Mount Torrens is a town in the eastern Adelaide Hills region of

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 ...

, 46 kilometres east-north-east of the state capital,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

and 8 km east of

Lobethal Lobethal is a town in the Adelaide Hills area of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Hills Council local government area, and is nestled on the banks of a creek between the hills and up the sides of the valley. It was once the centre ...

. It is located in the

Adelaide Hills Council Adelaide Hills Council is a local government area in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. It is in the hills east of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia, and extends from the South Para Reservoir in the north to the Mount Bold Reservoir ...

and the

Mid Murray Council The Mid Murray Council is a local government area in South Australia in the Murray and Mallee region of South Australia. The council spans the area from the Riverland through the Murraylands to the eastern slopes of the Mount Lofty Ranges. It in ...

local government areas. At the

2006 census 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, Mount Torrens had a population of 337.

Etymology

The Indigenous name for the mount is unknown. The first Europeans to discover and ascend it, on 25 January 1838, were the exploration party of Dr. George Imlay and

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 ...

, but they did not name it. The mount (and nearby town) was named later after Robert Torrens, one of South Australia's founding fathers, as chairman of the

South Australian Colonisation Commission British colonisation of South Australia describes the planning and establishment of the colony of South Australia by the British government, covering the period from 1829, when the idea was raised by the then-imprisoned Edward Gibbon Wakefield ...

, in likelihood because the Angas Creek which flows down the hill is a minor tributary of the

Torrens River The River Torrens , (Karrawirra Parri / Karrawirraparri) is the most significant river of the Adelaide Plains. It was one of the main reasons for the siting of the city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia. It flows from its source in the ...

History

The town was developed by the Dunn family in the early 1840s. Then known as Barton Springs, it incorporated a farmhouse, smithy, stables and the Cornish Arms Inn. The town proper was laid out in 1853, and it served the

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest r ...

trade at

Mannum Mannum is a historic town on the west bank of the Murray River in South Australia, east of Adelaide. At the 2016 census, the urban area of Mannum had a population of 2,398. Mannum is the seat of the Mid Murray Council, and is situated in the ...

as well as a nearby copper mine. A small gold deposit was discovered in 1870, but by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the town's importance had diminished, and the town that stands today is virtually unchanged since that time.

Facilities

Mount Torrens has a sporting ground, hotel, farm supply store and general store. There are three churches including the Lutheran church and former school at Spring Head, approximately 3 kilometers south. In 2019, Mount Torrens became part of the Adelaide Hills Sculpture Trail. The former site of the fire station was made into a small park which houses the sculpture. There is also a private school, Mount Torrens Christian School, and several historical buildings.White Pages Online
Retrieved 9 July 2006. Mount Torrens was served by the

Mount Pleasant railway line The Mount Pleasant railway line is an abandoned South Australian line. It was opened between Balhannah and Mount Pleasant in September 1918 and ran until March 1963 as a freight and passenger service.

from 1918 to 1953. It is on

Onkaparinga Valley Road Onkaparinga Valley Road is a South Australian secondary road, connecting the towns of Birdwood, Woodside, Balhannah and Verdun within the Adelaide Hills. It is designated part of route B34. Major intersections Onkaparinga Valley Road is enti ...

(B34) between the towns of Charleston and Birdwood. Currently it is the eastern end of the

Amy Gillett Bikeway The Amy Gillett Bikeway or Amy Gillett Rail Trail or Amy Gillett Pathway is a shared path in the Adelaide Hills on part of the alignment of the former Mount Pleasant railway line. It is a sealed path suitable for recreational cycling, walking an ...

which follows the former railway alignment from Oakbank. It may be extended in future to follow the rest of the railway route. It is served by the

LinkSA Keolis Downer is a joint venture between Keolis, the largest private sector French transport group, and Downer Rail, an Australian railway engineering company, that operates bus and tram services in Australia. History In June 2009, the Victor ...

coach route which runs from Mount Pleasant to

Tea Tree Plaza Westfield Tea Tree Plaza is a large shopping centre located in Modbury, South Australia, Modbury serving as a shopping hub for Adelaide's growing north eastern suburbs, it’s linked to the city by Adelaide's unique O-Bahn Busway, which terminat ...

. Mount Torrens and the surrounding areas were damaged during the 2019 Cudlee Creek bushfire.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia