Top honours for sensory trail

THE first dementia-friendly sensory trail in Australia has been recognised in the Victorian Disability Sport and Recreation Awards 2022.

The Dementia Friendly Forest and Sensory Trail at Woowookarung Regional Park won in the Polytan Inclusive Sport, recreation or Open Space Infrastructure category.

Bigger Hearts Dementia Alliance founder Anne Tudor, who spearheaded the project, said everyone involved was “absolutely thrilled” to receive the accolade.

“It’s fantastic because up until about eight years ago, dementia wasn’t really considered to be a disability,” she said.

“The trail is probably the most important thing I’ve ever been involved in, and no one person is responsible for it.

“It’s been so well-loved, valued and utilised since it opened by our local Ballarat community. We’ve had 400 people go through regularly, some every day, some once a week.

“It’s inclusive to everyone which is so important.”

The trail previously garnered awards honours when its designers, Thomson Hay Landscape Architects, took home an AILA Victoria Landscape Architecture Award earlier this year.

The project was delivered in partnership with members of Bigger Hearts Dementia Alliance, Friends of Canadian Corridor and Parks Victoria with funding from Dementia Australia.

Ms Tudor said the collaborative design of the trail has been the key to its success.

“It’s the single most important factor because people with dementia co-designed the entire project,” she said.

“The landscape designers… were very involved with getting feedback and ideas and listening to people with dementia in terms of what was going to work.

“That’s the one thing I’m most proud of, that we had so much engagement with people living with dementia.”