Hill River (South Australia)

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Hill River is an ephemeral river and rural district in South Australia. The Hill River rises about 3 kilometres east of Penwortham and then flows northward for about 37 kilometres, roughly parallel but to the east of the Hutt River. Near the town of Spalding, like the Hutt, it becomes a tributary of the Broughton River.

Hill River at Andrews, South Australia. Upstream (southward) view.

Geography

The Hill River drains a catchment area of 230 km². Flows, which result from either winter rains or local thunderstorms, are intermittent. The average annual observed flow in 2000–04 was 2,568 ML/a.^[2] Most of the catchment emanates from the Camels Hump Range and to a lesser degree from the Stony Range. Slab Hut Creek is amongst the more significant tributaries. The river has a low gradient which, combined with a broad and shallow catchment valley, renders it unsuitable as the site of any significant reservoir. In some areas the clearing of native vegetation has led to erosion and steep banks. The Hill River also gives its name to the Hill River geographical locality, which is within the Northern Areas Council.^[3]

A 1600mm gauge railway line, now closed and removed, ran as a spur line from Clare, through the Hill River valley, parallel to the river, with stations at Barinia, Hilltown, Andrews, and Spalding (the terminus).

History

Prior to European settlement it was the traditional home of the Ngadjuri people. The first European explorer to discover the Hill River was Edward John Eyre, on 5 June 1839, who named it after explorer John Hill because he was 'the gentleman who discovered its twin river, the Hutt'.^[4] Eyre described it 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 on the 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), taking out an occupation licence in January 1843. Their resident stock-keeper was William Roach.

In 1844 William Robinson (1814–1889), another overlander, established Hill River Station along the upper reaches near Clare.^[5] The artist S.T. Gill visited in 1846 as part of the ill-fated Horrocks expedition. Gill prepared several watercolours of the thriving homestead, at that time perhaps the most advanced pastoral establishment in the Mid North.^[6]

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 Angas, setting numerous records for its production of wool and sheep.

Hilltown

Soldiers' Memorial Hall, Hilltown, South Australia.

The township and district of Hilltown was created in the 1860s when closer settlement came to the Mid-North, allowing grain farming by self employed farmers. A government-sponsored town named Hilltown was surveyed north of Clare and just west of the Hill River in the Hundred of Milne, County of Stanley. The first lots at Hilltown were sold by public auction in March 1866. Street names of the surveyed township honored pioneering pastoralists of the region such as Browne and Fisher. Subsequent public infrastructure, since closed, included a railway siding and primary school.

Andrews

The township and district of Andrews, situated a few kilometres north of Hilltown, is also beside the Hill River. This district, which is also dedicated to primary production, mainly grain farming, is in the Spalding Ward of the Northern Areas Council. The township has bulk grain handling and storage facilities as well as limited sporting and community facilities. The original pastoral leases were thrown open for closer settlement when the Hundred of Andrews was proclaimed on 24 November 1864.^[7] The Hundred was named after R. B. Andrews, a South Australian politician and judge. Most of the original land sales took place in 1865. Andrews should not be confused with Andrews Farm, a northern suburb of Adelaide.

Grain silos at Andrews, South Australia

Polish Hill River

Commencing in the 1850s an upstream district of the Hill River near Saint Aloysius' College, Sevenhill attracted a colony of Irish and Polish settlers, that locality becoming known in relatively recent decades as Polish Hill River, a premium wine region.

References