Mount Crawford is a hill in the locality also named
Mount Crawford in
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
approximately north of
Birdwood in the
Mount Lofty Ranges
The Mount Lofty Ranges are a range of mountains in the Australian state of South Australia which for a small part of its length borders the east of Adelaide. The part of the range in the vicinity of Adelaide is called the Adelaide Hills and ...
.
History
The Indigenous name for Mount Crawford was ''Teetáka''. The mount was given its present name in 1839 by
Charles Sturt after
James Coutts Crawford
James Coutts Crawford (20 July 1760 – 10 May 1828) was an officer in the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
Crawford first went to sea aboard merchant vessel ...
(1817–1889). Crawford had a Royal Navy background. He and his drovers arrived overland from NSW in April 1839 with 700 cattle, setting up a hut and cattle run at the base of the mount. Crawford soon moved on to be a pioneer of Wellington, New Zealand.
In February 1840 Crawford's hutkeeper, an old soldier, was bailed up by bushrangers Curran, Hughes, and Fox, who robbed him of his arms and rations. Curran and Hughes were executed by hanging at Adelaide on 16 March 1840 for an armed robbery committed earlier near Gawler.
:
Geoff Manning
Geoffrey Haydon Manning (1926–2018) was an Australian author and historian, commonly known as Geoff Manning and cited as an author as Geoffrey H. Manning. He is known particularly for his books on South Australian placenames; ''Manning's Place ...
, in his ''Place Names of South Australia'', gives a different derivation: E.J.F. Crawford (later proprietor of
Hindmarsh Brewery
The Hindmarsh Brewery was a brewery founded 1844 in Hindmarsh, in the then colony of South Australia, by E. J. F. "Fred" Crawford. Crawford lost possession of the business in 1859, then re-established it on a different site before becoming bankru ...
), the explorer J.F. Crawford, and T.G.T. Crawford, sons of Capt. Crawford, master of
HMS ''Victorious'' ran sheep in the area.
Pioneer families during the first decades of closer settlement included surnames Coleman, Hammat, Rankine, Polden, Murray,
Warren
A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...
, and Whyte. The subsequent history was one of mining and pastoralism, until being largely replaced by forestry and recreation activities.
An alluvial
goldrush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...
occurred in the area in the late nineteenth century, and fossicking still goes on in the area today.
Mount Crawford Forest
Mount Crawford also refers to the Mount Crawford Forest which is a grouping of several government
forest
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
lands in the area, the largest encompassing the area around Mount Crawford - others are to the west at Mount Gawler and south around
Cudlee Creek
Cudlee Creek is a small town near Adelaide, South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area.
History
The name Cudlee Creek is probably derived from the Kaurna word ''kadli'', meaning the Dingo Creek.
The fir ...
and Kangaroo Creek Dam. The
Barossa Valley is directly to the north. The forest headquarters and an information centre are located near Mount Crawford. Most of the timber grown are
pine
A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...
trees, though there are some native
eucalypt plantations. The
Heysen Trail passes through the forests.
The forests are also popularly used for recreational purposes, with school fairs and camps being held there, along with a
rally car race.
Climate
See also
*
List of mountains in Australia
References
External links
Postcards Feature
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawford, Mount
Mountains of South Australia