Final Leg of The Federation Trail

First Speaker of the 2018-2019 Rotary Year
 
Chairman for the night Rotarian John Whimpress, introduced Mr Graham Hallandal
whose topic was "The Final Leg of the Lavender Federation Trail"
 
Graham is a local identity who was an active part of the business community in the area for many years and has been the recipient of a "Paul Harris Fellow" and a "4 Avenues of Service" Award through the Rotary Club of Mobilong. He is also a longstanding volunteer at Monarto Zoo and was named "2017 Citizen of the Year" at the Murray Bridge Australia day awards.
 
Graham is a founding members of SARTI, The South Australian Recreation Trails Inc. Which is the Non-Profit Volunteer organisation that manages and has coordinate the completion of the "Lavender Federation Trail"
 
 
 
Graham's presentation covered the origins of the "Lavender Federation Trail" from its initial visioning as a commemorative project for the 100th anniversary of Federation by  Terry Lavender. 
 
Terry was the main designer and oversaw the majority of the construction work on the 1,200KM "Heysen Trail", which runs from Cape Jervis, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, to  Parachilna Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges. 
 
 
Terry's vision of the "Federation Trail" was for it to run from Murray Bridge in the South to Clare in the state’s Mid North. The first 58KM of the trail from Murray Bridge to Mt Beevor was completed and opened prior to his passing in January 2004. It was subsequently renamed to enshrine Terry's name and the legacy he left for the South Australian community.
 
Over the following 14 years the Trail has been developed in stages to its now 325KM main trail length, including an additional 100KM in Spurs and Loops to take in the
small towns and unique views. The final section of the "Lavender Federation Trail" was opened at Clare held on the 5th May 2018, some 21 years after its initial inception.
 It is a testament to the powerful vision of one man and a committed team of hundreds of volunteers like Graham Hallandal.