Prospect Hill Post Office near Meadows in the Adelaide Hills. The first white settlers took up land in 1841. The general store opened in 1873 and is now the town museum. 19 th century music players exhibit. .
Prospect Hill.
Charles Flaxman, the agent and secretary of George Fife Angas took out the Meadows Special Survey for himself in 1839. Flaxman was a businessman so he had 4,000 acres to sell off and the government had other surveyed land in the area to sell. But Flaxman had more than the 4,000 acres as he took up some pre paid land orders in the district too. Thus there was ample land for white settlers from 1841. Farmers took up their 80 acre blocks at this time around Meadows and nearby Prospect Hill. The first settlers at Prospect Hill were John and Elizabeth McHarg in 1841. A hill near the settlement was called Survey Hill as the local trigonometrical point from which surveys were taken. Sadly in 1841 their daughter Sarah disappeared that year when walking back from the survey camp. Her remains, and two of her books and a farewell note, were discovered in the bush near the current Prospect Hill in 1843. At 410 metres high Prospect Hill had high rainfall and many large Eucalyptus trees which had to be cleared for agriculture. Consequently one of the first industries in nearby Meadows was a saw mill. As wheat was being grown here by 1844 a flour mill also opened in Meadows in 1856 but soon closed and became another saw mill.
The little village of Prospect Hill emerged in 1873 when the first general store and Post Office was opened by Mr G Griggs in a local residence. It so now the local Museum. In that year the Wesleyan Methodist Church was also built on land donated by Mr Thomas Jones. The government school started in 1877 and existed until closure in 1962. The sleepy village of Prospect Hill became a dairying district in the early 20th century once butter could be refrigerated (not frozen) for shipping to England. Subterranean clover introduced in the 1920s increased the productivity of the pastures for the cows and from 1935 Prospect Hill dairymen sold their milk to the new South Australian Farmers Union milk and cheese factory in Meadows. After World War Two a galvanised iron Soldiers Memorial Hall was built in Prospect Hill in 1960. Sadly much, but not all of the village, was destroyed by the Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983. With government aid stones from the old general store out buildings were used to rebuild and develop the Prospect Hill Museum. This impressive local history museum now includes the original general store and residence (not burnt), the best dairy museum exhibits around in a former milking shed, the cool room of the general store, a blacksmiths shed and display, a detailed exhibit on the Ash Wednesday bush fires, an engine room, an old shepherds hut from the 1850s and the former 1893 Meadows school room and display.
In 1899 the SA government started the Kuitpo Forest just south of Prospect Hill for an experimental Australian hardwoods forest. In 1918 this forest was put under the control of the University of Adelaide as they started offering a degree in forestry. In the 1930s Kuitpo Forest moved into softwoods, mainly Pinus radiata and in the 1920s and 1930s it took on a new role. In the 1920s summer camps were set up for city boys from Adelaide High School to learn about the bush and rural life. Then in 1931 Kuitpo was proposed as a suitable camp for prisoners. A public meeting in Meadows objected to the proposal but the government persisted and Kyeema Prison Farm was established in the forest near Prospect Hill in 1932.
Prospect Hill Post Office near Meadows in the Adelaide Hills. The first white settlers took up land in 1841. The general store opened in 1873 and is now the town museum. 19 th century music players exhibit. .
Prospect Hill.
Charles Flaxman, the agent and secretary of George Fife Angas took out the Meadows Special Survey for himself in 1839. Flaxman was a businessman so he had 4,000 acres to sell off and the government had other surveyed land in the area to sell. But Flaxman had more than the 4,000 acres as he took up some pre paid land orders in the district too. Thus there was ample land for white settlers from 1841. Farmers took up their 80 acre blocks at this time around Meadows and nearby Prospect Hill. The first settlers at Prospect Hill were John and Elizabeth McHarg in 1841. A hill near the settlement was called Survey Hill as the local trigonometrical point from which surveys were taken. Sadly in 1841 their daughter Sarah disappeared that year when walking back from the survey camp. Her remains, and two of her books and a farewell note, were discovered in the bush near the current Prospect Hill in 1843. At 410 metres high Prospect Hill had high rainfall and many large Eucalyptus trees which had to be cleared for agriculture. Consequently one of the first industries in nearby Meadows was a saw mill. As wheat was being grown here by 1844 a flour mill also opened in Meadows in 1856 but soon closed and became another saw mill.
The little village of Prospect Hill emerged in 1873 when the first general store and Post Office was opened by Mr G Griggs in a local residence. It so now the local Museum. In that year the Wesleyan Methodist Church was also built on land donated by Mr Thomas Jones. The government school started in 1877 and existed until closure in 1962. The sleepy village of Prospect Hill became a dairying district in the early 20th century once butter could be refrigerated (not frozen) for shipping to England. Subterranean clover introduced in the 1920s increased the productivity of the pastures for the cows and from 1935 Prospect Hill dairymen sold their milk to the new South Australian Farmers Union milk and cheese factory in Meadows. After World War Two a galvanised iron Soldiers Memorial Hall was built in Prospect Hill in 1960. Sadly much, but not all of the village, was destroyed by the Ash Wednesday bushfires of February 1983. With government aid stones from the old general store out buildings were used to rebuild and develop the Prospect Hill Museum. This impressive local history museum now includes the original general store and residence (not burnt), the best dairy museum exhibits around in a former milking shed, the cool room of the general store, a blacksmiths shed and display, a detailed exhibit on the Ash Wednesday bush fires, an engine room, an old shepherds hut from the 1850s and the former 1893 Meadows school room and display.
In 1899 the SA government started the Kuitpo Forest just south of Prospect Hill for an experimental Australian hardwoods forest. In 1918 this forest was put under the control of the University of Adelaide as they started offering a degree in forestry. In the 1930s Kuitpo Forest moved into softwoods, mainly Pinus radiata and in the 1920s and 1930s it took on a new role. In the 1920s summer camps were set up for city boys from Adelaide High School to learn about the bush and rural life. Then in 1931 Kuitpo was proposed as a suitable camp for prisoners. A public meeting in Meadows objected to the proposal but the government persisted and Kyeema Prison Farm was established in the forest near Prospect Hill in 1932.