Carey Gully is a small town in the

Adelaide Hills The Adelaide Hills region is located in the southern Mount Lofty Ranges east of the city of Adelaide in the state of South Australia. The largest town in the area, Mount Barker, South Australia, Mount Barker, is one of Australia's fastest-growi ...

region of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. The name of the town is taken from one of the early settlers of the area, Paddy Carey, and was originally called Carey's Gully, (This can be seen at the town's War Memorial on a wrought iron sign). Whilst being named a "gully" the present township actually straddles part of 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 d ...

, separating the valley townships of

Uraidla Uraidla (, ) is a small town in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia, Australia. At the , Uraidla had a population of 575. However it also sits at the centre of a larger population catchment of rural townships which include Summertown, Piccadil ...

to the west and Balhannah to the east. The older settlements in Carey Gully are located down smaller gullies where soil was suitable for agriculture. Recent decades have seen the decline of the Carey Gully township, with the closure of the general store which also sold petrol. Still in operation are the

Country Fire Service The South Australian Country Fire Service (SACFS, commonly abbreviated as CFS) is a volunteer based fire service in the Australian state of South Australia. The CFS has responsibility as the Control Agency for firefighting, rescues and Hazar ...

station, the Carey Gully Quarry and a small scale factory building on Deviation Road, housing a boatbuilding business and a traditional carpenter among others.

Greenhill Road Greenhill Road is a major road in Adelaide, South Australia, that provides a connection to the eastern and hills suburbs. Its western section, running along the south side of Adelaide Parklands, forms part of Adelaide's City Ring Route. Route ...

is the main route through the town, upon which the hub of the township is located, but in the past much of the town's major establishments were located on adjacent Deviation Road. The road was an ideal location for the township in the past as it was situated on a largely dry, flat area (compared to the steep hills surrounding) and was also a main thoroughfare to the towns of

Forest Range A forest range is a term used to define administrative regions containing one or more (usually) demarcated and (usually) protected or resource-managed forests. The term was in use in British India, and hence India, Pakistan and Bangladesh use thi ...

and Lenswood via Boundary Drive. Deviation Road once hosted a Football oval (

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

) and tennis courts (now a strawberry field), and a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

which still stands to this day, but is currently a private residence. The decline of the town has seen it become a much more quiet, idyllic location, attracting people from nearby

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. The location of Carey Gully makes it cool in summer and provides brilliant views and cool, isolated valleys to those seeking a weekend getaway or quiet retirement. Agriculture is the main industry with crops of strawberries, apples, cherries and wine grapes being grown. Along with this there are various

hobby farm A hobby farm (also called a lifestyle block, acreage living, or rural residential) is a smallholding or small farm that is maintained without expectation of being a primary source of income. Some are held simply to bring homeowners closer to n ...

s throughout the area running livestock such as goats, sheep, cattle, and deer. Although much of the land is devoted to agriculture, as with many towns in the

, Carey Gully has retained a large portion of its natural bushland which boasts many species of threatened and endangered flora and fauna, Wotton's Scrub and White's Scrub (part of the Kenneth Stirling Conservation Park) being excellent examples. Carey Gully has been affected many times by bushfire, most notably the

Ash Wednesday fires The Ash Wednesday bushfires, known in South Australia as Ash Wednesday II, were a series of bushfires that occurred in south-eastern Australia in 1983 on 16 February. Within twelve hours, more than 180 fires fanned by hot winds of up to caus ...

in 1983. Public transport to Carey Gully is provided by the

Adelaide Metro Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of the Adelaide area, around the capital city of South Australia. It is an intermodal passenger transport, intermodal system offering an integrated network of Buses in Adelaide, bus, Glenelg tram, ...

. Routes & provide a service to and from the

City A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...

approximately every 2 hours, with route also providing a link to nearby

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

. More services to and from the city are provided at peak times.

References

{{authority control Towns in South Australia