Mount Lofty South Australia

Mount Lofty

The Mount Lofty Ranges were named by Matthew Flinders in 1802. A cairn of stones was erected on the summit, 710 metres, and replaced a number of times. Finally in 1885 it was replaced by an obelisk known as Flinders' Column.

Mount Lofty village, about sixteen kilometres from Adelaide was described in the 1860s as having its own mechanics' institute, school and a resident magistrate, A. Hardy. He was also a Justice of the Peace. Hardy had his own vineyard with a variety of Madeira, Shiraz and Riesling.

In August 1872 it was reported by Mrs G. Ireland that more than seven centimetres of snow had fallen on Mount Lofty during the night. Her children, enjoying the unusual fun, had rolled up a snowball for their father, who was a market gardener, to take it into town with him.

Alfred Gore opened his Summit General Store in 1880 but two years later the store had passed to Finlayson & Co. In 1887 Gore was working as a railway clerk at the Mount Lofty Railway Station, which was completed in 1883.


Mount Lofty Railway Station 1885. (SLSA)

Rev A.W. Gordon appointed to the Mount Lofty Congregational Church in 1916, but left for France in 1917 to serve as a stretcher bearer.


Below are SOME of the headstones of the Mount Lofty Cemetery. In an attempt to save as much space as possible and increase the speed of downloading, only part of the stone is displayed. Flinders Ranges Research has a full photograph of each of these, and many others as well.

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