Adelaide “Hills”

Text: John McGregor

Images: SATC, MLDHS

 

I guess that most (or many ) people know where The Eagle on the Hill is,  but there are other  “Hills” in the Crafers/Stirling area that have often been referred to by names which have or had some local significance (as did Germantown Hill from Vimy Ridge towards Hahndorf).

Some of these are  Murder Hill, Dreary Hill, Woodbury  Hill, and Breakneck Hill (known more recently as Measday’s Hill).


Murder Hill, the hill where Milan Terrace heads down towards the railway line, was so called by locals after the unfortunate brutal demise of local character George Cullen in 1903.

Dreary Hill is the hill on Piccadilly Road from the road leading into the bottom entrance of the Botanic Gardens. That was a steep, slow pull for the bullock drays of timber and the horses pulling drays loaded with vegetables for the produce market.


Woodbury Hill was the locals’ name for the section of Glenside Road from where it begins at Old Mount Barker Road until its descent to Stirling. [now cut short by the freeway exit]


Breakneck Hill is the descriptive term for the first downhill section of the road from Crafers to the city, in the days of 8 to 10 bullocks pulling drays loaded with stringy bark logs. These drays were heavy, and the road little more than a rough bush track which became dangerous when wet. Many a time a dray would get out of control and along with its bullock team would slide downhill, often with dire consequences for some of the bullocks. Gradually the name became  “Measdays’” Hill after the family who had a store some way down towards the city from Crafers.

Measday’ Store on Breakneck Hill


The Eagle On The Hill long ago  did actually have a live eagle kept in a cage, and fed mice caught at the market by the gardeners as they were selling their vegetables, and as they stopped for some ‘refreshment’ on the way home.

There was a walking trail called The Bridle Path, from what is now Crafers West and which was roughly the path of the present freeway as it crests the hill to begin its descent towards the tunnels .

Do you have memories of any of these locations or do you know of other “Hills” with a story? Contact us at mldhsgateways@mtloftyhistoricalsociety.org.au or drop into the History Centre at the Coventry Library, 63 Mount Barker Road, Stirling.