What springs to mind when you think of the Flinders Ranges… an ancient landscape, the majestic Wilpena Pound, an arid environment and bone searing heat? Perhaps. Doesn’t sound like the kind of place humans should be hanging around in for very long.

Written for AUSWALK WALKING HOLIDAYS

And yet we’re drawn to places like this – maybe because they are so challenging, so out of the ordinary, and for those of us who crave the adventurous side of life – well, we just can’t help ourselves. Today, the Flinders Ranges aren’t quite as difficult to get to as they used to be, but they still entice the same kind of people, and elicit the same awe and wonder as they always have. Only 400km north of Adelaide, this deceptively barren landscape has drawn numerous adventurous souls over the years, so we thought we’d give you an insight into whose footsteps you’d be following, if you decide to walk the same dusty path.

Reginald Sprigg

Although the Aboriginal people were the first to explore this exotic landscape, we’re going to start off with an Adelaide born geologist called Reginald Sprigg, as he discovered some of the first forms of life on earth, right here in the Flinders Ranges. Reg set off to the northern part of the Flinders Ranges on a geological survey in 1946, and quite by accident, made an incredible discovery that nobody even believed for another 50 years. Having lunch in the Ediacaran Hills one day, he stumbled upon the fossils of an ancient jellyfish that represented a gap in the fossil record between basic and complex life.

In 2004 the ‘Ediacaran Period’ was finally recognised as a new geological time in the history of our planet, and you can visit the Ediacara Fossil Site when you go. Walking in the footsteps of not only the eminent geologist, but also some of the first animals on earth. Ahem, if they had feet, that is… And as if that wasn’t enough, Reg wasn’t just a scientific trailblazer, he was also a true adventurer at heart and took his family along for the ride. Reg, Griselda and their children Marg and Doug were the first people to cross the Simpson Desert (at the very northern extent of the Flinders Ranges) by car, with his wife writing an account of their adventures entitled ‘Dune is a four-letter word’. Take from that what you will.

One final place you can visit in the Flinders Ranges that’s forever linked to Reginald Sprigg, is a unique geological site and wilderness reserve, called Arakoorta. Reg was taken there as a student when he studied under Professor Douglas Mawson (yes, that Mawson) who called it the world’s greatest open-air museum of geological history. The ground you’re walking on when you explore Arakoorta has been exposed to the elements for 1.65 billion years...

Clifford Coulthard

Moving on from the earliest life on earth, we can easily jump to the most adventurous people on earth, the Aborigines. To follow in their footsteps is to walk all over this country, however there’s one site in particular that’s worth a visit when you’re here. Discovered only a few years ago by a research group including Clifford Coulthard, a member of the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association, the Warratyi rock shelter shows that Aborigine people have been living here for at least 49,000 years.

The find represents the oldest inland evidence of Aboriginal settlement in Australia, revealed...

Edward Eyre

Now Edward Eyre didn’t spend a huge amount of time in the Flinders Ranges, however his perspective on the landscape might give you an idea of what to expect when you get here. One of his more well-known feats of endurance and exploration was as the first European to cross the Nullarbour. That enormous stretch across the bottom of Australia that, even today, is considered a badge of honour to have crossed. In a car. With air-conditioning. Snacks. Music and Podcasts. None of that for Edward though. He set off with three Aboriginal guides and his friend John Baxter....

Harold Cazneaux

In stark contrast to the perspective of Edward Eyre, another visitor to the region found quite the opposite in the same barren environment. When the pioneering photographer Harold Cazneaux wandered around the Flinders Ranges in 1937, he found endurance, resilience, and hope....

....so I’ll hand over to the man himself.

"This giant gum tree stands in solitary grandeur on a lonely plateau in the arid Flinders Ranges, South Australia, where it has grown up from a sapling through the years, and long before the shade from its giant limbs ever gave shelter from heat to white men. The passing of the years has left it scarred and marked by the elements - storm, fire, water, - unconquered, it speaks to us from a Spirit of Endurance. Although aged, its widespread limbs speak of a vitality that will carry on for many more years. One day, when the sun shone hot and strong, I stood before this giant in silent wonder and admiration. The hot wind stirred its leafy boughs, and some of the living elements of this tree passed to me in understanding and friendliness expressing The Spirit of Australia."

He named the image 'Spirit of Endurance', and it went on to win may international awards. You can see the photograph, along with many others he took in his lifetime, in the Art Gallery of NSW. Many are displayed in the National Library in Canberra, too, however seeing the mighty gum tree in the flesh, is always going to be a more fulfilling experience. It still stands to this day, and if you plan on going, or you’ve already been – we’d be curious to find out what you thought while standing under its protective boughs. Hope, endurance and resilience..? Or something quite different….

Still feeling adventurous..?

There’s always a line to be drawn from past to present, and being aware of the connections can trigger a much more rewarding and immersive experience – especially when you’re visiting somewhere as extraordinary as the Flinders Ranges. If you visit Arakoorla, for example, you are literally mingling with the essence and ashes of Reginald Sprigg, who discovered what was known as Darwin’s Dilemma – the missing link between basic and complex life forms - identified by the very man who pieced together the theory of evolution. Sprigg was taught, and nurtured by Sir Douglas Mawson, arguably one of Australia’s greatest explorers and a legendary survivor of extremes, and he in turn was taken under the wing of Ernest Shackleton on his first expedition to the Antarctic.

So if you’d like to add your name to the end of that paragraph, and join quite the most remarkable collection of adventurous souls, then simply pack your bags, and go….

… what are you waiting for?

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