry Lavender OAM, the architect of the trail and the first chairman of South Australian Recreation Trails Incorporated (SARTI).
The concept of the Federation Trail came into being after a small group of walkers began to look for interesting walks in the hills to the west of Murray Bridge and found to their surprise a wealth of good walking country with high ridges, dramatic gorges, stately peaks and sweeping panoramas never before explored by walkers.
The ultimate destination of the Lavender Federation Trail is Clare, a distance of approximately 350 kilometres but also with a series of loop & spur trails of differing lengths suitable for casual and occasional walkers. The Lavender Federation Trail is now established as a popular and well utilised part of the walking trails network in South Australia. The object of the SARTI Board has always been to route the trail as near as practical to smaller rural towns thereby giving an economic benefit to the local community.
Building of the trail has been made possible with the financial and ‘in-kind’ assistance of Commonwealth, State and Local Government authorities and local businesses and individuals.
The “Lavender Federation Trail” is managed by an elected management committee containing representatives from walking clubs, individual walkers and representatives from each of the Local Government areas accessed by the trail (Murray Bridge, Mid Murray, Barossa and Goyder Councils). The management committee operates under the umbrella of “South Australian Recreation Trails Incorporated (SARTI).
Track planning, building, maintenance and administrative work are performed entirely by volunteers. SARTI has no paid staff.