The 39th Annual General Meeting of the Friends of the Heysen Trail and Other Walking Trails Inc will be held at 6.30pm Wednesday 22 April 2026 at the offices of BDO Australia, Level 19, 30 Pirie Street, Adelaide.
The Friends mourn the death of David Rattray, one of our treasured volunteers, who died on July 16th 2025, at the age of 77 years.
The Friends AGM was held on 16 April 2025. Neil Hendry and Melanie Sjoberg were re-elected as president and vice-president.
The Friends AGM was held on 5 April 2023. Melanie Sjoberg our outgoing President presented the Annual Report. Neil Hendry was welcomed as our new President.
Vale David Beaton. Honorary Member of the Friends and a co-creator of the End to End walk programme.
Vale Cliff Walsh Cliff will not be well known to most Friends Members, however he played a pivotal role in the organisation’s resurgence in the early 2000s.
The Friends Council has decided to review our Constitution to revitalise how we manage the Friends and encourage newer members to become more involved. Information sessions for members will be held later this month to outline key proposals, answer questions and obtain your feedback.
We were privileged at the December meeting of Council to have the opportunity to hear a presentation about Reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people from one of our members. Mark Waters completed the trail with E2E8 in August and worked within Reconciliation SA for eight years. The presentation initially arose from members of E2E8 asking questions about what Aboriginal country we cross as we walk along the trail. This led the group to decide to commence its walks with an Acknowledgement of Country. It seems awareness was growing among Friends as similar discussions had occurred during a couple of other E2E walks I joined last year. Mark took the initiative to write to the Friends about generating a broader discussion.
At the Friends Annual General meeting last Friday, Melanie Sjoberg was elected as our new President. Melanie becomes our first female President. Melanie is a dedicated walker having completed the Heysen Trail with E2E 4 in August 2014. Congratulations to Melanie and thank you to Robert Alcock, our retiring President.
The Friends of the Heysen Trail are saddened by the passing of our highly esteemed past President Jamie Sheppard on 27 December, 2016. Jamie was active in all facets of the walking community, and a most generous host of social functions for the members. Jamie will be remembered as a true gentleman and friend to all who knew him, and he will be very sadly missed in the wider community.
Friends of the Heysen Trail win an award at Walking SA Awards Presentation night
Friends of the Heysen Trail ambassador, Ron Kandelaars, was interviewed today by Ian Henshke on 891 ABC Adelaide. Listen to the 10 minute interview.
