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Book Review

menu_book picture_as_pdf bookMatt McClelland Book Resource Australia South Australia Flinders Chase NP
Issue_13_October_2015-80

When I think about South Australia I automatically think of the Flinders Ranges - an astonishing area. A quick visit tells you this is a special place. If you can better understand the history behind it, then your experience will be richer for it.

The Royal Geographical Society of South Australia were kind enough to send me a free copy of this book. I was sceptical at first; books written by committees are often difficult to read, with painful levels of details and may not be not be very practical. This book surprised me, it is great. It certainly has a big focus on geology, as you would expect, but I found myself getting excited about rocks weird I know. If you are ever going to get excited about rocks, the Flinders Ranges is the place to do it.

Book ReviewExplore the Flinders RangesMatt McClleland

80 | BWA October 2015


The book is divided into seven main sections: history, discoveries, drives, town walks, bushwalks, gazetteer and more things to do.

The history section is wonderful. It starts, as you would hope, with the geological history, with helpful diagrams and photos. It then dives into the flora and fauna, giving you a sense of how important the geology is to shaping life on the ground. The book then gives you an outline of the history of the aboriginal peoples of the area, their relationship to the land and the impacts of European settlement. There are details on the more recent farming and mining histories of the region. The History section finishes with an interesting outline of the history of bushwalking in the Flinders Ranges. All this history really sets the context and helps any visitor better understand the value of this ancient and spectacular landscape.

This is a great book if you are planning a driving holiday or just visiting the area. The discoveries, drives, town walks and other sections help you pick the key points to explore and give you enough information to not only get there, but to better experience the area.

The Bushwalks section is obviously the one we are most interested in. There are 16 walks provided in detail and seven bonus walks with less information. The section starts with a few pages of photos that are very helpful in identifying local plants and animals.

The walks provided in detail are all half to full day walks and each has their own map. The maps are nice looking colour topo maps with a 50 metre contour interval. The scales vary from around 1:20,000 to 1:50,000, and they all show points of interest, segment distances, key tracks and features in the area

as well as information about road access from nearby towns.

The walks have a good format, which includes an introduction; walk length, time, and style; altitude range; access and track quality, such as the surface. The track notes section is interesting. Rather than providing detailed navigation notes, there are notes about the geology and flora about every 200 metres along the route. This is an interesting way to help walkers better understand and appreciate the landscape. There are some navigational track notes (in italics) scattered throughout. Personally I would have liked a little more details on navigation and maybe a few more photos of each walk, but I also appreciate the difficulty of pleasing everyone with a book layout. I liked that they have focused the walking section on the lesser-known walks, giving you more opportunity to explore the diverse areas.

All in all, if you are visiting the area, I would definitely recommend this book as part of your collection. Understanding the geology of a landscape helps you much better observe, understand and appreciate the rest of the visible environment. Now I want to get back there and spend more time wandering through places like the Remarkables and Wilpina Pound, but I will also get out and explore some of these lesser-known walks to get to better appreciate the Flinders Ranges.

The book was published by the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia (RGSSA), a volunteer, not-for-profit organisation for advancing geographical science and promoting public awareness and enjoyment of Geography and related topics. Membership of the Society is by subscription and is open to anyone. While the Society takes a special interest in the geography of South Australia and its immediate region, it also extends to the global scale.

Explore the Flinders Ranges can can be ordered through the RGS office by phone or email. Follow this link.

If you are ever going to get excited about rocks, the Flinders Rangers is the place to do it.

BWA October 2015 | 81