Mount Lofty - SA - Australia - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

MOUNT LOFTY.
[BY MORNICK.]
Mount Lofty is situated to the south-east of Adelaide, and is 2,334 feet above the level of the sea. It is ten miles from the city by the south-eastern road, which is one of the prettiest drives in South Australia; and just as you arrive at the foot of Mount Lofty you see before you Waterfall Gully, through which is one of the grandest landscape views one could imagine, especially in October, when one sees the trees and mother earth clothed in their best attire of verdant green.
Mr. Clement Wragge, the astronomer (who has an observatory, situated on the top of the mount, which he carries on entirely at his own expense) says that in his walks through this ravine he saw some of the best soil and moist flourishing gardens it has been his lot to drop across.
The other route is by the south-eastern line of railway distant 20 miles from the city. This line is one of the best constructed, and runs more smoothly than any other of our lines, and it has given our engineers an opportunity to display some of their best engineering skill.
As soon as you get into the hills—perhaps just as you emerge from a cutting or a tunnel —you get a glimpse of a fine view, especially on a clear day, when you can see over the low lying hills and across the gulf as far as Kangaroo Island. But it is only for a moment,as you are quickly taken into another deep cutting, the sides of which show an observant traveller how, in the early ages, the rocks have been contorted and upheaved by volcanic eruptions. The wear and tear of some millions of years have denuded Mount Lofty to such an extent that it is, so to speak, but a stump of its former self. It is thought that at one time it was probably over 8,000 feet high, or higher than Mount Kosciusko, which is only 700 feet below the line of perpetual congellation. The marly beds which extend along the valley of theTorrens, and on which Adelaide is built, were most probably formed by the process which has razed Mount Lofty to its present altitude.
In some parts the hills are rugged and barren, and in others very thickly timbered with Eucalyptus obliqua, and with a thick undergrowth, composed chiefly of the xanthorrhoea and acacia species. Some of these trees have grown to over 200 feet high, and 15 feet in diameter. I have seen the hollow in one of them so large that it was utilised by a gardener as a stable for his horse. Some fifteen or twenty years ago a large trade was done in these hills in splitting these trees into shingles, battens, laths, &c., and in sawing timber to supply the building trade of Adelaide, hut now you can only see the ruins of the once prosperous sawmills, on account of the galvanized iron and imported timber taking the place of stringy bark. The most noteworthy trees of the acacia tribe are the acacia pycnantha—which is largely used for tanning purposes, and in spring bears a very strong-scented golden-colored blossom—and the acacia melancxylon, which is largely used in the manufacture of furniture, and is highly prized on account of its unusual beauty and hardness of texture. It has a beautiful dark green foliage and a very light yellow blossom. The stone in these hills is chiefly white freestone. In some of the quarries the quality obtained is quite equal to the Sydney freestone, and can be supplied at a less cost. I might just, mention that the Overway Bridge at the Morphett-street crossing is partly constructed with it, and it is now largely used in the better class of buildings in the city.
The climate of Mount Lofty is much cooler than that of Adelaide and the sur rounding country. Several times it has been covered with snow, and only as lately as October 11th there was a pretty heavy snow storm. It has a much grater rainfall than any other part of the colony, but it is in the summer time that the inhabitants feel the benefit of the wet weather. As a place of residence for the summer months it is delight-ful, a fact that city people are just finding out.
Although the days may be warm the nights are always cool— you never hear complaints about it being too hot to sleep—and again, you are never troubled with mosquitoes, the plague of the city residents life. You can always get plenty of fresh spring water, cool and soft. The place during the last eight years has been turned from a dense scrub into a pretty country village; on every side the Adelaide aristocracy are having summer residences built. As the stone used is mostly white, the contrast with the dark-green trees has a very pleasing effect. The scenery is simply grand. It does not matter which way you go whether walking or driving you are constantly stopping to admire some magnificant view. The more you gaze upon it the more lovely its beauties appear. Perhaps you are looking over towards the west from the summit, of Mount Lofty, where a magnificent view is presented. On the plain below you see Adelaide and its suburbs in picturesque confusion, beautified by the lake and surrounding park-lands; farther on is the sea, marked by faint lines of smoke left by the ocean steamers passing in or out; turning round you have a vast panoramic view stretching out before you, extending to Mount Barker on the one hand, and Port Willunga on the other; and the various shades caused by the fleeting clouds add greatly to its beauty. Passing from the summit you descend into one of the numerous ravines, when you come across a sparkling waterfall or a rippling brook with its banks all covered with lovely green ferns and moss. There is nothing more beautiful and refreshing on a hot summer's day than to spend half-an-hour in one of these shaded bowers. Driving along the main road one would hardly imagine he was in such close proximity to so many fine gardens, but turning up one of the numerous back roads he is astonished beyond measure by the number and size of the gardens which surround him on every side. In the valleys the ground is used for growing vegetables of every description, the peat rows and various kinds of which have a very pretty appearance especially when the thermometer stands at about 120 degrees. They also grow all the different sorts of soft fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, etc., and when one sees the bushes and trees loaded with their luscious fruits, a longing comes over him, which in most cases he can easily satisfy by paying the gardener a small fee. On the sides of the hills are grown the tree fruits, apples, pears, plums, quinces, walnuts, etc., where they reath the greatest perfection. The quinces and apples bear so adundantly that the gardener sometimes gets forty bushels of fruit off oien tree, and yon can very often buy the apples at sixpence per bushel at the gardens.
For garden flowers Mount Lofty is one of the most favored spots around Adelaide—that is for the hardier sorts, or those that require a cool climate, such as the camellia, which is very prolific. In one garden they have over two hundred trees, and in the season one may see them all laden with flowers of every color. The pansy also seems well pleased with the climate, as it flourishes in every garden. They are of all sizes, from the smallest, about the size of a shilling, to the largest, about the size of a small plate, and of every color imaginable. Also roses, verbenas, the beautiful ericas, petunias—all these with a vast number of others grow to perfection, and fill the air around with their delicious perfume, and please the mind through the eye with their rainbow hues. But I was nearly forgetting that loveliest of all the lovely flowers grown—the dahlia, which grows here to the acme of perfection. The wild or native flowers grow in the greatest profusion. First comes the epacris, which is of every color and shade, from the. delicate white to the darkest red, and in places they, completely cover the hillsides wiih their magnificent blossoms, the beauty of which beggars description. At Christmas time the white everlasting covers the hillsides to such an extent that if he did not feel the heat so much, an Englishman would at once think the hills were covered with snow, In fact, one might say of Mount Lofty that is a flower garden in which the various flowers are always blooming.
All the products of these very fine gardens are taken to the Adelaide markets. The road on market nights presents a very animated appearance, and if you wish to he astonished you should go to the foot of the hills on a Friday night and see the continuous stream.of carts which wend their way to the city, loaded, with the various fruits and vegetables, which, on being transferred to the purchasers waggons, are conveyed to the railway station and consigned to all parts of the colony, and some again shipped to supply the Sydney and sometimes the Mauritius markets. But still the resources of these valleys are not used to the best advantage, as hundreds of tons of potatoes and onions are annually imported from Victoria and Tasmania, which might easily be grown here were the hills more thickly populated. The reason of these valleys being, so prolific is that all the light soil is washed off the surrodhding hills into the valleys by the heavy and constant rains that fall during the winter, which forms what is known as peat soil, and it is so light that one can take a rail out of the fence and push it into the ground with ease. In whichever direction you go, on the sides of the hills and in the valleys, are innumerable springs, which the gardener can run over his garden for the purpose of
irrigation. There is still room for a much larger working population in this most fertile portion of the colony

Type of publication: Newspaper When was the article reported?: 11/06/1885 Publication: Port Adelaide News and Lefevre's Peninsula Advertiser Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: national News Category: Arts/Culture

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