Hill River is a locality in the
Yorke and Mid North region of
South Australia, about north of the
Adelaide city centre. It is bisected by the
Hill River, an ephemeral stream from which it derives its name.
[ Its boundaries were created in January 2001 for the “long established name.”]division of Grey
The Division of Grey is an Australian electoral division in South Australia. The division was one of the seven established when the former Division of South Australia was redistributed on 2 October 1903 and is named for Sir George Grey, who wa ...
, the state electoral district of Frome
Frome is a single-member electoral district for the South Australian House of Assembly. It is named after Edward Charles Frome, the third surveyor-general of South Australia. The electorate stretches north-eastwards from the Gawler River and Gu ...
and the local government area of the District Council of Clare and Gilbert Valleys.
History
Prior to European settlement it was the traditional home of the Ngadjuri people. The first European explorer to discover the Hill River area was Edward John Eyre on 5 June 1839. He named the river after explorer John Hill John Hill may refer to:
Business
* John Henry Hill (1791–1882), American businessman, educator and missionary
* John Hill (planter) (1824–1910), Scottish-born American industrialist and planter
* John Hill (businessman) (1847–1926), Austral ...
because he was "the gentleman who discovered its twin river, the Hutt". Eyre described the area as "a fine chain of ponds taking its course through a very extensive and grassy valley, but with little timber of any kind growing near it."
The first pastoralist of Hill River was Charles Campbell (1811–59), an overlander who established a sheep run there in 1842 in connection with Henry Strong Price (1825–89). He took out an occupation licence in January 1843. Their resident stock-keeper was William Roach.
In 1844 overlander William Robinson (1814–1889) established Hill River Station along the upper reaches of the waterway, near Clare. The artist S.T. Gill visited in 1846 as part of the ill-fated Horrocks expedition. Gill prepared several watercolours of the thriving homestead, which was at that time perhaps the most advanced pastoral establishment in the Mid North.[Painting: ]
Hill River Station went on to become one of the great South Australian pastoral properties of the 1800s, being subsequently owned 1855–76 by C.B. Fisher and then by John Howard Angas, setting numerous records for its production of wool and sheep.
A 1600mm gauge railway line, the Spalding railway line
The Spalding railway line was a railway line on the South Australian Railways network which branched from the Peterborough line at Riverton and passed through the Clare Valley to Spalding. The line opened from Riverton to Clare on 5 July 1918 ...
, which closed in 1984 and is now removed, ran as a spur line from Clare, through the Hill River valley, parallel to the river, with stations at Barinia, Hilltown, Andrews Andrews may refer to:
Places Australia
*Andrews, Queensland
*Andrews, South Australia
United States
*Andrews, Florida (disambiguation), various places
*Andrews, Indiana
* Andrews, Nebraska
*Andrews, North Carolina
* Andrews, Oregon
* Andrews, Sou ...
and Spalding (the terminus).
See also
*List of cities and towns in South Australia
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
Towns in South Australia
Mid North (South Australia)
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