Friends of Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park

Latest News

If you are planning to travel to the Flinders Ranges in the near future, don't forget to download the free app - Discover the Flinders Ranges

AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT THE APP.   Be sure to download it before you leave home because wifi availability in the Flinders is minimal and where it does exist it is not very fast.  Once downloaded the app can be used without needing to be connected to wifi.

Up Coming Events October 3rd -> 5th

Appealinna Homestead Ruins

Tours of the homestead and the surrounding buildings will be conducted each
day between 10am and 4pm. No bookings are required.

Appealinna Hill and Wills Homestead are significant historical sites located
in the Flinders Ranges National Park of South Australia. Appealinna was the
site of a permanent waterhole in the Flinders Ranges, which made it an
attractive location for early settlers. In 1856, Joseph Wills, a modest
English pastoralist, took up a pastoral lease here and began establishing
his homestead. Soon after Wills settled the area, copper miners arrived and
set up camp across the creek on the northern side. This led to a 13-year
dispute over lease boundaries and access to the Appealinna Water spring.

The historic conflict at Appealinna centered around access to a vital water
source. Here are the key details of this dispute:

In 1856, Joseph Wills, an English pastoralist, established a pastoral lease
on the southern side of Appealinna Creek.

  1. Soon after Wills settled, copper miners arrived and set up camp on the northern side of the creek.
  2. A 13-year dispute erupted over lease boundaries and access to the Appealinna Water spring.
  3. The conflict was exacerbated by different interpretations of map boundaries by various parties.
  4.  Wills took matters into his own hands when other methods failed.
  5. The miners, who had more influence in Parliament, lobbied to have the water source removed from Wills' lease.
  6. At one point, Wills impounded 100 of his neighbour's sheep, forcing the neighbour to pay to have them returned.
  7. There was an incident with a shepherd, which led to Wills being sentenced to four years of hard labour in prison.
  8. While Wills was in prison, his wife Sarah and children kept the station running.
  9. The mine manager and purser successfully lobbied the government to remove the creek and waterhole from Wills' lease, effectively cutting off his water supply.
  10. In a final act of defiance, Wills burned two shepherd's huts when new wners fenced off the watering hole.
  11. Wills lost the subsequent court case, fell behind on his lease payments, and was forced to sell his stock and move on in 1871

This conflict highlights the crucial importance of water access in the arid

Flinders Ranges and the intense competition between pastoral and mining
interests in the region during the mid-19th century.

Visitors will also be able to view the Appealinna Miners Dugout that is
located in the vicinity.

Wilpena Station 

Tours of the homestead and the surrounding buildings will be conducted each
day between 10am and 4pm. No bookings are required.

Old Wilpena Station is one of the most scenically spectacular pastoral
settlements in South Australia. A working station for 135 years, Old Wilpena
Station slipped into retirement in 1985. The settlement is now a tranquil
archive of pastoral history. Old Wilpena Station is also an important
Aboriginal heritage site. Wilpena Pound and the Wilpena Station lands have
enduring cultural significance for the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders
Ranges. The Wilpena Station is now the office for the Parks department.

Sausage Sizzle

The Friends of Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park will be conducting a
sausage sizzle over the long weekend on the walkway into Wilpena Pound and
beside the Wilpena Station Shearing shed. A sausage, onion, sauce and bread
can be purchased for $2.50 cash. Funds raised will assist the Friends group
restoration projects.

Guide to the Flinders Rangers App

The Friends group members will have a marque near the Wilpena Tourist Centre
and shop to assist visitors to download a free interpretive app that guides
visitors to all the historical and geological locations within the Park. It
operates on geolocation and has an audio deion of the significance of
the site being visited. The app also contains pictures and deion of
native fauna and flora.