OUR STORY

RIDING FROM THE ASHES

For almost 30 years, Fox Creek has been the premier riding destination for all ages in South Australia. Our recovery and ‘Build Back Better’ plans are helping to bring that status back, with enhancements to trails, infrastructure, community and business benefits, that will endure for decades to come.

While devastating, the Cudlee Creek bushfire has instigated a new phase of development which will enhance ForestrySA’s multi-use forestry business, bringing with the positive flow-on effects from a bike park to the local community, fire recovery and State’s tourist and economic performance — all with the Fox Creek Bike Park at its core.

A collaborative approach has been adopted to deliver social, economic and environmental outcomes at a critical time, and for the disaster resilience and long-term sustainability of recreation and forestry in the Mount Lofty Ranges.

ABOUT FORESTRYSA

Fox Creek Bike Park is owned and managed by ForestrySA - South Australia's trusted commercial and community forest manager since 1894.

We've learnt a thing or two about forest recreation in the last almost 150 years and are pretty proud of the highly valued community asset our team has helped create here at Fox Creek.

As South Australia's forest manager, we provide access to plantation and native forest in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Limestone Coast.

In the Mount Lofty Ranges, our forests at Kuitpo, Mount Crawford and Second Valley provide sustainable softwood production, provide habitat for native flora and fauna and are also home to water catchments. Their close proximity to Adelaide also makes them a popular place for recreational visitors and facilities, such as Fox Creek Bike Park.

Each year, more than 1 million people visit our forests to bike ride, camp and enjoy hut-style accommodation, bushwalk, horse ride, fossick and take part in a host of organised community events, motor sport rallies and wedding ceremonies.

In the Limestone Coast, ForestrySA manages more than 12,500ha of native forest and facilitates public access to pine plantation under lease arrangement in the Green Triangle forest region. These forests have long been popular for their biodiversity and abundance of natural features, such as native flowers, plants and wildlife, wetlands, limestone caves and sinkholes and provide many recreational opportunities, such as bushwalking and Ghost Mushroom hunting.

ABORIGINAL HISTORY

Fox Creek Bike Park lies on the land of the Kaurna and Peramangk people. Their traditional lands were on the Fleurieu Peninsula and in the Adelaide Hills ranging from the Barossa Valley to Myponga and the Mount Lofty Ranges to the Murray River.

The name Cudlee Creek has been derived from the Aboriginal word ‘kudlee’ meaning dog, referring to wild dogs that were once prevalent in the area.

The land of the Kaurna and Peramangk people was rich in resources, such as freshwater, animals, stone and timber for making tools and canoes, and pigments for painting.

The Kaurna and Peramangk had an intimate relationship with this land and managed and preserved the Adelaide Hills, using fire to clear old grasses and promote fresh plant growth along with covering freshwater sources to keep the supply clean and maintaining elaborate walking tracks.

Cudlee Creek runs through the bike park near the Lower Car Park and is known by the Peramangk as "Kadli-parri". This translates as Dingo Creek, named after the wild dogs which once lived here in abundance before being hunted to extinction by European settlers.